8o CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH. 



(For experiments on elasticity and plasticity of solids. George F. Becker, 

 Washington, D. C. Grant No. 172. $7,500.) 



The space for these experiments, which was furnished by the 

 U. S. Geological Survey, became available in July. A testing ma- 

 chine, built to order by Riehle Brothers, and other apparatus has 

 been installed and various preliminary tests have been made. Mr. 

 Taft, Secretary of War, in recognition of the importance of the inves- 

 tigation, has consented to allow the Washington Monument to be 

 employed for experiments on the elongation of wires under vary- 

 ing loads. A vertical air-tight tube has been put in place from the 

 top to the bottom of the stairwa}', and observations will begin soon. 

 Wires nearly 500 feet in length will be annealed in the vertical tube 

 by electricity and their elastic elongations determined to a minute 

 fraction of a millimeter by Mr. J. R. Benton. 



It has been shown by Dr. Becker that there is extremely strong 

 theoretical ground for the belief that the load-strain function is 

 logarithmic, and his assistant, Mr. C. E. Van Orstrand, has since 

 reached the same result by an independent method. Experiments 

 by Dr. Becker on india-rubber, carried as far as strains doubling or 

 halving the length of cylinders, have been shown to agree with this 

 law. The experiments of Mr. J. O. Thompson, made some years 

 since in Kohlrausch's laboratory, on steel, copper, and silver wires, 

 have been computed by Mr. Van Orstrand. They, too, agree mi- 

 nutely with the logarithmic law. 



It is believed that the equipment will be completed by November i . 



(Investigation of mineral fusion and solution under pressure. Arthur L. Day, 

 Washington, D. C. Grant No. 171. $12,500.) 



The general purpo.se of the grant was to increase and extend the 

 work of the high-temperature research in certain particular directions: 

 ( I ) By increa.sing the scope of the researches of the rock-forming 

 minerals at extreme temperatures ; (2) by providing for experimenta- 

 tion at extreme pressures as well ; and thereby (3) to develop apparatus 

 for experiments upon aqueo-igneous fusion. 



The grant was made upon condition that suitable laboratory space 

 be set apart for the purpose in the U. S. Geological Survey. The 

 space provided became available on July i, and has since been 

 equipped by the Surve}' with the usual laboratory facilities, power 

 for an instrument shop, and electrical connections of good size and 

 variety. 



