GEOPHYSICAL LABORATORY. 89 



for the physical measurements. Inclosed hoods of stone and glass construc- 

 tion, practically airtight, and ventilated by forced draft, are provided for 

 discharging dangerous fumes at the top of the building. The soapstone 

 tables are covered, where a softer surface is necessary, with heavy linoleum, 

 like the floor coverings. 



Shop. — The equipment of the shop has been considerably extended in the 

 new laboratory, and is now sufficient for making all repairs and much of 

 the new special apparatus which is contemplated. This enlargement was 

 made necessary in part by the removal of the laboratory to a point where it 

 is less accessible to the machine-shops of the city, and partly by the fact that 

 the apparatus used in the laboratory is of such a special character that it can 

 only be competently handled under our own supervision. Power for the 

 shop is supplied to each machine through individual electric motors. This 

 enables us to dispense with shafting, which, if employed, would inevitably 

 communicate troublesome vibrations to the building. 



Provision for Research in Elasticity and Plasticity. — The removal of the 

 high-temperature laboratory from the Geological Survey building so far 

 reduced the need for laboratory facilities there that it seemed to the Director 

 of the Survey unwise to attempt to continue physical work with the limited 

 equipment remaining. It was therefore decided to transfer the work on 

 elasticity and plasticity, which is jointly supported by the Geological Survey 

 and by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, in charge of Dr. George 

 F. Becker, to the new laboratory building, where it would have the benefit 

 of the largely increased facilities now available. 



Grounds and Otitside Connections. — A special appropriation of $4,000 

 made by the Executive Committee at its meeting of May 11, 1907, for fenc- 

 ing, grading, and improving the laboratory site, building a proper roadway, 

 and bringing in water and gas connections from Upton street to the labora- 

 tory has been nearly all expended for these purposes. The laboratory is now 

 provided with all the usual city connections — sewer, water, electricity, gas, 

 and telephone — with satisfactory service in each department. 



SCIENTIFIC WORK. 

 As was to be expected, the laboratory work of the year has suffered con- 

 siderably from interruptions incidental to the transfer of the apparatus to 

 the new laboratory building and remounting it under the new conditions. 

 This amounted in many cases to the complete dismantling of complicated 

 systems, where some months will be required to provide all the connections 

 necessary for their operation and to restore them to perfect adjustment. It 

 was therefore thought wise to confine our activities much more strictly than 

 usual to preliminary and incidental researches rather than to attempt work 

 in which the results must suffer from the disturbed conditions of experiment. 

 By incidental researches is meant the devising and testing of methods, the 



