72 



THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE 



All of this routine work was done at the request of officials in 

 various departments of the Government and individuals repre- 

 senting private or corporate interests according to the figures 

 given below. 



The number of samples of cement submitted for physical test- 

 ing increased from 7,966 for 1912 to 9,617 for 1913. In addition 

 to this numerical increase, the adoption of the new cement 

 specifications has increased the work involved in the testing of 

 a given number of cements by 50 per cent. The present capacity 

 of the cement-testing laboratory is as great as economical condi- 

 tions make advisable; but very often, owing to the present sys- 

 tem for the purchase of Portland cement, as many as 800 or 900 

 samples have been submitted for test in two or three days while 

 at other times we received very few samples for weeks. This 

 alternate swamping and stagnation of the cement-testing force 

 is very difficult to meet. The work could not be turned out 

 promptly under such conditions unless we were to keep available 

 at all times a very large force of trained workers, and, if we did 



