348 



NATURE 



\_7uly 25, 1878 



erected a chemical laboratory ; it is intended for tempo- 

 rary use indeed, but affords facilities for school work 

 almost rivalling those of the most costly appliances on 

 Mr. Tuckweir s list, and at an expense not much greater 

 than that of the cheapest ; in fact, it has been arranged on 

 a plan based upon experience of the two schools in ques- 

 tion. I hare said it is intended for temporary use ; I do 

 not mean that it is not calculated for a fair term of ser- 

 vice ; it is temporary because the present location of the 

 school is not a permanent one. 



Abutting a stone wall 10 feet high, there is built a room 

 30 feet by 26 feet, and about 16 feet to the ridge of the 

 roof ; it is lighted by skylights on each slope of the roof, 

 and the remainder of the roof is boarded and felted. The 

 building is of timber, floor of wood, and about 9 inches 

 above the ground. The bare building thus described cost 

 88/. The interior arrangements are as shown by the 

 accompanying plan :— 



A A A A are working-benches giving accommodation for 

 a class of eighteen or twenty at practical chemistry. 



They are of i^ inch deal, supported on tressels 33 

 inches above the floor and are 25 inches broad, with an 

 under-bench for holding apparatus, and with three 

 shelves in front of them ; these are 6 to 9 inches deep, 

 the lowest hold reagent bottles, the next exercises for 

 analysis, and the top shelves are devoted to lecture 

 apparatus when out of use. They are 14, 30, 48 inches 

 above the bench. 



B, a lecture-table; its top is 12 feet long, 27 inches 

 broad, i^ inch thick, beneath are arranged drawers and 

 shelves ; it stands 3 feet above the ground. There are 

 two supplies of gas, one about the centre of the table, 

 fitted with three taps, to which Bunsen burners are at- 

 tached, another of much larger dimensions, for supplying 

 a combustion furnace, which does double duty, for warm- 

 ing in very cold weather and lecture purposes at other 

 times. 



C c' are two slate sinks ; c is 39 by 21 inches, and 6 

 inches deep, Avith three taps for water; c' is 32 by 21 

 inches, and 6 inches deep, with two taps ; the tops of the 

 sinks are about 2 inches above the level of the working- 

 benches, and a third tap to C serves to supply the con- 

 denser of a still. 



D is a fume closet 51 inches long, 23 inches deep, and 

 64 inches high ; it is ventilated by a zinc flue about 6 

 feet high, under which a jet of gas is burnt when neces- 

 sary ; its doors are 4 feet high and glazed, and the roof 

 slants back from the top of this to the wall. 



E is a cupboard 48 inches long, 26 inches deep, 75 

 inches high, with glass doors ; inside are shelves arranged 

 for holding apparatus likely to be damaged by the 

 atmosphere of the laboratory. This and the fume-closet 

 are made fairly substantially of deal and are painted or 

 stained. Except the front, back, and sides of the lecture- 

 table, which also are stained and varnished, all other 

 wood-work is left bare. 



Beneath B is another cupboard of plain deal, for 

 chemicals, &c. ; it is 33 inches high measuring from the 

 ground. 



Gas is supplied to the Avorking benches by 17 jets from 



a 1-inch pipe, which is carried a few inches above the top 

 of the bench round the room ; the lecture-table, and a 

 pendant Avith four burners for lighting purposes, are sup- 

 plied by branches from this, and a third branch supplies 

 the fume-closet. 



There is a water-tap at F for lecture purposes, but no 

 sink. 



The cost of these fittings is as folloAvs : — For gas and 

 Avater fittings (the gas meter is a hired one), 21/. i^. ']d. ; 

 for Avoodwork and sinks without Avater fittings, 51/. 3^. 3^?. 

 They are all fairly substantially made, as it is intended to 

 move them to the laboratory to be built at the new 

 school. This sum includes lecturer's desk and stool, 

 Avaste boxes, &c. &c. 



The apparatus and chemicals include a Ruhmkorff coil 

 by Apps, giving fin. spark, combustion furnace, auto- 

 matic copper-still, 8 lbs. mercury Avith suitable vessel for 

 keeping it dry and pure under oil of vitriol, Becker's 

 balance turning to iV grain, ozone generator, Bunsen' s 

 cells, fourteen doz. stoppered reagent bottles, about six 

 or eight doz. bottles for holding solids and solutions for 

 analysis, two doz. 5-pint stoppered bottles for holding 

 stocks of solutions, bloAvpipe with Fletcher's bellows, a 

 supply of Bunsen' s burners, test-tubes, racks, chemicals, 

 and all the other indispensables of a laboratory. 



These cost, including carriage by rail, &c., somewhat 

 under 47/., Avhich sum will serve for our Avants during the 

 first six months' work. 



The total cost amounts to 207/. 17J. \od., to which we 

 add about 10/., not more, for some office expenses. For 

 this sum we have a combined laboratory and lecture- 

 room, Avhich is calculated to be sufficiently capacious to 

 afford instruction \n theoretical chemistry to 70 per cent, 

 of a school of 150'or 160 boys, and in practical chemistry 

 to about 25 per cent, of the same number; also to serve as 

 an occasional class-room for another science subject. 



There is nothing handsome about this laboratory ; 

 externally it is tarred, and in summer it Avill be white- 

 Avashed ; inside it is chiefly innocent of paint, and its 

 Avails are unplaned ; but for real work there is very little 

 wanting. W. A. Shenstone 



A NEW DEEP-SEA THERMOMETER 



'T*HE most efficient deep-sea thermometer constructed up to 

 -'■ the present has been the one known as Six's thermometer, 

 Avith the bulb protected from pressure, as invented by Messrs. 

 Negretti and Zambra, and described in Nature, vol. ix. p. 387. 

 This instrument has been extensively used by the expeditions 

 sent out by various governments and scientific societies. 



The disadvantages in the old instrument were the follow- 

 ing: — I. The indices Avere, to a certain extent, unreliable, as, 

 hoAvever carefully fitted, they Avere apt to slip down through 

 their own weight, so that the observations were always more or 

 less doubtful ; 2. Its accuracy, even in its most perfect condi- 

 tion, did not attain to fractions of a degree, the closest readings 

 differing at least half a degree ; 3. The instrument had always 

 to be carried in a vertical position, or it Avould become consider- 

 ably deranged. As long as it was sufficient to obtain tempera- 

 tures varying not less than a degree from one another the old 

 instrument answered tolerably well in deep seas. Recently, 

 hoAvever, the bottom temperatures of shalloAv seas and rivers 

 have come under investigation, and for that purpose the instru- 

 ment proved unsuitable. 



The difference between the temperature at the surface of the 

 sea and that at the depth of a few fathoms does not amount to 

 a Avhole degree, as a rule, but only to fractions of a degree; 

 hence the observations, to be of any value at all, must be made 

 Avith an undoubtedly accurate and delicate thermometer. The 

 investigation of the temperatures of the British seas has been 

 urged upon the Government by naturalists and physicists in- 

 terested in the question of the food supply of the people in its 

 relation to fisheries. The questions of greatest importance were 

 those regarding the influence of temperature upon the habits and 

 migrations of fish, and the determination of the best seasons and 

 temperatures for the development and capture of the various 

 species. This investigation, commenced Avith the old instrument, 

 has at present only shown that such instruments are not suffi- 



