IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES MADE

The work of the Walcott Gibbs Memorial Laboratory during the two years since its opening has been very significant. The purpose of the work in this laboratory is to pursue the study of the fundamental elements of the chemical world in order to attain a fuller knowledge of the powers which govern the existence of life, and to give to the scientific world and in some cases to physicians and experimental biologists, the facts that will lead to greater understanding of the usefulness and treatment of our bodies, physically and medically.

As this is the general aim of the laboratory it is not strange that startling "popular" discoveries have not taken place there. Nevertheless, several important ones have been made, whose significance can only be estimated. Most notable among these is the discovery that what has heretofore been considered the unit of the universe, the "element," may in itself be a complex substance. This was brought out in the determination of the atomic weight of "radio-active" lead, when specimens of this element were found to have a perfectly definite atomic weight which differed from that of other specimens of ordinary lead. This was due to some property of the element itself which could not be determined as distinct from the element, thus tending to show that there is something, in this case at least, more elementary than the "element." The importance of this discovery toward the increase of scientific knowledge is great.

Besides the work in determining atomic weights, other important researches have been carried on, including: the study of the silver voltameter; electrochemical investigation of concentrated Thallium amalgams; the study of the heat of the solutions of metals, of the combustion of organic substances, and of the neutralization and dilution of strong acids and basis; the study of the compressibility of the elements; the study of the surface tension of liquids; of dielectric constants, of floating equilibrium, and the study of the effect of isomorphous impurities upon the temperature of crystallized salts.