310 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1344 



knowledge of living ttings as they are in na- 

 ture. 



Calvin 0. Estekly 

 ScEipps Institution op the 

 TJniveesity of Calipornia 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



THE BRITISH NATIONAL PHYSICAL 

 LABORATORY 



The Britisih Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research, announces that the report 

 of the National Physical Laboratory for the 

 year 1919 has now heen issued. It contains 

 among other matter the report of the execu- 

 tive committee for the year 1919, the state- 

 ment of work proposed for the year 1920-21, 

 a list of papers published by the laboratory 

 during the years 1917-18 and 1919 or com- 

 municated by members of the staff to scientific 

 societies or to the technical journals, and the 

 report of the director for the year 1919. 



Some particulars of special work done dur- 

 ing the war which it was previously necessary 

 to treat as confidential are included, and the 

 descriptions of such work now given will, it is 

 hoped, be found of interest. This special work 

 includes gauge testing carried out for the min- 

 istry of munitions, and a large number of 

 special researches carried out by the electricity 

 and metallurgy department and by the William 

 Fronde national tank. 



The heads of the various departments give 

 accounts of the recent work of the laboratory 

 as follows: 



Physics Department. 

 I. Heat: 



(o)* High Temperature and General 



Work, 

 (6) Thermometer Testing, 

 (c) Oil Apparatus Testing. 

 II. Optics. 

 III. Kadium and X Eay work. 

 IV. Tide Prediction. 



V. Library. 

 Electricity Department. 

 Metrology Department. 

 Engineering Department. 

 Aerodynamics Department. 

 Metallurgy Department. 

 The "William Proude National Tank. 



THE FAIRPORT FISHERIES BIOLOGICAL 

 STATION 



The new building will be dedicated on Oc- 

 tober 7. The formal exercises will be divided 

 into two parts — a forenoon session devoted to 

 the immediate service of the station to indus- 

 tries and an afternoon session to consider the 

 functions of the station in the advancement of 

 science and the possibilities of further eco- 

 nomic applications of its work. At each ses- 

 sion there will be a principal address and three 

 or four brief talks or messages. The speakers 

 will be men of distinction in science and in 

 public service. Opportunity will be afforded 

 for inspection of the establishment, and, at 

 suitable times to be appointed on October 7 

 and 8, scientists, state officers and other guests 

 in attendance will be invited to confer regard- 

 ing its purposes and work. 



The reservation is on the Mississippi Eiver, 

 twenty miles below Davenport, and nine miles 

 above Muscatine, Iowa. It comprises 60 acres 

 of ground extending from the bank of the 

 river to an elevation of about 200 feet above 

 the river. Principal buildings are the biolog- 

 ical laboratory, tank house, pumping station, 

 hatchery (temporary laboratory), shell-testing 

 plant and cottages. There are two water sys- 

 tems — unfiltered river water with storage 

 reservoir of 2,000,000 gallons capacity and fil- 

 tered water with gravity sand filter and low 

 and high pressure cisterns. There are thirty- 

 one ponds, of which nine are concrete-lined, 

 while the remainder have walls and bottoms of 

 natural earth. 



The former laboratory building, oi>ened in 

 1914, was of frame construction, about 100 by 

 50 feet, with two full stories, half basement 

 and attic. It was destroyed by fire December 

 20, 1917, with the loss of a valuable library 

 and many scientific records and specimens. 

 The new building has the same location and 

 approximately the same external dimensions 

 as the old, but experience gained during oc- 

 cupancy of the first building and the resource- 

 fulness and skill of the architect, have com- 

 bined to make the new one superior in avail- 

 aJble space, convenience and serviceability. 



