350 PHYSICAL LABORATORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



the table. The fact that there was an appreciable difference between 

 the scale of the L6"' glass and that of the air thermometer led to 

 further investigation, and another glass, a borosilicate, containing 12 

 per cent of boron, was the consequence. This glass has a still smaller 

 depression. As a result of this work Germany can now claim that 

 "the manufacture of thermometers has reached in Germany an unprec- 

 edented level and now governs the markets of the world." 



Previous to 1888 Germany imported optical glass; at that date 

 nearly all the glass required was of home manufacture. Very shortly 

 afterwards an export trade in raw glass began, which in 1S!>8 was 

 worth £30,000 per annum, while the value of optical instruments, such 

 as telescopes, field glasses, and the like, exported that year was over 

 £250,000. Such are the results of the application of science — i. e., 

 organized common sense — to a great industry. The National Physical 

 Laboratory aims at doing the like for England. 



The question of standardization of patterns and designs is probably 

 too large a one to go into on the present occasion. Some months ago a 

 most interesting discussion of the subject took place at the Institution 

 of Electrical Engineers. To my mind there is no doubt that the 

 judicious adoption of standard types combined with readiness to scrap 

 old patterns, so soon as a real advance or improvement is made, is 

 necessary for progress. One who has been over some good German 

 workshop or has contrasted a first-class English shop where this is the 

 practice with an old-fashioned establishment where standardization is 

 hardly known, can have no hesitation on this question. It has its dis- 

 advantages, less is left to the originality of the workman and in con- 

 sequence they lose the power of adaptation to new circumstances and 

 conditions. The English mechanic is, I believe, greatly superior to the 

 German, but the scientific organization of the German shops enables 

 them to compete successfully with the English. 



In 1881 the German Association of .Mechanics and Opticians was 

 formed, having for its aim the scientific, technical, and commercial 

 development of instrument making. The society has its official organ, 

 the Zeitschrift fur Instrumentenkunde, edited by one of the staff of 

 the Reichsanstalt. Specialized schools for the training of young 

 mechanics in the scientific side of their calling have been formed and 

 now the majority of the leading firms retain in their permanent service 

 one or more trained mathematicians or physicists. In this way. again, 

 the importance of science to industry is recognized. I have thus noted 

 very briefly some of the ways in which science has become identified 

 with trade in Germany, and have indicated some of the investigations 

 by which the staff of the Reichsanstalt and others have advanced manu- 

 factures and commerce. 



Let us turn now to the other side, to some of the problems which 

 remain unsolved, to the work which our laboratory is to do and by 





