JANUARY 5, 1912] 
6. COOPERATION WITH THE DEPARTMENTS 
OF THE GOVERNMENT 
In addition to its cooperation with the 
departments of the government in the di- 
rection just noticed, and in doing testing in 
considerable quantity, the bureau cooperates 
with the departments also in other ways. 
With the War and Navy departments it 
cooperates in experimental work on radio- 
telegraphy, and several rooms in the 
bureau’s laboratory are occupied by repre- 
sentatives of the signal corps of the army, 
and of the Navy Department, in this work. 
The bureau also renders technical assist- 
ance to the Bureau of Navigation, of the 
Department of Commerce and Labor, which 
is charged with the administration of the 
law requiring all passenger ships carrying 
fifty passengers or more to be equipped 
with radio-telegraphic apparatus. Its 
traveling inspectors visit the lamp facto- 
ries and inspect for the various departments 
of the government a million electric lamps 
a year, taking samples for life test at the 
bureau. 
7. DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION 
In addition to the scientific and engi- 
neering papers published in the Bulletin, 
and in the Bureau’s Technologie Series 
thirty-one circulars of information have 
been published by the bureau on a variety 
of subjects, and among these nine have 
been prepared by the Electrical Division, 
and several others are in preparation. 
Among those issued may be mentioned 
“«Standard Specifications for Incandescent 
Lamps,’’ ‘‘A Proposed International Unit 
of Light,’’ ‘‘Maenetie Testing,’’ “‘ Testing 
of Hlectrical Measuring Instruments,’’ 
‘“Precision Measurements of Resistance 
and Electromotive Force’’ and ‘‘Trans- 
former Specifications.’’ 
A large amount of time is expended in 
answering letters which request informa- 
SCIENCE 17 
tion. These come from many classes of 
inquirers, asking many kinds of questions, 
some very easy and some very hard to 
answer. All receive careful attention, no 
matter how humble the writer or how 
simple the question. We in our turn write 
a great many letters asking for imforma- 
tion, and we have to acknowledge the uni- 
form courtesy accorded to such inquiries, 
and the valuable information often so ob- 
tained. 
Much information is communicated also 
to those who call personally at the bureau, 
and this.is naturally an increasing quan- 
tity. As the apparatus, methods of meas- 
urement and results for the most part are 
open to the public, many find it advantage- 
ous to make personal visits. An exception 
is made as to the results of tests for which 
a fee is paid, these being held as confiden- 
tial and communicated only with the con- 
sent of the person for whom the test was 
made. 
Enough has been said to show the great 
variety of the work in one division of the 
bureau, which may be taken as typical of 
all. It extends from the purely scientific 
investigations on the one hand to the most 
practical of engineering problems on the 
other. The work in electricity, magnet- 
ism and photometry is distributed among 
three different buildings, and needs more 
space. The new building now under con- 
struction, which will be 190 < 60 feet in 
floor area, with four stories and basement, 
will afford larger and better accommoda- 
tions for this work. 
In closing this necessarily incomplete ac- 
count of the work of the electrical division 
of the bureau, let me say a few words as 
to the reasons for testing instruments and 
materials purchased by the government. 
Most people admit the advantage of such 
testing, but few appreciate how important 
it is, or how many sided is the question of 
