CHAPTER XVII 



SAFEGUARDING THE NATION 

 Sir Robert Robertson and the Government Laboratory 



EVERY day thousands of Londoners pass close to 

 one of the most interesting institutions in the 

 <City, yet probably not one in a thousand of them 

 even knows of its existence. We refer to the Government 

 Laboratory, which stands in a narrow passage just west 

 of the Law Courts and within a few yards of the eastern 

 end of the Strand. The building itself is not likely to 

 attract attention, but inside it there are great rooms full 

 of chemical apparatus, and there is a staff of some two 

 hundred chemists busy with an amazing variety of work 

 under the direction of the Chief Government Chemist, 

 Sir Robert Robertson. 



Sir Robert is a scientist of many different interests and 

 achievements. During the War he was one of the principal 

 experts on explosives, and if you wish to realize the extent 

 of his knowledge on this particular subject you should 

 refer to a lecture which he read before the Chemical 

 Society on " Properties of Explosives/' which is published 

 in the Transactions of that society. 



But his special hobby now has nothing to do with 

 explosives. It takes the form of studies in the infra-red 

 region of the spectrum. The results of some of his experi- 

 ments in this field have been printed in the Proceedings 

 of the Royal Society, but they are too technical for a book 

 of this kind, and it will be more interesting to consider 

 here the work done under Sir Robert's direction in the 

 Government Laboratory. 



Since 191 1 the Government Laboratory has been a 



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