WILLIAM .W.M/7:.V\ /;A'..V. 83 



wliii-li romiiKitids our special interest at the present time when the 

 available labour of the country does not nearly suffice for its 

 requirements. 



In addition to these we shall have a paper on Buchholz's system 

 of decorticating grain, which is interesting as involving a new 

 process of separating the flour from the grain ; of this process we 

 shall have an opportunity of judging by seeing it in actual opera- 

 tion. On a late occasion a plan was brought before us for break- 

 in LT up the grain by dashing it against the rapidly revolving 

 beaters of Carr's disintegrator ; whereas according to Buchholz's 

 plan it is ripped open, and the flour scraped oft' the bran by a 

 succession of pairs of fluted steel cylinders driven at differential 

 speeds. Without wishing to express an opinion in favour of the 

 one method or the other, it appears to me likely that the rational 

 principles of action involved in each must ultimately triumph, and 

 that the millstone a contrivance represented on Egyptian monu- 

 ments and mentioned in the earliest historical records, which has 

 continued to prepare for us our staff of life up to the present day 

 may be arrested in its meritorious course in obedience to the just 

 but harsh decrees of the most uncompromising of beings, the 

 mechanical engineer of the present day. 



It is not my intention to take up the time of the meeting by a 

 lengthy address ; enough has been said to illustrate the importance 

 and variety of the subjects brought before us for our information 

 and discussion. 



REMARKS ON PROFESSOR W. J. M. RANKINE. 



The PRESIDENT* (Mr. C. W. Siemens) said, amongst the 

 names of members deceased which had been announced in the 

 Report of the Council just read, occurs one of such importance 

 that I cannot proceed to the further business of this meeting 

 without giving expression to my own appreciation, and I am 

 sure yours also, of the high merit attaching to that name, and of 

 the loss we have sustained ; I allude to Professor Rankine. 



* Excerpt Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 

 1873, p. 22. 



O 2 



