626 
OCTOBER 22, FRIDAY. 
10:00 a. m. Inspection of the Ryerson Physical 
Laboratory and other buildings of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 
In the Ryerson Laboratory Head Professor 
Michelson and Associate Professor Stratton 
will demonstrate the effect of a magnetic 
field on radiation, and exhibit an inter- 
ferential comparer and a new form of har- 
monic analyzer. 
1:00 p.m. Luncheon given by the President of 
the University. 
3:00 p. m. Address: ‘Aspects of Modern 
Astronomy.’ Professor Simon Newcomb, 
LL.D. 
7:30 p.m. Banquet. 
THE LABORATORIES OF THE BRITISH GOVERN- 
MENT. 
THE Revenue Laboratories of the British 
government for chemical examination and 
analysis have just been housed in a new build- 
ing erected adjacent to King’s College Hospital. 
From the London Times we take the following 
facts regarding the building and its equipment : 
It occupies a site of about 7,900 square feet, and 
its various rooms, 38 in number and capable of 
accommodating about 100 workers, are distrib- 
uted over three floors and a basement. The 
building externally is befittingly simple in 
character, and, with the exception of the en- 
trance, which faces Clement’s Inn, is altogether 
devoid of any attempt at ornamental treatment. 
On the ground floor are situated the office of 
the Principal Chemist, the Deputy Principal, a 
small reference library, the research laboratory, 
the crown contracts laboratories, and the 
laboratory for the examination of food and 
drugs sent by magistrates under the Adultera- 
tion Act of 1875. Samples of imported butter 
taken by customs officers at the port of entry 
at the instance of the Board of Agriculture are 
also examined in this laboratory, as are samples 
of fertilizers and feeding stuffs referred in ac- 
cordance with the Act of 1893. 
The first floor is wholly reserved for the ex- 
amination of alcoholic products and manufac- 
tured tobacco. The alcohol laboratory, ar- 
ranged for 32 workers, is a lofty, well-lighted 
room, with conveniently-disposed work-tables 
fitted with various contrivances for the rapid 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Vou. VI. No. 147, 
and accurate examination and analysis of brew- 
ing materials, worts, beers, wines, tinctures, 
medicated wines, compounds, etc. In the same 
laboratory is conducted the examination of the 
wood naphtha required for the methylation of 
alcohol. Round the room are placed the bal- 
ances needed for the estimation of density, etc., 
and under each window isa table for the cler- 
ical work of the analysts, special arrangements 
being made for the keeping and preservation of 
the official registers. Immediately adjoining 
are the polariscope room and an artificially 
cooled chamber, capable of holding some thous- 
ands of samples pending examination. Close 
to the entrance of the main laboratory are the 
offices of the superintending analysts, each 
fitted with a working bench and with presses 
for the custody of microscopes and special ap- 
paratus. Next to these are the tobacco rooms. 
In one of these the incineration work, required 
for the determination of sand and inorganic 
matter, is conducted in mufile-furnaces fired by 
gas. The estimation of moisture in manufac- 
tured tobacco, instituted in 1887, are also con- 
ducted in this room, the samples being heated 
in a series of jacketed steam ovens, arranged to 
work continuously night and day. The main 
tobacco laboratory is fitted with appliances for 
the examination of manufactured and the so- 
called ‘ offal’ tobacco for determination of draw- 
back and for the detection of fraudulent or im- 
proper admixtures. 
On the second floor are placed a number of 
special rooms, a museum of specimens of adul- 
terated foods and other products, a small class- 
room for the instruction of supervisors, a type- 
writing office, and a room for the preparation 
of micro and other photographs. 
In the basement are situated rooms for the 
standardization of the instruments employed in 
the revenue service, and laboratories for the 
chemical and bacteriological examination of 
waters sent by the Prison Department of the 
Home Office, the Board of Trade, Office of 
Works, and other public departments. There 
is also here provision for operations requiring a 
high temperature, as in furnaces, oil and air 
baths, ete.; a small mechanical laboratory, 
rooms for the storage of chemicals, apparatus 
and stationery, and of samples required to be 
