SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
and the utilization and improvement, not only of cellulose as a sub- 
stitute for cotton, but also of ammonium nitrate obtained synthetically 
in large quantities as a fertilizer; and (2) the determination of sub- 
stitutes for chemical and metallurgical products not available in the 
country, or of which there is a shortage, 7.e., substitutes for paraffin, 
camphor, and glycerine, for substances used in the preservation of 
leather and metals; also substitutes for lubricants, rubber, gutta-percha, 
&e. In addition, the proposed new institute would carry out researches 
of general interest, e.g., on rust-prevention and the corrosion of metals, 
on the determination of stresses in internal-combustion engines, on the 
effect of winter cold and the upper-air temperatures on implements and 
raw materials, and on the testing and improvement of aeroplane and 
airship fabrics. It is also suggested that scientific and technical investi- 
gations should be carried out dealing with the prevention of accidents 
and the protection of workers in a number of important industries. 
NELA RESEARCH LABORATORIES. 
The Journal of the Franklin Institute, September, 1920, announces 
extensive additions to the Nela Research Laboratories. The Nela Re- 
search Laboratory was organized in 1908, under the directorship of Dr. 
Edward P. Hyde, as the Physical Laboratory of the National Electric 
Lamp Association. The name was changed to Nela Research Labora- 
tory in 1913, when the National Electric Lamp Association became the 
National Lamp Works of General Electric Company. For some years 
the laboratory was devoted exclusively to the development. of those 
sciences on which the art of lighting has its foundation, but in 1914 
the functions of the laboratory were extended by the addition of a 
small section of applied science, which had an immediate practical 
objective. The section of applied science is now being largely extended 
as a separate laboratory of applied science under the immediate direc- 
tion of Mr. M. Luckiesh, who becomes director of applied science, and 
a new building is being constructed to house this branch of the work, 
which will be carried forward with a staff of several physicists, an 
engineer, an architect, and a designer, together with the necessary 
technical and clerical assistants. Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols, formerly 
president, of Dartmouth College, and more recently Professor of 
Physie¢s at Yale University, has accepted an invitation to assume the 
immediate direction of the laboratory of pure science, under the title 
of director of pure science. The work of this laboratory, which wil 
be continued in the present building, will be somewhat further extended 
under-the new‘organization. The laboratory of pure science and the 
laboratory of applied science will together constitute the Nela research 
laboratories, and will be co-ordinated under the general direction of 
Di. Hyde, who becomes director of research. a ; : 
PHYSICAL RESEARCH IN CALIFORNIA. 
ce’ The Californian Institute of Technology received from Mr. Norman 
Bridge an additional gift of £20;000 for the Norman Bridge Physical 
Laboratory. ‘His original gift for this purpose was £30,000. “The con- 
struction of the building is to be commenced immediately, and it is 
anticipated that’ the laboratory will be’completed at an early date. 
Fike) - 
