464 



NATURE 



[July 3, 191 3 



about 4S0 revolutions per minute. With the Diesel 

 engines, of iooo h.p., the remarkably low consump- 

 tion of 037 lb. of oil per shaft h.p. was obtained. 



In the concluding paper of the meeting Messrs. 

 Reid and Mavor made out an excellent case for elec- 

 trical propulsion in conjunction with Diesel engines 

 in the type of large canal barge or freighter used to 

 such an extent on the great inland waterways of 

 North America. The efficiency of such a vessel de- 

 pend- very largely on the ease and rapidity with 

 which it can be manoeuvred, reversed, accelerated, 

 and backed, during its frequent passages through the 

 locks on these waterways, and this puts the direct- 

 coupled Diesel engine, under present conditions, out of 

 court. 



THE NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY 



Opening of New Building. 



THE new building at the National Physical Labo- 

 1 ratory, Teddington, was opened by the Right 

 Hon. A. J. Balfour on the day of the annual visita- 

 tion, Thursday, June 26. The opening ceremony was 

 held in the structure designed for the new wind-channel 

 for aeronautical work. A large and distinguished 

 company foregathered, including Sir Archibald "Geikie, 

 who presided. Colonel Seely (Secretary of State for 

 War), Lord Rayleigh, Lord Allerton,' Lord Welby, 

 Viscount Esher, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Sir 

 Oliver Lodge, Sir Wm. Crookes, Sir Wm. Ramsay, 

 Sir John Brunner, Sir Albert Spicer, and Dr. R. T. 

 Glazebrook (director of the laboratory). 



The chairman, in his opening remarks, referred to 

 the amazing growth of the laboratory and the place 

 it had taken as one of the most important national 

 institutions in this country. 



Dr. Glazebrook dwelt on the noble liberality of the 

 friends who had so splendidly supported the labora- 

 tory in the past, and Lord Rayleigh emphasised the 

 fact that funds were still needed for equipment pur- 

 poses. Lord Rayleigh went on to express the hope 

 that in the future larger funds would be available to 

 enable greater attention to be paid to research in 

 pure science, as well as to work calculated to further 

 the immediate ends of industry. 



Mr. Balfour gave an interesting and thoughtful 

 address dealing largely with the national advantages 

 of the study of pure science. In the course of his 

 address he remarked : — 



Measuring is the very life-blood of physical 

 science. It lies at the root of almost all 

 great discoveries and their application to practice. 

 It is impossible not to acknowledge the benefit which 

 mankind has received by the command which science 

 has given us ; and measurements and testing are abso- 

 lutely essential to science. The great features of a 

 national laboratory are its impartiality, its ability to 

 bring an adequate staff and adequate machinery to 

 bear on problems, and the standard of perfection which 

 it sets for instruments and which serves as an ideal 

 for manufacturers to work to. The advantages to 

 industry are beyond all doubt and beyond all question. 



But the successes of the future of industry depend 

 on the abstract of purely scientific investigations of 

 the present, and it is to the labours of the man of 

 science working for purely scientific ends, and without 

 any thought of the application of his doctrines to the 

 practical needs of mankind, that mankind will be most 

 indebted as time goes on. The general public does 

 not realise that it is to the results of pure science 

 that we have owed in the past, and shall owe more 

 and more in the future, all great advances in indus- I 

 NO. 2279, VOL. qi] 



trial knowledge and practice. Still less does it realise 

 that the man of science who is working continuously 

 towards that end is only half a man of science, and 

 is not likely to do his scientific work nearly so well as 

 if he were simply and solely occupied in advancing 

 that branch of knowledge with which he is connected. 

 When these important truths have sunk into the 

 public mind, we may see, as a reflection of that new 

 conviction, a different attitude adopted by those who 

 have to settle what expenditure should be presented 

 to Parliament for its sanction, and the attitude which 

 Parliament itself may take in the face of such sug- 

 gestions. The growth of this great institution during 

 its very few years' existence justifies us in looking 

 forward to a great and glorious future for it. The 

 thanks of the public are due to the brilliant and hard- 

 working staff of the laboratory who, under no small 

 difficulties, are the real authors of the triumph which 

 we are met to celebrate. 



After the opening ceremony, an inspection was 

 made of the new building, and visitors wandered at 

 will through the various departments of the labora- 

 tory, in which a series of interesting demonstrations 

 had been arranged. 



The new building marks the completion of a scheme 

 for the erection of laboratories for metallurgy and 

 optics, and of a building for administration purposes. 

 The late Sir Julius Wernher made himself responsible 

 for the funds for the metallurgical laboratories, and 

 for the rest, the Treasury, the 185 1 Commissioners, 

 and some of the City Companies have made generous 

 contributions. 



One of the main objects for which the new labora- 

 tories have been erected was to enable the testing 

 work, until recently carried out at Kew Observatory, 

 to be transferred to Teddington. Kew Observatory 

 is in future to devote itself purely to meteorological 

 objects — it is now, in fact, the central observatory of 

 the Meteorological Office — while the testing of instru- 

 ments of all kinds will be undertaken exclusively at 

 Teddington. 



The new building provides accommodation for the 

 administration and optics departments, together with 

 workshop and packing rooms. The optics wing is 

 designed to accommodate the optical testing work 

 hitherto carried out at Kew and in a suite of rooms at 

 Bushy House. The latter rooms are now occupied 

 by the thermometer-testing observers from Kew, while 

 the remainder of the Kew test-work has been housed 

 in the metrology department. 



The new building, of which we show an illustra- 

 tion, is a three-storey structure built of purple Surrey 

 bricks with red brick facings. The architecture is of 

 the Queen Anne period, and the structure bears a 

 general resemblance in style to Bushy House, along- 

 side which it stands, and" which, it will be recalled, 

 formerly housed the whole of the work of the labora- 

 tory. The new building impresses one as being 

 generously lighted and 'very substantially built, and 

 reflects great credit on the architect, Mr. W. D. 

 Caroe, and on the clerk of the works, Mr. R. Allen 

 Jane. 



_ Great care has been bestowed on the fireproof quali- 

 ties of the building; the floors and stairs are of ferro- 

 concrete throughout, and generous provision has been 

 made for fire hydrants. This feature is, of course, 

 doubly important in a building one of the functions 

 of which is to house important records. 



The ventilation is controlled by a large fan on the 

 roof, communicating by ducts to extractors in the 

 ceilings of the different rooms. Fresh air is admitted 

 through louvres behind steam-heated radiators pro- 

 vided with suitable baffle plates. 



The corridors throughout are covered with Dolo- 



