July 22, 1922] 



NA TURE 



ground was accomplished through the efforts of Dr. 

 Hale, Dr. Millikan, and others. 



The lot purchased by the Academy is known as 

 Square 88. It contains 189,755 square feet. Origin- 

 ally its highest point was in north-west corner and 

 its lowest point was under water in the river at the 

 south-east. To-day its lowest point is about 24 feet 

 above high water and its highest 41 feet. The borings 

 show that there is a fill of from 5 to 10 feet where the 

 building will stand, from 6 to 28 feet of clay and sand, 

 and from 7 inches to 3 feet of decomposed rock. 



The building planned has a frontage of 260 feet and 

 is 140 feet deep. The height above the first floor is 60 

 feet. The vestibule is n by 20 feet ; the entrance hall, 

 36 by 21 feet; the central hall, 64 by 24 feet; the 



Facing the Lincoln Memorial, the marble building 

 in simple classical style will rise three stories from a 

 broad terrace. On the first floor there will be an 

 auditorium seating some 600 people, a lecture-hall 

 holding 250, a reading-room, library, conference rooms, 

 and exhibition halls. The basement will contain a 

 cafeteria and kitchen. The two upper floors will he 

 devoted to offices. 



The building is the gift of the Carnegie Corporation 

 of New York, while the ground was bought at a 

 cost of nearly 200,000 dollars through the donations 

 of about a score of benefactors. Bertram Grosvenor 

 Goodhue of New York is the architect. He is one 

 of the best -known architects in the country, and 

 designed the St. Thomas Church, the West Point 



library, 36 by 64 feet ; the lecture-room, 34 by 50 feet. 

 The five exhibition halls range in size from 26 by 14 

 to 34 by 21 feet. 



The total number of square feet of floor space, 

 exclusive of elevators, doorways, and hallways, is 

 39,874. This includes exhibition space amounting 

 to 14,571 square feet, lecture and entertainment space 

 of 7982, and 14,786 square feet for administrative 

 purposes. Every modern convenience and facility 

 will be provided. 



Having brought you thus far, let us assume that, 

 we are on our way to the annual meeting in 1924. 

 Walking west along B Street, half-way between 21st 

 and 22nd Streets, we find a broad walk on our right, 

 with reflecting pools in the centre leading through 

 a formal effect of trees and shrubs to a building in the 

 middle of the square surmounting a series of terraces. 

 It is the home of the National Academy of Sciences 

 and the National Research Council — a marble structure 

 of fine proportions, standing out in bold relief against 

 the blue sky in the morning sunlight (Fig. 1). 



NO. 2751, VOL. I io] 



Building, the Nebraska State Capitol, and many other 

 buildings. The contract for the construction of the 

 building has been let to Charles T. Wills. Inc., of New 

 York, and it is expected that the building will lie 

 ready for occupation in the autumn of 1923. Lee 

 Laurie, the sculptor, has been selected to do the 

 decorations, which will symbolise and depict the 

 progress of science and its benefits to humanity. A 

 series of bronze bas-reliefs will show a procession of 

 the leaders of scientific thought from the earliest 

 Greek philosophers to modern Americans. 



On passing through the entrance hall the visitor will 

 find himself in a lobby rotunda. Here he will see in 

 actual operation apparatus demonstrating certain 

 fundamental scientific facts that hitherto he has had 

 to take on hearsay. A coelostat telescope, mounted 

 on the dome of the central rotunda, will form a large 

 image of the sun on the white surface of a circular 

 table in the middle of the room. Here visitors will lie 

 able to see the sun-spots, changing in number and form 

 from day to day, and moving across the disc as the sun 



