620 Liquid Oxygen in Warfare [Jan. 17, 191^) 



curve it is clear that there is httle advantage in increasing the 

 capacity above 5 or 6 gallons (25 to 30 kilos) for storage purposes, 

 at which size the limiting efficiency is reached of 4 to 5 per eent. 

 loss of the total capacity per day. For flying purposes one gallon 

 (5 litres) would be a useful mean size for supplying three or four 

 persons, even though there might be one or two days' delay between 

 the delivery of the liquid air and the flight in which it was to be 

 employed. 



May I remind the members that the expenditure on War work 

 has resulted in a serious depletion of our funds ? The Institution 

 relies on the support of its members, and has had a hard struggle 

 for existence. There is a popular fallacy that the Institution is 

 highly endowed. (The Experimental Research Work during the 

 past century has been executed at a total expenditure of £120,000, 

 or at the average outlay of £1200 a year.) When the present 

 Fullerian Professor of Chemistry was appointed in 1877, the 

 Bequests and Legacies amounted to £3400. Thanks largely to the 

 exertions of the Treasurer, Sir James Crichton-Browne, the Endow- 

 ment has now risen to £70,000 ; but the annual number of new 

 members elected has gone down to half the pre-war figure. The 

 Hoyal Institution passed through a crucial period ten years after the 

 Napoleonic AVars ; it is hoped it will not have to face a similar 

 crisis again. 



[J. D.] 



