7o6 



NATURE 



[Nt'» K.Hibbiv io, 1923 



no one could speak with more authority on this 

 subject than Sir Kolicrt nadficltl himself. 



The new lalxjratory haa been equipped more 

 particularly for research on corrosion and its pre- 

 vention. I'or this ptirpose it is providetl with large 

 corrosion tanks of varying design and with other 

 equipment not usually found in a chemical lalwratory. 

 At one end is a dark room containing a magnificent 

 micrographic appiiratus purchased with the aid of a 

 grant awarded ny the Government Grant Committee 

 of the Koyal Society to the head of the Chemistry 

 Department in order to enable him and his research 

 students to study the micrography of corrosion. 



As Sir RolHjrt wisely pointed out, the object of a 

 school laboratory is different from that of a works 



laboratory. The latter isdesi 



results ; the former is prim;< 



the men, so that when thc\ (-.i^-. mi" i...ju>ii\ i 



will know how to tackle their problems along t 



most approved lines. 



As a further inducement to research three pn 

 for theses have been offered, namely, one each 

 Sir Robert Hadfield, the Dunlop Rubber Compai 

 and the Mond Nickel Company resp«-( t'lv.-lv. V 

 hoped that manufacturers and stu : 

 avail themselves to the full of the n- 

 is only by the closest co-operation bciwctu 

 and industry that wc can hope to capture that y 

 of the world's trade which is so essential to <> 

 national existence. J. N. !• 



Aeroplane Performances. 



COMPARISON of the " Wren " hght plane with 

 recent U.S.A. Navy racing and fighting aero- 

 ? lanes shows the price of speed in a definite way. 

 he following table gives some of the more pignificant 

 figures : 



The racers have less surface than many of the light 

 planes at Lympne, and the bodies are of the same 

 order of length and cross-section, and show the same 

 scrupulous cleanness of line. To pass from the Wren 

 to the racer, about eighty times the power has been 

 concentrated within the limits of an external surface 

 scarcely distinguishable by the layman from similar 

 types of light plane. The speed obtained is about 

 four and a half times greater. Thus the power re- 

 quired is approximately as the cube of the speed. 



This rule is even more accurate in comparing the 

 seaplane with the landplane at the fine incidences 

 occurring at the upper limit of their wide speed 

 ranges. It may be inferred, therefore, that the floats 

 cost half the total power available (90/112)*, in 

 spite of some sacrifice of the lower limit of speed 



(landing speed), by reduction of sii' 

 essential inferiority of the seaplane is evi 



In the land-fighter, the inclusion of i: 

 equipment and the reduction of the :i 

 landing speed to 27 m./s. is obtained \>y i-jui^ 

 doubling the surface, and sacrificing one-third of t 

 racer's speed, equivalent to about two-thirds of t.. 

 power. 



Great range of speed is always an index of \ • 

 large margin of power, and therefore of i 

 climb, at sea-level, falling off with height . 

 and finally of a high ">c^ing " or limr 

 attainable. 



Assuming liberally in the case of the racer tltat 

 100 kw. is required for level flying at 40 m./s. near sea- 

 level, this leaves 250 kw. for climbing. Taking th»' 

 airscrew efficiency as 0-7 and g as 9'8i m./s*. thisgi\ • - 

 an initial climb of 0*7 x 250 x 1000 watts 900 xy>i 

 m.kg.s.-2=2o m./s. =1*2 km./min. To calculate liu' 

 ceiling height with any accuracy much more precisL- 

 data are recjuired. 



The official height record, of 10-75 km. at thus date, 

 rests with France, but the same pilot, M. Sadi Lecointe, 

 has since claimed over 11 km. A U.S.A. claim, not 

 officially accepted in the absence of sufficient control, 

 gives an altitude of 12*5 km., which would mark the 

 invasion by man of the heights of the stratosphere. 



The Floor of the North Sea.^ 



ji 



'HE report on the marine deposits of the south 

 part of the North Sea, referred to below, may 

 be characterised as being long overdue, since it is 

 founded on about 600 samples taken by the Marme 

 Biological Association's steamers in 1904-8, when 

 that Society was undertaking the English share of the 

 International investigations. How extraordinarily 

 efficiently that share of the work was done is illus- 

 trated by the reports published on the collections and 

 material and in the peculiar discrimination shown in 

 the selection of these samples. It is common know- 

 ledge that much of the substance of this report was 

 known to the Admiralty during the War, proving of 

 value in respect to navigation in foggy and other 

 difficult weather. The area treated, the North Sea 

 roughly from the latitude of the Scottish border to 

 the Straits of Dover, is an exceedingly difficult one 

 on account of the complexity of its past geological 

 changes and the variety of its currents, whether 

 produced by wind or other means, acting in a com- 

 paratively shallow sea, much broken by banks 

 (especially in its western parts) and intersected by 



' Ministry of .Agriculture and Fisheries, Fishery Investigations. " The 

 Marine Deposits of the Southern North Sea." By J. O. Borley. (H.M.S.O., 

 15s. 1933) 



NO. 2819, VOL. I 12] 



pits and troughs, of which the Dogger Bank, depth 



7 fm., and the Silver Pit, 56 fm. 



tioned. 



The samples were taken out of tiie material 

 collected by a conical dredge with bag dragged along 

 the bottom and thus selected at each haul out of a 

 considerable quantity of deposit. The colour of the 

 sample was carefully noted, and a series of illustra- 

 tions of representative samples, showing colour and 

 texture, is published ; they are a little hard, as is 

 inevitable with all colour-process work as compared 

 with lithography. The estimations of the amounts 

 of the various grades (determined by least diameters 

 of contents) of gravels, of sands, and of silt were 

 done quantitatively, mainly by means of a sp>ecial 

 levigating apparatus designed by the author of the 

 report under notice. The different grades after 

 drying and weighing were then examined and their 

 mineral and other contents noted. The absence of 

 the organisms of decay from the samples, which were 

 usuallv of about 2 kg. weight, was interesting, worms 

 being found still alive after 1 7 months in the bottles. 

 The percentage present of each sized grade in a 

 sample, having been carefully taken, is multiplied by 



