698 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 306. 



The gift was made as a stimulus to the 

 governmeut to establish an institution for 

 physical research. The kind of institution 

 desired had been amply described in suit- 

 able memorials prepared by himself, Pro- 

 fessor von Helmholtz and others of scarcely 

 less distinction. The first memorial bears 

 the date of June 16, 1883. It relates to ' The 

 Founding of an Institution for the Experi- 

 mental Promotion of Exact ISTatural Phi- 

 losophy and the Technical Arts of Precis- 

 ion.' It points out the need of such an 

 institution, details the benefit likely to 

 accrue from it, lays great stress on the inti- 

 mate relation existing between scientific in- 

 vestigations and their application in the 

 useful arts, and sets forth somewhat in de- 

 tail a plan of organization. The memorial- 

 ists had in mind at that time a ' Physico- 

 Mechanical Institution,' but in the me- 

 morial of the following year (March 20, 

 1884) the title was changed to the one 

 which the institution now bears — ' Physi- 

 kalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt. ' From 

 this second memorial it is learned that the 

 first steps toward the furtherance of exact 

 science and technical precision, in an insti- 

 tution to be founded and maintained by the 

 State, were taken as early as 1872. This 

 movement had the support of the crown- 

 prince, the late Emperor Frederick, and the 

 matter was taken in hand by Count von 

 Moltke as chairman of the Central Bureau 

 for Metrology in Prussia. He called to- 

 gether a commission near the end of the 

 year 1873, and in the following January 

 this commission reported a series of propo- 

 sitions for the improvement of the scien- 

 tific, mechanic arts, and of instruments of 

 precision. These propositions formed the 

 foundation for a memorial on the same sub- 

 ject to the Chamber of Delegates of the 

 Prussian Government in 1876. The result 

 was that appropriate rooms were set aside 

 in the new building of the Technical High 

 School in Charlottenburg for the organiza- 



tion of an institution for the cultivation of 

 the arts of precision. 



The general plan of the Eeichsanstalt 

 was adopted in 1887, and an appropriation 

 of 868,254 Marks was made and spread 

 over the budget for three years. The main 

 building for the first or scientific division 

 was completed in 1893. The second or 

 technical division was housed in a portion 

 of the Technical High School till the build- 

 ings for this division were completed in 

 1897. All departments of activity of the 

 Eeichsanstalt are now accommodated on the 

 square facing on March Strasse in Charlot- 

 tenburg. They include the division for 

 pure scientific research, mechanical meas- 

 urements of precision, electrical measure- 

 ments and instruments, the measurement 

 of large direct and alternating currents and 

 electromotive forces, the optical depart- 

 ment, the department of thermometry, the 

 department of pyrometry and the depart- 

 ment of chemistry. To these as auxiliaries 

 should be added the power plant and the 

 workshop. 



II. OEGANIZATION. 



The two divisions into which the Eeichs- 

 anstalt is divided correspond to the two 

 paramount objects which the founders had 

 in view, viz., research in pure science, and 

 the cultivation of precision in the technical 

 applications of science. The same idea is 

 embodied in the very name of the institu- 

 tion — the Imperial Physico-Technical In- 

 stitution. If the sole purpose of the Anstalt 

 had been the promotion of improvement in 

 the mechanic arts, in engineering and in 

 instruments of precision, the first or scien- 

 tific division would still have been essential 

 to secure the ends sought. All the applica- 

 tions of science rest on the foundation of 

 pure scientific discovery. The creation of 

 new and improved methods and instru- 

 ments for physical measurements requires 

 the most exhaustive and painstaking inves- 

 tigations as a preliminary to a steady and 



