Abstract
THE annual exhibitions of scientific instruments held in London by the Physical Society are well known, and the printed catalogues of these exhibition, containing as they do a wealth of information which is handy for reference and not easily accessible in any other form, have proved most useful to many research workers and institutions, even many years after the particular exhibitions of which they form a record. The annual exhibitions of scientific instruments and materials of the Société Francaise de Physique deserve to be equally well known. The 1949 exhibition was held at the Sorbonne (University of Paris) during June 4-9, and for the first time a detailed printed and illustrated catalogue of the exhibits was issued. To those who were unable to visit the exhibition this catalogue should prove valuable as an introduction and guide to the resources and state of development of the research institutions and instrument manufacturers in France. Of the 200 pages of the catalogue, 137 are devoted to descriptions of the apparatus exhibited by the eighty-five different exhibitors, and forty to advertisements. As is explained by P. Jacquinot, general-secretary of the Société, in the introduction to the catalogue, the usual troubles in compiling the catalogue were experienced, and the descriptions given of the various pieces of apparatus vary in length from just a brief title, which conveys almost nothing to the reader, to detailed technical expositions of construction and method of use. However, even a brief glance through the pages of the catalogue is sufficient to assure the reader of the diversity and high standaud of the apparatus exhibited. Further, the excellent alphabetical indexes with which the catalogue is provided afford easy reference to any piece of apparatus or to its manufacturer.
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Exhibition of Physics Instruments in Paris. Nature 164, 1077 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/1641077b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1641077b0