Photo from Bureau of Standards 



A BAI^ANCE SO delicate; THAT THE EXPERT MUST OPERATE IT EROM A DISTANCE 

 LEST THE HEAT OF HIS BODY SHOULD CAUSE A DISTURBANCE 



The series of control rods and the telescope for reading the scale of this ingenious 

 kilogram balance is also shown. The balance stands on a pedestal independent of the 

 building, whereby freedom from vibration is secured. 



A WONDERLAND OF SCIENCE 



STANDING on one of the many high 

 hills that fringe the Nation's Capi- 

 tal is a group of buildings that 

 house one of the greatest aggregations 

 of wonder workers in the New World. 

 In their enchanted chambers truth makes 

 fiction seem tame and commonplace ; men 

 make fairies appear weak, insipid, and 

 impotent as doers of strange things. 



Entering there, one may see a grain of 

 sand become a mountain, an inch become 

 a mile, an unappreciable zephyr become a 

 howHng storm, the footfall of a fly the 

 thundering tread of a draft-horse upon 

 a threshing floor, the heat of a candle a 

 roaring furnace, the unperceived warmth 



of a star a cheering fireside, and the 

 pressure of a finger the force of a thou- 

 sand giants in one. 



These enchanted chambers are the cre- 

 ation of the United States Bureau of 

 Standards, which not only stands be- 

 tween the American people and the short 

 weight and false measure, but also is 

 laboring day in and day out to promote 

 all branches of science. Some philoso- 

 pher has recently declared that the science 

 of tomorrow will have to be largely based 

 upon investigations that carry the investi- 

 gator beyond the sixth decimal place : in 

 other words, the truths upon which our 

 scientists will base tomorrow's progress 



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