706 



SCIENCE. 



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



Investigation of quartz plates for the examination 

 of sugars. 



Determination of 100 points in the normal Ventzke 

 scale for sodium light. 



Especially careful collection of sugars from Ger- 

 many, Austria, France, Russia and North America 

 for the investigation of specific rotatory power. 



V. Wofk in Chemistry. — Continuation of the study 

 of the solubility of important salts. 



Electrolysis of platinic chloride and the migration 

 of the ions. 



The quantitative determination of metallic plat- 

 inum. 



Investigation of liquids for use in thermometers to 

 measure low temperatures. 



la additioa to the above work attention 

 is drawn to the fact that there are two in- 

 stitutions for the calibration and certifica- 

 tion of thermometers under the control of 

 the Reichsanstalt, one at Ilmenau and the 

 other at Gehlberg. During the last ten 

 years the institution at Ilmenau has tested 

 in round numbers 350,000 thermometers. 



The number of persons employed in the 

 Reichsanstalt the past year was 87. 



v. A LESSON FOR US. 



If Germany has found it to her scientific 

 and industrial advantage to maintain the 

 Reichsanstalt, and is proud of what it ac- 

 complishes ; and if Great Britain is so im- 

 pressed with the success of the institution 

 that she has decided to imitate it, it is 

 surely the part of wisdom for the United 

 States to move in the same direction. It is 

 therefore vei'y gratifying that at the sug- 

 gestion of Secretary Gage a bill was intro- 

 duced in the last Congress to establish a 

 National Standardizing Bureau, and that 

 the Committee on Coinage, Weights and 

 Measures reported unanimously and strongly 

 in favor of its passage. So great is the im- 

 portance of this movement from the point 

 of view of science, of national pride and of 

 the higher interests of industrial pursuits, 

 that the effort so happily begun to secure 

 suitable legislation should be repeated with 

 redoubled force and enthusiasm. Some of 



the reasons for making this effort one does 

 not need to go far to seek. 



In the first place the scientific interests 

 to be served are certainly as great as in any 

 other country in the world. Science is cul- 

 tivated here with increasing assiduitj"^ and 

 success. We are no longer content to follow 

 in the footsteps of European savants and 

 modestly repeat their investigations. Orig- 

 inal work of a high order is now done in 

 many American universities ; but the difB.- 

 culties under which university instructors 

 prosecute research are even greater here 

 than in Germany, and we are still compelled 

 to go to Europe for most of our standards. 

 As a result, inventions of an almost purely 

 scientific character originating here have 

 been carried to perfection in the Reichsan- 

 stalt, and Germany gets the larger part of 

 the credit. I need only instance the Wes- 

 ton standard cell, which has been so fully 

 investigated at the Reichsanstalt, and the 

 alloy ' manganin,' which the same institu- 

 tion employs for its standard resistances 

 after a searching inquiry into its properties. 

 Both of these are the invention of Mr. 

 Edward Weston, one of the Past-Presidents 

 of this Institute. So long as there is no 

 authoritative bureau in the United States 

 under Federal control, and presided over by 

 men commanding respect and confidence, 

 we must continue ' to utilize the far superior 

 standardizing facilities of other govern- 

 ments.' It is true that science knows no 

 nationality, but the scientific workers of any 

 nation can serve their own country better 

 if they are not compelled to obtain their 

 standards and their best instruments from 

 distant parts of the globe. America has the 

 cultivation in physical science, the ability 

 on the part of her investigators and the 

 inventive faculty to do work in a national 

 institution that we shall not be ashamed to 

 place by the side of Germany's best prod- 

 ucts. The establishment of a national in- 

 stitution for physical and technical purposes 



