Evening star., 1914-05-24

- -IDDEN away in the rural sec
+,on adjacent to Rock Creek
@ park is a building but re-
- b, the carnegie Institution
,f washington solely for the purpose
,f ADEQUATE quarters for one OF us NC
part,nents-the department oi
,ra, magnetism. of which Dr L. ~
Bauer is the director
This building is of pleasing ana 'hor-
oush construction and consists OF
sub-basement basement, two hoors,
attic and IL specially constructed rooi
with observation deck
Previous to its occupancy last Feb-
ruary the work of this department
was carried on in one of the large
APARTMENT houses in Washington. where
magnetic observations and scientlhc
data have been compiled i'll the interest
OF science for the past ten years
In the basement of this building is
the instrument shop. where. the intrl-
cate and delicate apparatus is deslsn
and built by corps of experts in tins
special line. 1t may be said. however
that some few instruments in the
building are of foreign manufacture.
I,,It the majority of thoSs used for
making observations on board the de-
partment's yacht Carnegie are manu-
factured there.
Magnetic laboratory and experimental
work in connection with the field-ob-
servational work are all done on the
first floor while the office. computing
rooms and library will be located on the
second floor The attic and roof are to
be used wholly for special observatlonai
and experimental work. DIR. w. F. Swami,
formerly of the University of Sheffield,
England is chief physicist in the labora-
tory.
AS the work of the department of ter
restrial magnetism is mainly obserVa-
tional the results must be carried on sur
ficiently remote from all disturbing IN
huences. so that the testing and com
parisons of magnetic instruments ana re-
search in atmospheric electricity may pe
as accurate possible. one OF the
special reasons for the location OF the
department i'll Washington is its proN-
unity to the closely related work of Vail-
Gus government departments. as for eN-
ample the coast and geodetc survey.
which in its magnetic survey OF the
United States co-operates with thlS de-
partment Also cooperation is carried on
with the Navy Department, and all mag
netic results obtained now on board the
non-magnetic yacht Carnegie are supplled
tn the hNdrOSrapIlC ONCE 10 tliatoie ~ "
keep its magnetic charts up 10 cate.
1t may be seen, then, that this de-
nartment of the Carnegie Institution
benefits the United States directly py
its Willingness to cooperate in this re-
snect Not only the United States but
foreign countries as well depend on data
supplied to correct its charts
In the sub-ba sement of the headquar-
tiers for this department is special
ly constructed room. 1t is really a room
bn /
a brick pier running up through the hoor,
entirely Independent of the building. On
this is to be mounted clock. which, on
account of its sensitiveness, must be 1ree
from the least jar or disturbing influence.
To make sure of this feature there Is an
air chamber built completely around the
room, where Il constant temperature Is
maintained Two sets OF doors are neces-
sary for the chamber and by these pre-
cautions the highest accuracy may be
obtained from the clock
X
The building is of reinforced concrete
and brick and is constructed in such IA
way that heavy apparatus may be
mounted on the walls as well as on
the floors In two of the rooms on the
first floor are stone piers. similar to the
one in the clock room. These piers are
also built Independent Of the structure
itself and are used for mounting instru-
ments while in the basement the floors
are specially constructed. These floors