52 War Science. * [January, 



specify, all pass through the hands of a chemist, who carefully 

 examines specimens of the goods before they are definitely 

 accepted from the contractors. In short, the mode of pur- 

 chasing stores adopted by the war authorities has now been 

 reduced to so perfect a system, that it is simply impossible 

 for dishonest firms to send in defective or inferior goods. 

 The method of proceeding is this : Tenders are, in the first 

 instance, submitted by such persons as may be willing to 

 contract for the various stores, and accompanying the offers 

 made to the War Office are sent samples of the goods firms 

 are willing to supply ; these samples are all tested in the 

 Chemical Department, and the house who offers the most 

 suitable article at the lowest price forthwith gets the contract. 

 As a matter of course, when the goods themselves are sent 

 in, a further critical examination of them is made, and if 

 this proves satisfactory, then, but not till then, is the 

 bargain completed and the bills paid. Should the actual 

 supply be inferior to the pattern sent to the War Office in 

 the first instance, the agreement is not only cancelled, but 

 the order is given to the tenderer whose price was the next 

 highest, and the difference in money must then be paid by the 

 house which has failed to fulfil the conditions of its bargain. 

 In this way a very sound method of dealing is established, 

 one that is alike simple in its nature and not easily abused, 

 for the Chemical Department, being again responsible to the 

 authorities for the genuine nature of all purchases made 

 through its instrumentality, must necessarily exercise an 

 impartial selection, and perform its functions justly and 

 fearlessly. 



We cannot obviously describe, in all its particulars, the 

 course pursued by the chemists in examining into the 

 quality of the. various stores coming under their notice, but 

 to afford some idea of the way in which the business is 

 carried on, we will select at random two or three instances 

 to indicate the searching manner in which these trials and 

 tests are applied. The question of candles, for instance, 

 will suit our purpose admirably; here there are many points 

 of a various nature to be considered, such as the time of 

 burning, the photometric power, the melting-point, the dis- 

 position to soften and bend under the influence of heat, and 

 other matters ; the most important of all these being, how- 

 ever, the luminosity of the flame. The value of a candle in 

 this respect is estimated by means of a photometer, of which 

 there exist many well-known descriptions, but, nevertheless, 

 we will, at the risk of being tiresome, describe the one just 

 now used at Woolwich for these experimental purposes. 



