Plan of the Ground Floor in the Leipzig Laboratory for Physiology, 1870

The horseshoe shape of the laboratory building in Leipzig is immediately apparent. The workrooms for performing vivisections and biophysical and biochemical experiments were found here, as well as the rooms for spectroscopy, microscopy and work with mercury, and the library. The lecture theatre was situated in the centre, providing space for an audience of about 150. Rabbits, birds and frog were kept in stalls, cages and aquariums which were erected opposite the horseshoe opening. This division in different types of workrooms was a significant innovation.

Plan of the ground floor in the Leipzig Laboratory for Physiology, 1870, unknown artist; source: Wurtz, Adolphe: Les Hautes Études Pratiques dans les Universités Allemandes: Rapport présenté à Son Exc. M. le Ministre de l'Instruction publique, Paris 1870, table XIV.