6 — 



Central 



Laboratory 



Committees 



The Central Laboratory in Christiania undertakes the duties of testing the 

 apparatus and methods and of supervising the uniformity of the observations. Its 

 sphere of work is controlled by rules and regulations^ drawn up by the Interna- 

 tional Council and is superintended by a director chosen by the Council. The 

 officials are: 



First assistant: Dr. V. W. Ekman, physicist. 

 Second assistant: Dr. Charles J. J. Fox, chemist. 

 Annual reports on the work of the Central Laboratory for the years 1902 — 1903 

 and 1903 — 1904, have appeared in the Reports of Administration for those years ==. 



During these two years, the Central Laboratory has been specially engaged in 

 the following labours: 

 I. The Laboratory has provided the expeditions fitted out by the various countries 

 with hydrographical apparatus. 



It has controlled the water-samples sent in by the participating countries. 

 The Laboratory has prepared normal-water and holds it at disposal. 

 The apparatus and instruments employed for the hydrographical investigations, 

 which have been sent in to the Laboratory, have been tested there. 

 New apparatus and instruments (water-bottles, current-measurers, ground-samplers 

 etc.) have been constructed by it. 



Various special investigations have been undertaken by the Laboratory (as, of 

 the gases dissolved in sea-water, the compressibility of sea-water etc.). 



2. 

 3- 



4- 



6. 



To ensure efficient direction of the work in each region, the Bureau has the 

 right to take counsel with experts and bodies of experts, who are called together 

 for this purpose to a place determined by the Bureau. 



Of such meetings, the following have been held: 



at Edinburgh, September 1902: Meeting of Committees A and B, 



- Stralsund, Juli 1903: — — — C, 



- Amsterdam. December 1903: — — — B, 



- Copenhagen, July 1904: — — the hydrographical assistants 



of the laboratories of the participating countries. 



In addition, Committees A, B and C met at Copenhagen in February 1903, 

 and Committees A and B at Hamburg in February 1904, when meetings of the 

 International Council were held at these towns 3. 



The resolutions and protocols of these meetings were laid before the Inter- 

 national Council, which decided how far these were to act as guiding rules for the 

 international work. 



As mentioned earlier (page 2), three committees of experts were formed by 

 the International Council in July 1902. These committees are at present constituted 

 as follows: 



1 Procès-Verbal de la réunion de Copenhague, Février 1903. Annexe B. Règlement du laboratoire 

 central. Rapport et Procès- Verbaux. Vol. I, 1903. p. 64—67. 



2 Rapports et Procès- Verbaux. Vol. I. 1903, p. XL-XLIV. - Id. Vol. II. 1904. p. XX- XXIV. 



3 For the Proceedings of the meetings held by the Committees, see Vols. I and II of the "Rap- 

 ports et Procès- Verbaux". 



