32 SCIENCE 



felde, near Berlin, and, in some aspects of its 

 work, the National Physical Laboratory and 

 the Research Institutions for Glass, Pottery, 

 Fuel, etc., which are coming into existence 

 as part of the work of the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Research. 



Thus, the task of an institution like the 

 National Physical Laboratory differs from that 

 of either a University or Technical College 

 Laboratory or a Works Laboratory. In the 

 first place it is not educational ; every member 

 of the staff is, it is true, learning continually, 

 but he is not there to be taught, but to be 

 asked questions and to find the answers. Its 

 functions are primarily to encourage and initiate 

 the applications of science to the problems of 

 industry. It is, in the words of the Order in 

 Council establishing the Research Department, 

 an institution for the scientific study of prob- 

 lems affecting particular industries and trades. 



