698 



SGIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 279. 



should co-operate with each other in estab- 

 lishing uniformity of standards, is a fact 

 usually admitted as beyond dispute. Until 

 recent years this work has been confined to 

 problems concerned with the standards of 

 length, mass, capacity and temperature; 

 but the increased order of accuracy de- 

 manded in scientific and commercial meas- 

 urements and the exceedingly rapid progress 

 of pure and applied science have increased 

 the scope of such work until it includes 

 many important branches of physical and 

 chemical research, requiring for its success- 

 ful performance a complete laboratory, 

 fitted for undertaking the most refined 

 measurements known to modern science. 



Germany has established the Physikal- 

 ische-Technische Reichsanstalt and the 

 Normal-Aichungs-Commission ; England, 

 the Standards Department, the Electrical 

 Standardizing Laboratory, and the National 

 Physical Laboratory (but recently estab- 

 lished); Austria, the Normal- Aichungs- 

 Commission ; and Eussia, the Central 

 Chamber of "Weights and Measures. These, 

 together with the institutions of other 

 countries and the International Bureau des 

 Poids et Mesures, at St. Cloud, France, are 

 organized for the purpose mentioned and 

 are noted for the very important work they 

 accomplish annually. An examination of 

 the function of these institutions and the 

 sums of money devoted to their mainte- 

 nance is the most convincing evidence of the 

 importance of problems pertaining to stand- 

 ards and standard-measuring apparatus. 



Throughout our country institutions of 

 learning, laboratories, observatories and 

 scientific societies are being established and 

 are growing at a rate never equaled in the 

 history of any nation. The work of orig- 

 inal investigation and instruction done by 

 these institutions requires accurate reliable 

 standards, which in nearly every case must 

 be procured from abroad, or can not be pro- 

 cured at all. 



The extension of scientific research into 

 the realm of the extremes of length, mass, 

 time, temperature, pressure and other phys- 

 ical quantities necessitates standards of far 

 greater range than can be obtained at pres- 

 ent. Frequently the comparison of the 

 same physical quantities vary with the 

 magnitude of the quantity to be measured, 

 and may even introduce entirely new con- 

 ditions, methods and apparatus, as in the 

 case of high or low temperatures. 



The introduction of accurate scientific 

 methods into manufacturing and commer- 

 cial processes involves the use of a great 

 variety of standards of far greater accuracy 

 than formerly required. An accurate knowl- 

 edge of the high temperature of a furnace 

 or refinery, or the low temperature of a re- 

 frigerating process, is often essential to the 

 economical working of the process. 



Enormous commercial transactions are 

 daily based upon the reading of electrical 

 measuring apparatus, inaccuracies of which 

 involve great injustice and financial losses; 

 hence the national bureau should be in a 

 position to calibrate or test electrical stand- 

 ards of all kinds for commercial, as well as 

 the most refined scientific work. 



The scientific work carried on by the dif- 

 ferent departments of the Government in- 

 volves the use of many standards and in- 

 struments of precision, which are too fre- 

 quently procured from abroad, owing to 

 our own lack of facilities for standard- 

 izing. 



The manufacture of scientific apparatus 

 and instruments of precision has been con- 

 fined almost exclusively to foreign countries, 

 but at present is growing at a rate which 

 will soon place our own production on a par 

 with that of any other country. In order 

 to secure the requisite degree of uniformity 

 and accuracy it is absolutely essential that 

 American manufacturers of such apparatus 

 have access to a standardizing bureau 

 equivalent to that provided for the manu- 



