484 



NATURE 



[February 9, 191 1 



His Majesty's battleship Thunderer was launched on 

 Wednesday, February i, from the yard of Thames Iron 

 Works, Ltd. As this ship is the larj^est floated for the 

 British Navy up to the present, the builders have to be 

 congratulated on the enterprise and courage which has 

 enabled them to overcome the diflRculties inherent to the 

 building of ships on the Thames. When finished, the new 

 ship will have a displacement of 22,500 tons; her length 

 is 545 feet and her breadth 88 feet 6 inches. Parsons' 

 turbines, to give a speed of 21 knots, are being constructed 

 at the builder's works at Greenwich. The launching 

 weight of the vessel and cradles was about 9600 tons, and 

 the ways were so designed as to keep the pressure under 

 2 tons per square foot. The inclination of the ways was 

 I in 16, and about 10 tons of tallow, together with oil 

 and soft soap, were used for lubrication. The launching 

 operation passed off without hitch of any kind, and the 

 vessel was immediately towed down the river to Dagenham, 

 where the firm have had constructed a new ferro-concrete 

 jetty for the purpose of enabling the ship to be finished. 



A REPORT has just been published by Mr. F. Palmer, 

 chief engineer to the Port of London Authority, in which 

 is described a very comprehensive scheme for the improve- 

 ment of the Port of London. In a summary of the re- 

 port. Engineering for February 3 states that the net 

 tonnage entering the Port of London has increased in 

 Tecent years at the rate of about three million tons every 

 ten years. The maximum size of vessels using the port 

 has increased from to, 000 to 14,000 tons. The new scheme 

 in its entirety will cost about 14,500,000/., and provides, 

 among other improvements, for four new docks and re- 

 arrangements and reconstruction for those at present in 

 •existence. The depth of water in all will be increased, 

 and from the Millwall Docks seawards there will be a 

 channel 600 feet wide, giving 20 feet at low tide and 

 41 feet at high tide. Just above the Albert Docks this 

 Avill change to a channel of corresponding width, but of 

 10 feet greater depth, while a little lower it opens out to 

 1000 feet in width. As all the best docks at present are 

 fully occupied, but little additional tonnage can be 

 attracted except by the provision of new or improved facili- 

 ties, and there seems little doubt that many of the sug- 

 gested improvements will be carried out in the near 

 future. 



In The Times of February 3 a correspondent says that 

 another attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean by airship will 

 be made early this year. The enterprise is being promoted 

 Tjy a German syndicate, and it is reported from Kiel that 

 the airship, named the Suchard, is practically complete, and 

 will, after trials, be shipped to St. Vincent, Cape Verde 

 Islands. The Suchard differs essentially from the Wellman 

 airship. The gas envelope is constructed more or less on 

 the lines of the Parseval dirigible, but it is of stouter 

 material. In length it is 195 feet, and its greatest diameter 

 Is 55 feet. The cubic capacity is 9400 cubic metres, and 

 an abnormally large air ballonet is fitted. Care has been 

 taken to devise a system of balancing which will keep the 

 vessel as nearly as possible at a uniform height. The 

 motive power will be supplied by two petrol engines of 

 200 horse-power, mounted in a boat slung beneath the 

 envelope. In the event of mishap to the envelope, necessi- 

 tating its being cut adrift, the motors can be employed to 

 propel the boat. The entire power plant and all the stores 

 are to be placed in this boat. A light upper deck or plat- 

 form is situated above the boat of the Suchard, which gives 

 access to the envelope. The promoters claim that they will 

 be. able to cross the Atlantic in three ways, namely, by 



NO. 2154, VOL. 85] 



the dirigible, with the engines running and the trade w; 

 helping ; by balloon, fn the case of the failure of 

 engines ; or by motor-boat. 



An article by Prof. G. H. Bryan in the Cor>h 

 Magazine for February deplores the loss of life by ;ii 

 plane accidents, and suggests that the trial-and-t 

 methods by which the development of aerial naviga; 

 has 'been accomplished do not provide the quickest or 

 best means of solving the problem of stability or of p 

 ducing machines by which the difficulty of flying will - 

 reduced to a minimum. " The difficulty of flv: :,< 

 straight," he remarks, " has been overcome, not b\ 

 complete investigation of the problem of stability and 

 consequent construction of stable aeroplanes, but 

 aviators learning to balance themselves on more or ' 

 unstable machines." Work is wanted in the laborat- 

 and experiments with models in the air, to provide 

 material required for the mathematical solution of the 

 problem of maintaining equilibrium in the air under various 

 conditions. While many valuable money prizes are off- 

 for successful flights, practically no encouragement 

 given to any mathematical or other purely scientific in- 

 vestigator to devote one or two years of fairly continuous 

 work to the study of the stability of motion of an aero- 

 plane. There are plenty of mathematicians who are 

 admirably equipped for such an investigation, but the 

 pressure of their everyday duties, or the necessity of earn- 

 ing a modest livelihood, prevents them from undertaking 

 the work except in their spare time. Prof. Bryan himself, 

 working with Mr. Harper, finds that in ordinary circum- 

 stances " a machine is less liable to overturn by pitching, 

 but some machines are more liable to overturn sideways 

 when gliding downwards than when flying horizontally." 

 He considers that most machines at present in use are 

 more or less unstable laterally, and that the methods by 

 which progress has been achieved have involved — to use the 

 title of his article — unnecessary " Wastage of Men, Aero- 

 planes, and Brains. " 



The report of the Public Health Committee of the 

 London County Council, containing the report of the 

 medical officer of health of the county. Sir Shirley Murphy, 

 for the year 1909, has recently been issued. It contains 

 a mass of statistical matter of the utmost value, as well 

 as several special reports by the assistant medical officers 

 on subjects of importance in public health. Of the latter, 

 Dr. Hamer's on nuisance from flies and on the seasonal 

 prevalence of vermin in common lodging-houses is of 

 particular interest. A census of flies in selected localities, 

 the species to which they belong, their seasonal prevalence 

 and relation to intestinal diseases, are discussed. 



An article referring to the Chinese tree originally named 

 Cupressus Hodginsii, by Mr. S. T. Dunn, appears in The 

 Gardener's Chronicle (February 4). Dr. A. Henry, in 

 consultation with Mr. H. H. Thomas, announces that 

 from an examination of further material they make it the | 

 type of a new genus, Fokienia, intermediate between | 

 Cupressus and Libocedrus. It agrees with Cupressus in j 

 the shape of the female cones, and is similar to ' 

 Libocedrus in the unequally-winged seeds and general i 

 characters of the foliage. Another announcement in the ; 

 same issue relates to the discovery in a Dutch nursery | 

 of a fertile sport of the maidenhair fern Adiantum 1 

 Farleyense, often mentioned for its sterility, i.e. non- 

 production of spores. The new variety is said to be I 

 superior in other respects, inasmuch as it thrives at aj 

 lower temperature and bears the petioles more erect andi 

 rigid. ' 



