Soil Exploration Subject of Engineering Lecture At the Park Hotel on Monday evening, Mr. F. J, Sanger, M. Sq (Eng) Land, A. M. Am. Soc. C. E. representing the ' Foundations Research Committee of the Engineering Society of China, gave the first of a series of informal lectures on "Soil Mechanics" entitled "The Exploration of Soil Conditions and Soil Sampling." Mr. J. B. Watson, Chairman of thè Research Committee, was in the chair.
Various methods in use in Shanghai and elsewhere were outlined and recommendations made for the most suitable apparatus to be used locally. The lecture was illustrated by drawnings of apparatus being used or under manufacture in local workshops.
"Exploration and sampling are desirable if foundations are to be designed and constructed economically in the silty soñ of Shanghai which requires careful study and testing. Such soils demand that samples should be extracted from the ground with the least possible amount of disturbance of the natural structure, and depths down to 150 feet (in some cases) must be reached; these samples maj be brought to the surface by sampling-spoons' lowered down bore-hoies made by well-drilling methods or may be obtained by a direct sampler, now being made by the Committee to the designs of the Whangpoo Conservancy Board, which does not require a borehole."
Recent experiments in exploration made by the Whangpoo Conservancy Board on Point Island in which the consistency of the soil to depths of thirty feet were measured by a sounding apparatus, were described. An interesting discussion followed the lecture.
Other lectures in the series which will take place in the near future The Laboratory Testing of and "Soil Stabilisation and Compaction."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.