938 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 495. 



new schedule of fees has recently been pub- 

 lished. 



To carry out these functions adequately 

 requires large, well-equipped and fully 

 manned physical and chemical laboratories. 

 To this end congress has appropriated 

 $25,000 for a site, $325,000 for two build- 

 ings and $225,000 for apparatus and equip- 

 ment. It is expected that the buildings 

 will be finished and their equipment of 

 apparatus and machinery installed during 

 the present year. These buildings have 

 been so planned and located that additional 

 buildings may be added as they become 

 necessary. 



In the meantime, while the work of plan- 

 ning and building laboratories and design- 

 ing and constructing the somewhat exten- 

 sive and in many respects unique equip- 

 ment of the same has been going on, the 

 bureau has been effecting its organization 

 and developing its work in temporary 

 quarters. Wlien the Bureau of Standards 

 was organized it superseded the office of 

 Standard Weights and Measures and ac- 

 quired its equipment ; the old offices in the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey building were 

 retained, and by the courtesy of the super- 

 intendent of the Coast and Geodetic Sur- 

 vey, several additional rooms provided in 

 the adjoining building. A year later a 

 neighboring residence was rented and con- 

 verted into a laboratory and instrument 

 shop. In the brick stable at the rear of 

 the house a gas-engine and dynamo were 

 installed for charging a storage battery, 

 the latter being located in the laundry; 

 the kitchen became the carpenter and cab- 

 inet shop ; in another basement room were 

 installed a switchboard and several motor- 

 driven alternators. The parlor and dining- 

 room were taken for an instrument shop, 

 and here four mechanicians and two ap- 

 prentices turned out some very important 

 pieces of apparatus, in most cases, of 

 coi;rse, of special design that could not be 



purchased already made. The three floors 

 above have been occupied as laboratories. 

 In these very inadequate quarters the 

 bureau has not only gathered together a 

 considerable equipment of apparatus and 

 done a great deal of preliminary work, but 

 it has also done some testing for the gov- 

 ernment and the public and not a little re- 

 search. The quantity of testing done has 

 been limited partly by an insufficient force 

 of assistants, partly by the incomplete 

 equipment of apparatus and partly by 

 lack of space in which to set up apparatus 

 already at hand. It is the intention to 

 undertake nothing in the line of testing 

 that can not be done well. In some cases, 

 however, instruments and standards sub- 

 mitted have necessarily been retained a 

 considerable length of time. In every case, 

 however, the bureau has striven to com- 

 plete all tests requested as promptly as 

 consistent with satisfactory results. Dur- 

 ing the present preparatory stage of the 

 bureau the time required is often much 

 greater than will be the case after the work 

 is well established. 



THE ORGANIZATION AND PERSONNEL. 



The act establishing the bureau provided 

 for fourteen positions at an aggregate sal- 

 ary of $27,140. The next year (1902-3) 

 the number was increased to twenty-four 

 at an aggregate salary of $36,060. For the 

 present fiscal year there are altogether in 

 the bureau fifty-eight positions at an ag- 

 gregate salary of $74,700. These positions 

 are as follows: 



One director, one physicist, one chemist 3 



Eight assistant physicists, one assistant chem- 

 ist 9 



Fifteen laboratory assistants, one librarian, one 

 computer, one draftsman 18 



One secretary, four clerks, two messengers, one 

 storekeeper 8 



Four mechanicians, two woodworkers, three ap- 

 prentices, two laborers 11 



