458 



NATURE 



[April 8, 1922 



brought under the floors, the secondary mains for 

 gas and water being closed circuits with control 

 valves at each end. The drainage pipes also pass 

 first into the sub-floor, the height of which is 3 ft. 6 in., 

 so that all vital supply and waste systems are acces- 

 sible at any time. The laboratories are heated by 

 radiators at the floor level, and hot-water pipes are 

 also conveyed around the ceihngs to prevent down- 

 draughts from the glazed roof. 



With the exception of the main chemical laboratory 

 and balance-room, none of the rooms have fixed 

 benches. In most cases the supply-Unes and small 

 sinks are held in position bv a narrow shelf attached 

 to the walls at the standard height of the window sills, 

 and working accommodation is provided by tables of 

 the same height, which are arranged in accordance 

 with the needs of the work in progress. In the physics 

 department stout battens are screwed to the walls 

 at two different heights from the floors and the gas 

 connexions and any apparatus which is to be 



for research into the physical and mechanical pro- 

 perties of single cotton hairs, carded cotton, slivers, 

 yarns, and fabrics. Each room is well supplied with 

 electric power points, and is wired for six independent 

 circuits from the battery. Two of the rooms, having 

 concrete floors paved with wood blocks, are reserved 

 for experiments with delicate pieces of apparatus 

 which demand freedom from vibration. The main 

 chemical laboratory, 40 ft. x 30 ft., is a very bright 

 room with walls covered with white tiles up to a 

 height of 8 ft. Furnaces, thermostats, and large pieces 

 of apparatus are accommodated on a tiled, concrete 

 shelf, and a special bench is reserved for distillations. 

 The working benches, 27 ft. long, are made of pitch- 

 pine with teak tops. Large glazed sinks are provided 

 at each end, and the drainage from the taps and 

 filter-pumps which range along the benches is taken 

 by glazed channels. All the sinks discharge into 

 loose mixing traps before emptying into the drains. 

 The importance of the subject of colloids for the 



of New Laboratories. 



A. Department of Physics. 



B. Department of Botany 



C. Department of Colloids 



Fig. 2.— Ground PI. 

 D. General Stores. 

 Ej. Main Chemical Laboratory. 

 E.J. Balance Room. 



E3. Unoccupied. 



E4. Optical Room. 



E5. Photographic Dark Room. 



Below D is the boiler-house, and under Ej a machinery room. 



mounted for a considerable time are attached to these 

 battens. Fume cupboards, where necessary, are built 

 into the window spaces, and mounted on wide 

 concrete shelves covered with Ruabon tiles, the 

 draught being induced by gas-burners placed in the 

 flues at the floor level. Bright metal taps and electric 

 switches have been avoided entirely so as to minimise 

 the labour of cleaning. 



The work of the botanical department is chiefly 

 microscopical, and special attention has been given 

 to various forms of artificial illumination. Each 

 microscopist has at his disposal two gas leads, a 

 small sink, an electric power point for microscope 

 illumination, an electric lighting point for bench 

 lamps, and low- voltage currents from overhead wires 

 for warm-stage work and incidental illumination. 

 A fire-proof and sterilisable room is reserved for 

 bacteriology, and contains electric incubators and 

 sterilisers mounted on concrete benches, and a gas 

 autoclave under a ventilating hood. The department 

 has a very large number of samples of cultivated and 

 semi- wild varieties of cotton, and obtains further 

 material for study from an experimental greenhouse 

 in which about 300 cotton plants can be grown at 

 one time. The physics department is fully equipped 



NO. 2736, VOL. 109] 



cotton industry has been recognised by the creation 

 of a separate department of colloid chemistry and 

 physics. The three rooms are well equipped for 

 physico-chemical research, one with a concrete floor 

 being reserved for experiments which demand freedom 

 from vibration or cause chemical fumes. Special 

 accommodation for optical work is provided in a large 

 room which has the roof lights completely obscured, 

 the windows fitted with roller blinds, and all the walls, 

 woodwork, and furniture painted a dead black. One 

 comer of this room has been partitioned off and fitted 

 as a photographic dark room, both parts being 

 ventilated by a light-tight electric fan. 



The coach-houses and stables of the estate have 

 been converted into workshops for the construction 

 and repair of instruments used in the laboratories 

 and for the general maintenance of the Institute. 

 Ample accommodation has been secured for smith's 

 and carpenter's work and general machining on the 

 ground floor, and for a scientific glass-blower above. 

 These experimental workshops have already proved 

 to be of enormous value to the Institute in equipping 

 the new laboratories and making new devices for 

 the testing of cotton yarns. 



