May 5, 1898] 



NATURE 



13 



to suspend apparatus if necessary ; the tables themselves , 



are of slate. ' 



Next to this large room is the sub-director's room and 

 laboratory ; then we come to a small chemical labor- 

 atory, and finally the machine-room. The latter is built 

 over a vault, and contains two Lenoir gas machines of 

 16 horse-power each, three dynamos, and a large switch- 

 board, which makes it possible to distribute the current 

 for various uses in the laboratory, such as illumination, 

 •experiments and accumulators. Above this room, and 

 accessible by a staircase from it, is the mechanical 

 workshop, well equipped with apparatus and under the 

 direction of two mechanics and an electrician. All the 

 machines are worked by electricity. On the same floor 

 there is an open terrace for the accumulators, which 

 include a battery of the Tudor system used for illumin- 

 ating purposes (60 eleriients), and another battery, of the 

 Peyrusson system (80 'elements), for experiments. Facing 



laboratory of the sub-director, M, G, Maneuvrier, whose 

 room adjoins it ; the next floor has a dark room for 

 optical researches. Lastly, on the third floor are three 

 small rooms for private students. It may also be added 

 that this tower connects the different parts of the labor- 

 atory with the physical amphitheatre, and with the col- 

 lections of apparatus for the various courses. Under 

 the large hall on the ground floor there are three cellars 

 completely fitted up as laboratories, and a Gauss mag- 

 netometer mounted on solid stone pillars. On the 

 ground floor there is a dark room isolated by three stone 

 pillars, and used for electrical measurements and measure- 

 ments of precision.. . 



It will thus be seen that the laboratopy is very com- 

 plete in itself; but the money allowed for its maintenance 

 (12,000 francs) is quite insufficient, when the general 

 expenses, experiments, and course of lectures are taken 

 into consideration. Nevertheless, the work of the students 



-New Physical Research Laboratory at the Sorbonne. 



the workshop is a large hall, used as a laboratory by the 

 assistants. This is connected with the workshop by a 

 gallery, which is at present given up to experiments on 

 electric waves. Next to this laboratory there is a 

 terrace and a photographic room, and in the large en- 

 trance hall on the first floor are M. Lippmann's private 

 room and laboratory. The latter is divided into three 

 parts, a light and a dark room, and another room for 

 optical researches, with optical benches of slate. The 

 ore-dresser occupies the last room on this floor. 



A tower 40 metres (nearly 131 feet) high contains the 

 general staircase, and also leads to the extensions of the 

 upper stories. This tower extends 18 metres (59 feet) 

 in the ground, by which means a long vertical range is 

 procured, and experiments in height can be made. The 

 extensions of the upper floors referred to consist of a 

 large hall, two stories high, comprising the library and 



NO. 1488, VOL. 58] 



who have been through the laboratory is a proof of the 

 thoroughness of the instruction. M^I. Bouty, Pellat, 

 Foussereau and Leduc (professors of physics at the 

 Sorbonne) all studied at this laboratory, and qualified 

 for their doctor's degrees in it. Several well-known 

 Roumanians and Russians studied there also, and ^L 

 Benoit, director of the Bureau of Weights and Measures 

 of Sevres, wrote his thesis under Jamin. The laboratory 

 has, indeed, become celebrated by M. Lippmann's own 

 work, for it has all been done there, from the investiga- 

 tions on the electro-capillary phenomena to the won- 

 derful discovery of colour photography. It is, therefore, 

 to be hoped that the additional funds required will be 

 forthcoming, and that the enlarged Institute may be 

 even more successful than the old one. 



We are indebted to the editor of La Nature for the 

 accompanying illustration of the laboratory 



