Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/108

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ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE 82 ROCKET York City and New York State, to the home for the care of animals, with a farm National Organization for Public Health and laboratory near Princeton, N. J. The Nursing, to the National Committee for Institute publishes "The Journal of Ex- Mental Hygiene, and to many other in- perimental Medicine," "The Journal of General Physiology," "The Journal of Biological Chemistry," "Studies from the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Re- search," and a series of monographs. The total endowment at the end of 1919 was $27,000,000. During the World War the entire staff and equipment were de- voted to war service, especially for the treatment of wounds and diseases most frequent among soldiers. With the end of the war, the Institute returned to its original field of research. The scien- tific staff includes members of the In- stitute, associate members, associates, assistants, fellows, and research schol- ars. Dr. Simon Flexner was director of the Institute and of its laboratories. ROCKET, a cylindrical case of paste- board or metal, attached to one extremity of a light wooden rod, and containing a composition which, being fired, shoots the whole of the arrangement through the air, by that principle that an unbalanced reaction from the heated gases which is- sue from openings in fireworks gives them motion in the opposite direction. As sig- nals between persons who were unable to communicate with each other on ac- count of darkness or some other cause, rockets have long been employed. They were also used for the important service of determining the difference of longitude between two places. The force by which a rocket ascends is similar to that by which a gun recoils when it is fired. The rod serves to guide the rocket in its flight, the common cen- ter of gravity of the rocket and rod being a little below the top of the latter. The distance at which signal rockets can be seen varies between 35 and 40 miles; and the times of ascent from 7 to 10 sec- onds. At the beginning of the 19th cen- tury Sir William Congreve converted the rocket into a terrible projectile of war, with ranges which no ordnance of that day could attain. Discarding the small sizes, he made 12, 18 and 32-pound roc- kets which he charged with canister-shot, bullets, and other missiles. The stick for a 32-pound rocket is 18 feet in length, and the maximum range 3,500 yards. The range can be also increased by discharg- ing the rocket from a cannon, with a time fuse to ignite it at the cannon's utmost range, when the rocket commences its own course. The Congreve rockets were first tried in actual service, and with fatal effect, at the attack on Copenhagen in 1807. A rocket is also a piece of wood employed to blunt the end of a lance in a tourney, to prevent it from doing hurt. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR. stitutions and societies. In 1920 the Rockefeller Foundation gave $6,000,000 to the London (England) University Col- lege and Medical School, for teaching and research. ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH, an institution founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1901 and incorporated under the laws of the State of New York for the purpose of encouraging "medical research with spe- cial reference to prevention and treat- ment of disease." The original charter was amended in 1908, and the scope of the work was enlarged. The headquar- ters of the Institute are located at Sixty- sixth street and the East river, New York City. The three principal depart- ments are laboratories for pathology, bacteriology, chemistry, pharmacology, physiology, experimental surgery, and experimental biology; a hospital for the study of special problems; and a special