310 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



really achieved, and thus show in his particular branch of engineering how Great 

 Britain managed to regain her lead in the engineering world. 



The paper is an outstanding contribution of scientific thought applied to a 

 technical subject, and indicates more clearly than any paper on "engineering 

 education " could possibly do, how essential it is that an engineer should have a 

 thorough scientific training. Selecting, perhaps, not the best example to illustrate 

 this point, but an example of general interest, Mr. Coatalen, in a long list of 

 " desiderata in aircraft-engine design," draws attention to the fact " that some 

 of the most daring Service fliers have not either the temperament or the under- 

 standing to spare the engines of which they are put in charge." 



In " three years' progress at a glance " Mr. Coatalen cannot, of course, give any 

 information on the relative reliability of the engines of to-day compared to those of 

 three years ago, but we gather that all is well ; but he does state that for a six 

 hours' effort the weight of the engine with fuel has been brought down from n'27 

 to 5'3 lb. per horse-power hour, while the consumption of fuel has been reduced 

 from o"6 to 0*52 pint per horse-power hour. 



The Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies 



The fourth meeting of the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies was held at 

 the Royal Society on June 13, Sir Joseph J. Thomson, O.M., Pres. R.S., in the 

 chair, to receive the report of the Executive Committee on the work of the 

 previous six months. 



As the Report indicates, a number of important questions of scientific and 

 industrial importance have occupied the attention of the Board. 



Various bodies are at present interested in the formation of a census of the 

 mineral resources of the Empire. It was agreed to enter into communication 

 with these bodies and to make suggestions with a view to the publication of 

 information in a form useful to the general community. 



Interim reports were received and approved on the necessity for an 

 anthropological survey of the British people, on the best methods for carrying 

 on the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, and on the inquiry into 

 the desirability or otherwise of the adoption of the metric system throughout 

 the British Isles. 



The Sub-Committee on National Instruction in Technical Optics reported 

 that a scheme approved by the Board of Education had now come into operation. 

 Under the aegis of the Imperial College of Science and Technology an Advisory 

 and Administrative Committee had been formed to organise instruction, and 

 Mr. F. J. Cheshire, a member of the Sub-Committee of the Board, has been 

 appointed Director of Studies in Technical Optics. Although the President of 

 the Board of Education did not see his way to adopting the suggestions of the 

 Sub Committee, the Board heard with satisfaction that a promising effort has 

 been made to solve a question of considerable national importance. 



A sub-committee, having considered special cases of magnetic disturbances 

 revealed by a magnetic survey of the British Isles and their possible connection 

 with the occurrence of iron ores, recommended a detailed investigation of two 

 test areas, in order to ascertain how far, under the conditions of the British iron 

 ores, the magnetic survey was likely to prove of economic value. Arrangements 

 for carrying out the investigation are in progress. 



An Agricultural Sub-Committee, with the Earl of Portsmouth as Chairman, 

 reported that it is at present devoting itself mainly to engineering questions. It 



