AtDTDA: (8) The War Office 234/235

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

There's further extension of themes that pop up in GR, the entire notion 
of some British Espionage/Occult merger as extracted from Hammer 
Horror Films of the fifties and sixties.

N & N take Lew on what seems like some wild goose chase, into what they claim is 
the "War Office". Lew says, quit foolin', Neville says:

          "Some of their facilities would never dream 
           of moving." 234. 25

I suspect there's some concern with Ley lines and other forms of Earth Magic
going on here.

They descend towards some infernal

          . . . .entry scarred and dented all over by 
          decades of assault. 

          Owing to a stubborn belief in Whitehall that 
          the eccentric enjoy access to paranormal 
          forces with nothing better to do than whisper 
          suggestions for ever-more-improved weapons 
          design. . . .234. 31/35

Dr, Coombs De Bottle seems normal enough, though his office is 
wracked by the most strenous explosions:

          Miniature explosions occurred in distant corners of 
          the facility, sending up showers of glass as nearby 
          workers cowered beneath seaside umbrellas set up
          set up for just such protection. 235. 11/14

There is a wonderful description of the valuable equipment usually 
found in the mad scientist's basement:

Soxhlet extractor:

          A Soxhlet extractor is a piece of laboratory 
          apparatus invented in 1879 by Franz von 
          Soxhlet. It was originally designed for the 
          extraction of a lipid from a solid material. . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soxhlet_extractor

Glynsky distillation columns:

          The well-known columns devised by Glinsky 
          and by Young and Thomas both depend upon 
          wire-gauz e obstructions, through which the 
          vapor forces its way into the layers of liquid by 
          which it is washed on its way up. The disad- 
          vantage of such an arrangement, apart from the 
          presence of metal and of loose parts, consists in 
          the high resistance which the vapor has to over- 
          come; this is necessary in order to maintain a 
          layer of liquid above each obstruction. . . .

Le Bel-Henninger distillation columns:

          The column here described resembles the Le 
          Bel-Henninger type in principle, with the differ- 
          ence that the wash liquid is retained in traps. 
          which prevent it from falling and offer only 
          slight resistance to the upward passage of the 
          vapor. The general construction is shown in the 
          figure.

http://tinyurl.com/ytzrpo

Dr. De Bottle leads the trio to a distant bay, where homemade bombs 
were carefully disassembled Lew and the Doc get into an interesting
interchange as regards safety concerns for the anarchists making 
these bombs:
 
             "I'm not sure I follow the Logic," Lew said---
          "saving bombers' lives. if each one you save 
          could mean hundreds of innocent ones lost 
          later down the line."

             The Doc Chuckled and inspected his shirt cuffs. 
          "Innocent bourgeois lives.  Well . . . 'innocent.'" 
          235. 35/40