.gs 



NATURE 



[December 12. 1918 



issued, in directing attention to this development, 

 states that at the end of 190a the stall numbered 

 twenty-six, with one superintendent, in addition 

 to the director. In July, um, the number had 

 increased to 1X7. At the present time the stafi 

 numbers 532, with six superintendents (including 

 the secretary) and nineteen principal or senior 

 assistants. Nearly fifty members of the Staff are 

 .hi military service, and Four have sacrificed their 

 lives iii the cause of right. The staff remaining: 

 is almost exclusively engaged on war work, in- 

 cluding researches ol a confidential character as 

 to which but little can be written. 

 The increasing dependence of the country on 



applied science, lor both war and commerce, has 

 been emphasised by recent events, and as a natural 



corollary the Laboratory, with some other institu- 

 tions, has become nationalised. The property of 

 the laboratory has been vested in the Imperial 

 Trust For the Encouragement of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research. This transference includes 

 the William Fronde National Tank, from which 

 results of great value to the Admiralty have been 

 obtained. 



During the past year there has again been a 

 considerable increase in the work of the labora- 

 tory. In particular, the laboratory has been asked 

 by the Ministry of Munitions to undertake the 

 manufacture of a certain class of gauges and to 

 extend largely the provision for the testing of 

 glass vessels for chemical work. For these two 

 objects new buildings are required and are being 

 provided. The number of munition gauges pass- 

 ing through the laboratory for testing purposes 

 has approached 10,000 a week. In the Aero- 

 dynamics Department the demands grow daily, 

 and the laboratory has been required by the Air 

 Ministry to extend the accommodation, especially 

 bv the provision of additional large air channels. 



It is only possible to refer briefly to one. or two 

 points of special interest in connection with the 

 work of other departments. It is proposed that 

 the custody and maintenance of the primary elec- 

 trical standards of the Electrical Standards Labo- 

 ratory of the Hoard of Trade should be assigned to 

 the National Physical Laboratory, so as to avoid 

 the continuance of dual systems of standards. 

 Since the early part of 191 7, when the supply of 

 clinical thermometers was taken over by the 

 Mini: try of Munitions, it has been found desirable 

 that each individual thermometer should undergo 

 test, and more than 3000 clinicals have been 

 tested per week. This work has necessitated the 

 provision of three new clinical test baths, the 

 capacity of each bath being approximately 600 

 instruments per normal day. Two new para- 

 graphs of simplified design have been constructed 

 for the marking of satisfactory instruments. A 

 card index record is made of all thermometers 

 passing through the department! In the optics 

 division, in addition to the large amount of routine 

 testing carried out on behalf of the Ministry of 

 Munitions, valuable work lias been done in test- 

 ing the refractive properties ol optical glass and 

 in simplifying the methods employed in the calcu- 

 NO. 2563, VOL. I02] 



lation and design of optical sv stems. The record 

 of the laboratory affords overwhelming proof ol 

 the national importance of both pure and applied 

 physics, and this must inevitably lead to more 

 adequate recognition of the professional status of 



ll'ist. 



NOTES. 



K June last the Board of Trade, in co-operation 

 with the Ministry of Reconstruction, appointed a 



Committee "to examine and report upon the wan 1 - 

 power resources of the 1 nited Kingdom and th< 

 extent to which the\ can be made available for indus- 

 trial purposes." The announcement met with a 

 cordial reception, for, with the exception of power 

 installations at Kinlochleven, in the Scottish High- 

 lands, and Dolgarrog, in North Wales, both for 

 aluminium works, there is practical!) no utilisation 

 on am appreciable scale of the natural water resources 

 of the country, and the scope for development seems 

 considerable. The names of the Committee com- 

 manded confidence. Sir John Snel) is chairman, and, 

 on the technical side, Sir Dugald Clerk, Mr. A. 

 N'ewlands, and Mr. Philip I >aw son are members; 

 representatives of the Government and of thi Asso- 

 ciated Chambers of Commerce are also included. In 

 the course of its investigations this Committee, which 

 is still sitting, has found it desirable to delegate to a 

 sub-committee its functions in so far as Ireland is 

 concerned. Such a sub-committee has just been 

 appointed by the Board of Trade, and it comprisi s s ii 

 J. Purser Griffith (chairman), Dr. J P. Crow lev 

 (via -1 hairman), Mr. T. M. Batchen, Mr. G. Fletcher, 

 Mr. L. J. Kettle, Lord Leitrim, and Mr. J. C. White, 

 with Prof. II. H. Jeffcott as secretary. Although 

 Ireland is not endowed to the same degree with 

 favourable conditions such as those of the Highlands 

 of Scotland, there are latent resources of water-powi 1 

 which are roughly computed bv Mr. N'ewlands at 

 between -too,ooo h.p. and 350,000 h.p. These are to 

 be found in connection with the great livers which 

 have a very considerable fall almost at the points at 

 which they enter the sea. The reports of both Com- 

 mittees will be awaited with interest. 



When the British Scientific Products Exhibition 

 was belli bv the British Science Guild at King's Col- 

 lege, London, last summer, the hope was expressed 

 that it would be transferred to great industrial centres 

 in the provinces, Manchester promptly took steps to 

 act upon this suggestion, and announcement can now 

 be made that the exhibition will be opened at the 

 College of Technology on December 27, and will remain 

 open for a fortnight. The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor 

 of Manchester is the chairman of the committee, and 

 the detailed arrangements are in the hands of a strong 

 executive committee, of which the principal of the cof- 

 lege i- chairman. The exhibition will follow the lines 

 of that organised bv the British Science Guild, but it 

 will naturally be stronger in certain sections which 

 represent industries centred in Manchester; in par- 

 ticular, the display of dves and textiles is expected to 

 afford a striking example of what British science and 

 industry have been able to achieve in spite of war 

 conditions, under the stimulus of the knowledge and 

 enthusiasm of our scientific workers and manufac- 

 turers. Official exhibits will include a verv striking 

 collection of materials, models, and instruments used 

 by ami Milling to the aircraft industry, which is being 

 shown bv the Aeronautical Inspection Department. 



The National Physical Laboratory, the Admiralty, and 

 the Meteorological Office are also contributing den art- 



