372 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



The contractors were informed of tbe acceptance of their bid, and of 

 my having been charged with the execution of the contract by the fol- 

 lowing letter: 



U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 



Washington, D. C, January 7, 1887. 

 Sirs : I write to inform you that your bid for the construction aud 

 putting in place, etc., of the new boilers of the steamer Albatross has 

 been accepted, and that Lieut.-Coininander Z. L. Tanner, commanding 

 steamer Albatross, has been charged with the execution of the contracts. 

 The expenditures under the contract will be made under his direction 

 and payments made on his certification of the accounts as provided for 

 by the contract. 



Passed Assistant Engineer G. W. Baird, U. S. Navy, has been re- 

 quested to act as the superintending engineer representing the U. S. 

 Fish Commission, as referred to in the specifications aud contract. 

 Very truly yours, 



Spencer F. Baird, 



Commissioner. 

 Columbian Iron Works and Dry Dock Company, 



Baltimore, Md. 



Passed Assistant Engineer G. W. Baird, U. S. Navy, chief engineer 

 of the Albatross, was superintending engineer, and later, when tbe con- 

 tractors were ready to commence work, Mr. W. Bennett was appointed 

 assistant inspector, aud was in the shop during working hours, having 

 supervision over material and workmanship, with instructions to see 

 that the provisions of the contract were strictly complied with, Mr. 

 Baird visiting the works as often as practicable. 



EXPERIMENTS RELATIVE TO THE IGNITION OF GUNPOWDER, COAL 

 GAS, ETC., BY A FRACTURED ELECTRIC LAMP. 



On March 10 experiments were made at the request of the Commis- 

 sioner of Fish and Fisheries, to determine the results of the fracture 

 of an incandescent electric lamp in contact with gunpowder. The 

 result of these experiments was described in a letter to Professor 

 Baird, of which the following is a copy : 



Navy- Yard, Washington, D. C, March 12, 1887. 

 Dear Sir : Your letter of the 7th instant, inclosing a copy of a com- 

 munication from the Bureau of Navigation, dated March 4, requesting 

 certain experiments to be made with the incandescent electric lamp, 

 etc., was duly received, and, in accordance with your request, I have 

 made the following experiments, viz, to determine the result of the 

 fracture of an incandescent electric lamp in contact with gunpowder: 



(1) A 10 candle B lamp was half buried in sand and covered with a 

 mixture of sporting powder and cannon-powder. The lamp was then 

 broken. The powder exploded. 



(2) The experiment was repeated, cannon-powder only being used. 

 The powder exploded when the lamp was broken. 



