Governmental Research 129 



sists above all of. men and women imbued with high ideals and is a living 

 organism of the highest type. 



The Division of Metallurgy was formed in July, 19 13, and has grown 

 in population from one to fifty-seven and has acquired a very complete 

 equipment to meet the needs of metallurgical research and testing. Over 

 the development of testing we have no immediate control. The public 

 and the government departments send us what they will and we try to 

 satisfy their demands. It is a remarkable fact worthy of note that 

 whenever a new line of testing is announced, immediately there is set 

 up a never ceasing flow of materials or instruments for test, the volume 

 of which is oftentimes embarrassing ; and in consequence one of our most 

 difficult problems is to adjust equitably our efforts as between the 

 execution of tests, our routine work, and the carrying out of investiga- 

 tions, our preferred work of at least equal urgency. There is here of 

 course the ever present danger of too easily choosing the immediate for 

 the permanent. Although not so vociferously expressed the real demand 

 for knowledge concerning fundamental constants and properties is at 

 least as great as the need expressed in the polite but insistent requests 

 for the report on a trivial test of a material of interest to but one party. 

 We are obliged to remind ourselves at times that we are here to serve 

 the best interests of the public in our several domains of science. 



The field covered by our metallurgical researches and investigations 

 embraces subjects confined mainly to what has been called products 

 metallurgy as distinguished from what is called process metallurgy 

 which latter is illustrated by the reduction of metals from their ores, the 

 field of the Bureau of Mines. 



As one of the subjects of metallurgical research which will undoubt- 

 edly have far reaching consequences, mention may be made of the study 

 of gases in steel, including the development of methods of analysis; the 

 determination of the quantity and manner of inclusion of the several 

 gases which may be present such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and the 

 oxides of carbon ; and the characteristic gas content for steels of different 

 composition and as determined by the method of manufacture. An im- 

 mediate application of the methods here employed has been developed 

 in our investigation of steel welding methods and products. The clearing 

 up of the behaviour of welded metal as influenced by its gas content will 

 aid greatly in solving some of the difficult problems connected with the 

 welding art. 



We were greatly concerned during the war with the scarcity, real or 

 threatened, of several minerals and metals of vital necessity to the 

 industries of the country. Among these were manganese, tin and plati- 

 num, and it became necessary to modify manufacturing processes and 



