November 24, 1923 



NA TURE 



755 



rinting the fact in italics. While these fundamentals 

 \\ ere somehow overlooked, the ship was equipped with 

 ;iii array of special fittings such as no former polar ship 



)uld boast — enclosed bridge, clear-view screens, gyro- 

 M opic compasses, double set of wireless, etc. — all very 

 liclpful, no doubt, but one can imagine the remarks of 

 the ship's officers when, though surrounded by these 

 devices, they had to nurse a leaky boiler and a crank- 

 shaft out of the true. 



The initial cost of the Quest, a small wooden vessel of 

 125 tons, was ii,oooZ., and we imagine that before she 

 returned at least as much again must have been spent 

 upon her. Even allowing for the fact that she was 

 bought when the shipping market was at its peak, it is 

 clear that oceanographical or polar expeditions are 

 ruinously expensive, nor can former expeditions present 

 much more satisfactory balance-sheets. 



The Discovery was designed and built in 1900 for 

 Antarctic exploration, and cost more than 50,000/. ; she 

 was sold afterwards for a fraction of that sum. She is 

 now being reconditioned at a cost comparable with her 

 first cost, to continue, after twenty years, the work for 

 which she was originally designed. During that period 

 Scott, Shackleton, and Mawson, to mention only the 

 chief leaders, have wanted her and had to put up either 

 with inferior ships or have lost heavily over buying and 

 selling. Meanwhile, the only ship ever built specially 

 for the Antarctic has been sealing or dry-rotting in dock. 

 Manifestly we are here touching upon what might 

 almost be called a scandal, but it is one for which no 

 one in particular is responsible, unless it be the com- 

 panies who make large profits by selling and buying 

 exploring ships. The real scandal is that polar explora- 

 tion is so little organised, the efforts are so spasmodic 

 and independent, that it was no one's business to keep 

 the Discovery after her first voyage and charter or lend 

 her when she was again required. 



That, we believe, is the real lesson to be learnt from 

 the story of the Quest ; and it is a lesson, not for the 

 Shackletons and Wilds of the future, but for us stay-at- 

 homes who urge them on, who even subscribe towards 

 their ventures, but take no steps to secure continuity 

 from one expedition to the next. 



The book is well illustrated, but is extraordinarily 

 deficient in good maps. It is time that publishers, if 

 not their authors, realised that adequate maps are 

 essential to such books and improve their selling 

 prospects. Perhaps the most valuable part of the 

 book is the medical appendix written by Dr. Macklin, 

 in which he gives the most up-to-date summary of 

 medical conditions on a polar expedition, with advice 

 drawn from his own experience on such subjects as 

 scurvy, frost-bites, and sledging rations. 



F. Dftu-nham, 



NO. 2821, VOL. 1 12] 



Metallurgical Furnaces. 



The Flow of Gases in Furnaces. By Prof. W.-E. 

 Groume-Grjimailo. Translated from Russian into 

 French by Leon Dlougatch and A. Rothstein. 

 Translated from the French by A. D. Williams. 

 With an Appendix upon the Design of Open-Hearth 

 Furnaces. Pp. xxi + 399. (New York: J. Wiley 

 and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 

 1923.) 275. 6d. net. 



THE construction of furnaces for metallurgical 

 purposes has been guided in general by rule of 

 thumb, practical experience having shown a particular 

 furnace to work well, and a similar design being adopted 

 in new plant, without any established principles to 

 serve as a guide to the designer. In 191 1 there 

 appeared an important work in Russian, by Prof. 

 Groume-Grjimailo, in which an attempt was made to 

 place the subject on a scientific basis. Being trans- 

 lated into French in 1 914, and introduced to the French 

 public by Prof. Le Chatelier, this novel treatise attracted 

 much attention, and it has now been made available, 

 in an extended form, to the English-speaking world. 

 It should be studied with care wherever furnaces are 

 used. The loss of heat in most metallurgical furnaces 

 is large, and economies in this direction are of great 

 importance in the improvement of industry, especially 

 in view of the great increase in the cost of fuel. 



The guiding principle of the work is recognition of 

 the fact that the densities of hot and cold gases differ 

 so much that a mass of flame passing through a furnace 

 may be treated as if it were a light fluid, floating on the 

 heavier mass of gas at a lower temperature beneath it. 

 It is then possible to apply the laws of hydromechanics 

 to the case of furnaces. For purposes of study and 

 demonstration, sectional models of the furnaces are 

 made, enclosed between sheets of plate glass, water 

 being introduced, and a light liquid, such as kerosene, 

 coloured for distinctness, being then admitted through 

 the gas ports. It is then easy to see how the light 

 liquid, representing flame, distributes itself through the 

 furnace. The difference between the efficiencies of 

 updraught and downdraught kilns is at once made 

 evident by this method, and the use of such models is 

 becoming common. Many examples are given by the 

 author of furnaces which were unsatisfactory in their 

 working, but became efficient on being reconstructed 

 in accordance with these principles. The consequences 

 are worked out quantitatively, and formulae are arrived 

 at which may be used by tiic furnace designer. 



It may be suggested, however, that the author 

 scarcely takes sufficient account of radiation as a means 

 of supplying heat to the ol)jccts in the furnace. The 

 translator has added greatly to the value of the work 



