July 2, 1896J 



NA TURE 



On the Fourth Floor. — A room for inorganic prepar- 

 ations ; a room for organic preparations ; a photographic 

 room ; four rooms for researches in physical chemistry. 



On the Roo/.—\n asphalted flat with a table, gas and 

 water. 



All the floors are connected by a hydraulic passenger- 

 lift. 



Dr. Mond has not only furnished the laboratory with 

 the most modern instruments and appliances for re- 

 searches in pure and physical chemistry, but he has 

 also placed in the hands of the managers of the Royal 

 Institution an ample annual endowment, so that the 

 laboratory may be maintained in a state of thorough 

 efficiency, the object of the donor being to give every 

 assistance and encouragement within the limits of the 

 endowment to scientific workers. 



The laboratory (the affairs of which will be managed 

 by a Laboratory Committee appointed by the managers of 

 the Institution) will be under the control of two directors, 

 who will be aided in the work by competent assistants. 

 The managers of the Royal Institution have appointed as 

 directors Lord Rayleigh and Prof. Dewar. 



It is intended to open the laboratory for work by the 

 middle of October. The trust deed provides that no 

 person shall be admitted to the laboratory as a worker 

 who has not already done original scientific work, or in 

 the alternative, who is not, in the opinion of the Labor- 

 atory Committee, fully qualified to undertake original 

 scientific research in pure or physical chemistry ; and 

 that no person shall be excluded from admission by 

 reason of his or her nationality or sex. 



Admission to the laboratory, and the supply of gas, 

 water and electricity, as far as available, will be free of 

 charge ; but any person using the apparatus, will be 

 responsible for any damage done while in his possession. 



Applications for admission are to be made to Mr. 

 Robert L. Mond, Honorary Secretary to the Laboratory 

 Committee, at 20 Albemarle .Street. 



The conditions of Ur. Mond's endowment are as 

 liberal as the gift itself, and we have no doubt that the 

 results which will follow will demonstrate the importance 

 of both as means of advancing science. We regard the 

 foundation of the laboratory as marking a most im- 

 portant step in the history of British science ; for it pro- 

 vides a means whereby the edifice of scientific knowledge 

 can be built up by master hands. British Governments 

 are said to base their assistance to science mainly on the 

 principle of helping voluntary eflxirt. Perhaps, now that 

 Dr. Mond has shown what can be done, the Government 

 will show its interest in science by establishing a similar 

 laboratory of a national character. 



BORING A CORAL REEF AT FUNAFUTI. 



T ETTERS have just come to hand from Prof Sollas 

 ■'— ' stating that he has started from Sydney to carry 

 out the project of putting down a boring through the 

 atoll of Funafuti. By this time, if all has gone well, the 

 expedition has probably started work. 



It may be remembered that about six years ago, a 

 strong committee was formed by the British .A.ssoci- 

 ation, with Prof Bonney as its chairman, and Prof 

 Sollas as secretary, "to investigate a coral reef by sound- 

 ing and boring." The intention was to carry out the 

 suggestion made by Darwin in his book on "Corals and 

 Coral Islands,'' and to put to the test of fact the rival 

 theories on the origin of these extraordinary limestone 

 masses. After some years of preliminary thought and 

 suggestion, a definite project began to take shape in 

 1894, when an application for a grant was made to the 

 Government Grant Committee. The outcome of this 

 was an application to the Admiralty for the service of 

 a surveying vessel, which was most generously given 



NO. 1392, VOL. 54] 



for May of this year, and grants of money in aid were 

 made by the Government Grant Committee and the 

 Royal Society itself A smaller executive committee of 

 the latter body was formed, including the following 

 names : Prof Bonney (chairman), the President and 

 Officers of the Royal Society, Mr. Wolfe Barry, Mr. 

 Crookes, Mr. F. Darwin, Prof Edgeworth David, Captain 

 Field, Sir A. Geikie, Prof Judd, Dr. J. Murray, Prof 

 Anderson Stuart, Admiral Wharton, with Prof. Sollas 

 and Mr. W. W. Watts (secretaries), and preparations 

 were concluded for making a start in time to leave 

 Sydney in H.M.S. Penguin on May i, under the com- 

 mand of Captain Field. 



Meanwhile Prof Anderson Stuart, of the University 

 of Sydney, whose sympathy had been enlisted, entered 

 warmly into the proposal. He took immense trouble in 

 discussing with missionaries, sailors and travellers, the 

 prospective merits of a large number of islands for the 

 purpose of the investigation. Further he obtained from 

 the Department of Alines in New South Wales the loan 

 of a valuable set of diamond-drilling plant, and used his 

 influence to overcome the natural difficulties which pre- 

 sented themselves in obtaining permission to use such 

 apparatus on a waterless island in the Pacific. The 

 committee is greatly indebted to this gentleman and to 

 Mr. W. H. J. Slee, the Chief Inspector of Mines and 

 Superintendent of Diamond Drills to the Government 

 of New South Wales, for all the care and trouble they 

 have taken in selecting the machinery and stores for 

 this purpose, in engaging for the use of the expedition, 

 some of the most experienced foremen in the colony, and 

 in obtaining a contribution towards the wages expense 

 of the expedition. 



Prof Stuart's recommendation of the Island of Funa- 

 futi agreed with Admiral Wharton's knowledge of the 

 island and the group to which it belongs, and it for- 

 tunately happened that further sounding and exploring 

 of the group would furnish results of use to the 

 Admiralty, so that a topographical and magnetic survey, 

 together with sounding and current observations, could 

 be carried on while the boring was being executed in 

 the island. 



Prof Edgeworth David, from the LTniversity of Sydney, 

 happened to be visiting England while preparations were 

 in progress, and he furnished a most valuable means of 

 communication with helpers in Sydney ; and through this 

 fortunate circumstance, the committee was able to come 

 into closer touch with the .Sydney committee in order ta 

 provide more completely for the regular work and such 

 emei'gencies as could be foreseen. It was hoped that either 

 Prof David, or Mr. Pitman, the Government Geologist 

 of New South Wales, would be able to take part in the 

 expedition, but unfortunately neither gentleman could 

 arrange to be away at the time requisite. Mr. Hedley, 

 from the Australian Museum, has, how'ever, been able to 

 go, and he will utilise his opportunities for collecting and 

 making observations in natural history. 



Prof Sollas, who is sent out by the committee in chief 

 charge, will regard the boring work as the principal aim of 

 the expedition, and will only be able to utilise his spare 

 time in any other work. .W\ of his observations, however, 

 he intends to devote to the primary object of elucidating 

 the structure and origin of the reef It is therefore a 

 good thing that Mr. Stanley Gardner, an enthusiastic Cam- 

 bridge naturalist, has been able to accompany him, and 

 he purposes to devote himself to biological work of such 

 a nature as to bear directly on the origin and growth of 

 reefs. 



Funafuti is a typical atoll, submerged for the most 

 part on its western side, but above water for a long strip 

 on its eastern side. It is about fifteen miles in circum- 

 ference and about seven miles in longest diameter, is one of 

 a group of atolls situated due north of the Fiji group, and 

 is about in latitude 10" S., and longitude 179^ E. The 



