[king] presidential ADDRESS 5 



be undertaken by various government organizations according to 

 some definite programme of research. In particular the application 

 of submarine acoustic devices to fog-signal and ice-berg problems 

 might well be undertaken in this country as being of special importance 

 to navigation in Canadian waters. In the writer's opinion, scientific 

 concentration on these problems with adequate facilities for experi- 

 mental work at sea would in a few decades more than repay the 

 expenditure incurred, through reduction of the yearly toll in lives 

 and property resulting from accidents at sea." 



We have been fortunate in hearing directly from Professors 

 McLennan and Eve of some of the achievements resulting from 

 scientific war researches with which both these members of our 

 section have been intimately connected — Professor McLennan as 

 Scientific Adviser to the Admiralty and Colonel Eve as Director of 

 the Admiralty Experimental Station at Harwich. In the field of 

 acoustics the harvest has been a rich one. In military operations 

 the science of sound-ranging has developed to such a point that it is 

 possible to locate the position of an enemy's gun to within less than a 

 hundred feet from a distance of several miles. This is achieved by 

 automatically recording on cinematograph film the arrival of the 

 explosive sound wave from the gun at each of several suitably-placed 

 stations. By a process of triangulation, the location of the source of 

 sound may be determined with the precision just mentioned. Of 

 special interest to the members of this Section is the fact that the 

 technique of making the important correction for wind-velocity was 

 worked out by Captain J. A. Gray, R.E., of McGill University. 



In the field of submarine acoustics, researches instituted for the 

 purpose of submarine detection have resulted in many interesting 

 and important developments which are destined to find practical 

 application to problems of every-day navigation. In this connection 

 it is a pleasure to hear of the splendid work now being done under the 

 Admiralty by Dr. Boyle of the University of Alberta. Although 

 details of this work have not yet been made public, we may hope 

 before long to hear from Dr. Boyle himself of his achievements along 

 these lines. The practical possibilities arising out of the war researches 

 I have briefly mentioned are such that, in the words of Colonel Eve, 

 it will in a few years be considered a scientific crime to run a ship 

 ashore. 



It will be manifest from the various topics I have briefly reviewed 

 in the one scientific domain of acoustics that the key to the develop- 

 ment of our future civilization may be summed up in the three words — 

 research, research, research. 



