NOTES 309 



Both alternatives will spell revolution. Our Parliament 

 has already rejected the former one by throwing out the 

 clauses for proportional representation in the Electoral Reform 

 Bill — action not to be wondered at when we remember that 

 any genuine electoral reform will cast forth into the wilderness 

 the whole host of false prophets who failed to guard against 

 the war and who have been misgoverning the country in 

 many ways for years past. The second alternative will prove 

 equally hateful to them, for they and their caucus-masters will 

 no longer be able to misrepresent the people. An era of in- 

 cessant strife is before the world. Only thought and science 

 can guide us through it. 



From inquiries, the writer gathers that the opinions ex- 

 pressed in this and the preceding article are now held by at 

 least ninety-nine per cent, of the British people, that is by all 

 except those engaged in the profession of party politics, and 

 a few doctrinaires. At the same time, the whole nation is 

 determined to have it out with the Germans, not in order to 

 substitute one kind of oligarchy for another, but in order to 

 punish them for the worst crime in history. And, after all, 

 that is the way to prevent a repetition of the same crime in 

 the future. 



Aircraft and Motor-Car Engine Design (J. Wemyss Anderson, M.Inst.C.E.) 



The paper read by Mr. Louis Coatalen before the Aeronautical Society of 

 Great Britain at the Royal Society of Arts on May 16, 1917, lifts the veil, if only a 

 little, on the very great progress that has been made since war was declared in 

 the design and construction of aircraft and motor-car engines. The full title of 

 the paper has, added to the title given above, " contrasted from the standpoint of 

 a designer and manufacturer of both types." Mr. Coatalen is, of course, connected 

 with the Sunbeam engine, and consequently we know him to be a successful 

 designer and a successful manufacturer. The paper has been passed by the Censor, 

 and therefore we can be content that the enemy will not be able to glean from its 

 pages any information of a practical or technical nature. The record of progress, 

 however, is so great that we are assured that the enemy will not be able to gather 

 any crumbs of comfort from its reading. 



Mr. Coatalen opens with a comparison between the characteristics of a motor- 

 car engine and one for aircraft service, and he demonstrates very clearly " that the 

 aircraft engine is quite a distinct branch of the development of the internal com- 

 bustion engine." He acknowledges the value of experiences gained from racing 

 cars at the outset of the war in aircraft-engine design, but " on the coming of 

 peace, doubtless it will be found that the position has been wholly reversed," i.e. 

 racing cars will have a great deal to learn from aircraft experience. 



Doubtless, also, on the coming of peace Mr. Coatalen will be able to place on 

 record details of how the great progress — only outlined in the present paper — was 



