January 24, 1901] 



NA TURE 



301 



other respects they will make good laboratories, requiring 

 only the provision of some steady supports, and, in 

 common with the rest of the house, arrangements for 

 heating and for the supply of gas, water and electricity 

 for light and power. 



But besides this main block, which is some 50 feet in 

 height, there are five large wings, one at each corner and 

 a fifth adjacent to the north front. This fifth wing, three 

 stories in height, contains a number of small rooms, 

 which will be of service for special pieces of work ; the 

 other four wings give the main laboratory accommodation. 

 Two of these each contain two large rooms about 35 feet 

 long by 25 broad — one of which has been subdivided— 

 the other two are of about half the size, and contain one 

 room each of the above dimensions. All these rooms 

 are on the ground ; they have excellent floors, and are in 

 the main well lighted ; in each wing there is consider- 

 able space between the ceiling and the roof ; in two of 

 the wings this space contains attic rooms. Thus omitting 

 the room which has been subdivided, there are five large 

 laboratories on the ground floor in the wings, and two in 

 the central block. There are, in addition, a number of 



while some existing buildings will be utilised for a 

 battery-room, a drawing office, and for other purposes. 

 To the north of these buildings stand, at a distance of 

 about 100 yards, the house. To minimise the risk of 

 vibrations from the engine being felt to enter the physical 

 laboratory, a Parson's Turbo-Generator will be used to- 

 provide light and power, and the latter will be trans- 

 mitted electrically. The engineering laboratory will have 

 a traversing crane fitted, and will contain the main work- 

 shop of the Institution. 



The grounds of Bushy House, under the direct control 

 of the Royal Society, are nearly twenty-five acres ii> 

 extent ; it will be possible, therefore, to put up, if re- 

 quired, isolated buildings for special experiments ; the 

 use, for example, of a large testing machine in the 

 engineering laboratory might shake the physics labora- 

 tory, and would certainly disturb many of the experiments 

 in the engineering laboratory itself. At present the funds- 

 available are insufficient to permit of the purchase of such 

 a machine ; if it is found that one is wanted, and money 

 were forthcoming, the necessary buildings could be 

 erected in another portion of the grounds. 



Fig. I.— National Physical Laboratory. Bushy House from the East. 



[Pholo. l/y Lascelies 



Other smaller rooms, and at the back various kitchen 

 offices, which can easily be rendered most useful. 



This general plan has some distinct advantages ; it is 

 not unlike Principal Lodge's ideal laboratory, a central 

 block to serve as a museum, entrance-hall, offices, &c., 

 with four wings assigned to definite branches of the 

 work. Each wing is isolated from the others, and the 

 chances of an observer being affected by his colleague 

 in the next room are reduced. At the same time the 

 difficulty of supervision is increased, while the fact that 

 the levels are diff"erent in the wings and in the main 

 building renders the transport of apparatus a matter of 

 some trouble. 



Our illustrations gi^e a view of Bushy House from the 

 east and a plan of the ground-floor. 



This building will serve then for the more delicate 

 physical measurements. For the engineering work a 

 new laboratory is to be built ; this will be 80 feet by 50 

 feet in area, with a weaving-shed roof lighted from the 

 north and arranged so as to be easily capable of exten- 

 sion. Adjacent to it will be an engine and dynamo-room, 



NO. 1630, VOL. 63] 



Together with their report the Committee presented a 

 scheme of work for the current year. 



The experimental work, which it is possible to do with 

 the appliances at the Kew Observatory, is small ; still it 

 is hoped to increase the testing work which goes on 

 there. Arrangements are being made for examining 

 chemical measuring apparatus, flasks, burettes, and the 

 like, and also, at the request of the Board of Agriculture, 

 the bottles used in the Babcock milk test. An air 

 thermometer, given by Sir A. Noble, has been erected, 

 and will be in use as a standard of temperature 

 up to about 400° C, while preparations are being 

 made for the construction of mercury standards of 

 resistance. 



As to work for the future, which is to be taken up wherk 

 Bushy House is occupied, the subject to which three, at 

 least, of the Advisory Committees gave the first place 

 was the connection between the magnetic quality and the 

 physical, chemical and electrical properties of iron and 

 its alloys, with a view specially to the determination of 

 the conditions for low hysteresis and non-agen:y 



