November io, 1923] 



NA TURE 



701 



R. E. Stokes-Rees (apparatus). Prof. J. W. Hinchley, 

 (Chemical engineering), Mr. R. B. Pilcher (historical). 



The first World Power Conference will be held on 

 June 30- July 12 next at the British Empire Exhibi- 

 tion. It has been promoted by the British Elec- 

 trical and AlUed Manufacturers' Association (the 

 B.E.A.M.A.), in co-operation with many technical 

 and scientific institutions. The subject discussed 

 will be the production and generation of energy in all 

 its forms. It is ver>' satisfactory to notice that 

 practically every civilised country is sending delegates, 

 and many engineers of world-wide eminence will read 

 papers on power generation and distribution, and on 

 electric traction. Considering what different solu- 

 tions have been standardised in the various countries, 

 a comparison of costs will lead to results of permanent 

 value. One point, however, that the promoters of 

 this international conference seem to have overlooked 

 is that the date of the centenary of the birth of Lord 

 Kelvin is on June 26. Few, therefore, of the eminent 

 delegates will be able to take part in the celebration. 

 As Lord Kelvin is admittedly the greatest physicist 

 of the Victorian age, and possibly the greatest natural 

 philosopher since Sir Isaac Newton, foreign men of 

 science and engineers will doubtless want to take part 

 in our celebrations. 



The opening meeting of the new session of the 

 Newcomen Society for the Study of the History of 

 Engineering and Technology was held on Friday, 

 October 26, in the appropriate atmosphere of Prince 

 Henry's Room, Fleet Street, when the president, 

 Loughnan St. L. Pendred, delivered his presidential 

 address on " The Value of the History of Technology." 

 Mr. Pendred said he had in the first instance examined 

 what were the views held as to the use of history in 

 general, and, in spite of all that had been written on 

 lie subject, he found it impossible to believe, for 

 example, that the events of the Hundred Years War 

 were of the slightest use to us in the recent struggle 

 with Germany or that the Battle of Jutland owed 

 anything to Admiral Mahan's examination of Nelson's 

 orders at Trafalgar. The importance of history 

 resided in its evolutionary characteristics, and in this 

 aspect technology, reflecting as it does the most 

 important endeavours of mankind from the earliest 

 times, is as worthy of serious investigation as those 

 natural causes by which man himself was developed 

 from a lower creation. Strange as it may appear, 

 development has never received a modicum of the 

 attention that is paid to systems of philosophy, yet 

 these have made far less difference to the world than 

 have advances in technology. This is partly the case 

 because, while the documentation of the ordinary 

 forms of history is abundant, that for the relationships 

 of human progress to technical development is scanty. 

 Mr. Pendred also alluded to the value of the historical 

 method in teaching technology and, by inspiration 

 from its achievements, in the formation of character. 



October rains were heavy over the British Islands, 



I^ecially in the midland, western, and south-easteni 



districts. In London, according to the Greenwich 



ob-servations, the total rainfall for the month was 



NO. 2819, VOL. I I2J 



5-07 in., falling on twenty-three days. October was 

 by far the wettest month so far this year ; the next 

 wettest month was February, with 2-65 in. The 

 monthly total is the heaviest since July 1918, when 

 the fall was 7-35 in. ; it is the wettest October since 

 1882, when the measurement for the month was 

 5-42 in., though in 1880 the rainfall for October was 

 7-65 in., the heaviest for the corresponding month 

 for upwards of 100 years. At Greenwich the rainfall 

 this year for the ten months to the end of October is 

 20-37 in-, which is 1-41 in. more than the normal. 

 At Eastbourne the rainfall, measured in the Old 

 Town, for October was 7-48 in., rain falling on 

 twenty-three days ; the measurement for twenty- 

 four hours on the morning of October 24 was 1-51 in. 

 In 1889 the October rainfall at Eastbourne was 

 8-15 in., and in December 1915 the measurement was 

 8-37 in. The excess of rain at Eastbourne for the 

 last ten months is nearly 7 inches. At the Rotham- 

 sted Experimental Station, according to the Times 

 of November 3, the rainfall in October measured 

 4-97 in., an excess of 1-91 in. ; of this 3-45 in. drained 

 through 60 inches of soil, against an average for 

 October of 1-67 in., giving an excess of 1-78 in. 

 The soil is saturated, and it seems probable that the 

 winter rains will increase the supply of underground 

 water, which is still deficient. 



A GENERAL discussiou ou " Elcctrode Reactions 

 and Equilibria " will be held by the Faraday Society 

 meeting at the Institution of Electrical Engineers 

 on Monday, November 26. The first session of the 

 meeting will extend from 3 to 5 p.m., and will deal 

 with " Conditions of Equilibrium at Reversible 

 Electrodes." Sir Robert Robertson, president of the 

 Society, will preside, and the introductory address 

 will be given by Dr. E. K. Rideal. Among the 

 speakers will be Prof. Biilman, of Copenhagen, who 

 will read a paper on " Some Oxidation and Reduction 

 Electrodes and their importance to Organic Chem- 

 istry." After an interval for tea the meeting will 

 resume at 5.30 p.m., and will devote itself to the 

 consideration of " Irreversible Electrode Effects, 

 including Passivity and Overvoltage." Prof. F. G, 

 Donnan, vice-president, will preside over this session, 

 and the introductory address will be given by Prof. 

 A. J. Allmand. At the conclusion of the meeting 

 a dinner will be held at the Holborn Restaurant to 

 be followed by an informal conference. Members of 

 the Chemical Society, the Physical Society, and the 

 Institution of Electrical Engineers, have been invited 

 to attend this discussion. Others interested should 

 apply to the Secretary of the Faraday Society, 10 

 E.ssex Street, London, W.C.2, from whom a full 

 programme may be obtained. 



Col. Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton, past- 

 president, has been elected an honorary member of 

 the Institution of Electrical Engineers. 



At a general meeting of the members of the Rojral 

 Institution held on November 5, the thanks of the 

 members were returned to Mr. F. Coston Taylor for 

 his donation of one hundred guineas to the research 

 fund, and to Mr. Robert Mond for hi< <nft of busts 



