October 6, 192 1] 



NATURE 



197 



Calendar of Scientific Pioneers. 



October 6, 1825. Bernard Germain Etienne de la 

 Ville, Comte de Lacepede, died.— The disciple and 

 ifriend of Burton, Lacepede, after the Revolution, was 

 appointed to a chair of zoology in the Jardin des 

 ■Piantes, and published various works on natural history. 

 October 6, 1880. Benjamin Peirce died. — A leader 

 in the American world of science, Peirce was professor 

 ■of astronomy and mathematics at Hanard, and for 

 some time superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey. 

 He wrote many treatises, and was a founder of the 

 American Academv of Sciences. 



October 6, 1894. Nathanael Pringsheim died.— The 

 .founder in 1858 of the Jahrbuch fur Wissenschaftliche 

 Botanik, and in 1882 of the German Botanical Societv, 

 Pringsheim contributed much to the study of sex in 

 plants, of algae, and of alternations of generations. 



October 6, 1902. John Hall Gladstone died.— Fol- 

 lowing in the footsteps of Graham, Gladstone devoted 

 .himself mainly to physical chemistry, and especiallv 

 studied the relation of the elements and compounds 

 to light. Of independent means, he gave much time 

 to educational and social matters He was the first 

 president of the Physical Society. 



October 6, 1911. John Hughlings Jackson died.— 

 Physician to the London Hospital and the Hospital 

 for Epileptics, Jackson was one of the first in England 

 /to use the ophthalmoscope, and was distinguished by 

 his work on the nervous system and epilepsy. 



October 7, 1847. Alexandre Brongniart died. — A 

 famous mineralogist and the associate of Cuvier, 

 Brongniart, after serving in the army, became director 

 of the Sevres porcelain factory, and in 1822 succeeded 

 Haiiv at the Ecole des Mines. 



October 8, 1647. Christian Severinus Longomon- 

 tanus died. — An assistant to Tycho Brahe at Hven, 

 Longomon tanus, or Longberg, accompanied Tycho to 

 Bavaria, and from 1605 on^vards was professor of 

 mathematics at Copenhagen. His "Astronomica 

 Danica," 1622, is an exposition of the Tychonic 

 .svstem of the world. 



October 9, 1S69. Otto Linne Erdmann died. — For 

 jiearly fortv years professor of technical chemistry at 

 Leipzig, Erdmann made valuable researches on nickel 

 and on indigo and other dyes, and with Marchand 

 made determinations of atomic weight. 



October 10, 1679. John Mayow was buried. — Re- 

 membered for his advanced views on combustion and 

 respiration, Mayow, who was a physician, died in 

 London in September, 1679, and was buried on 

 October 10 in St. Paul's, Covent Garden. It has been 

 said that his premature death retarded the advance of 

 modern chemistry by a century. 



October 10, 1708. David Gregory died. — Nephew to 



:nes Gregory, the inventor of the reflecting tele- 



ipe, David Gregory owed his fame to his advocacy 

 the Newtonian philosophy, which he was the first 



blicly to teach. From 1691 he was Savilian pro- 



-sor of astronomv at Oxford. 



October 11, 1708. Ehrenfried Walter Graf von 

 Tschirnhausen died. — A mathematician, Tschirnhausen 

 V as the founder of catacaustics, and was known as 



f maker of large burning glasses. 



October 11, 1889. James Prescott Joule died.— The 



\ourite pupil of Dalton, and one of the most intimate 



ends of Kelvin, with whom he collaborated, Joule 

 universally known for his 'determination of the 



■chanical equivalent of heat, and for his share in 



establishing the law of the conservation of energy. 



[His epoch-making papers were read in 1843, 1845, 



'84-, and 1849. The Coplev medal was awarded to 



;n in 1870. ' E. C. S. 



NO.. 2710, VOL. 108] 



Societies and Academies. 



BiRMINGH.A.M. 



Institute of Metals — Annual autumn meeting, Sep- 

 tember 21.— Prof. A. A. Read and R. H. Greaves: 



The properties of some nickel-aluminium-copijer 

 alloys. In some of the copper-rich nickel-aluminium- 

 copper alloys the o-solution will retain more nickel 

 and aluminium at 900° C. than at the ordinary tem- 

 perature. These allovs, while relatively soft on quench- 

 mg from 900° C, are hardened by slow cooling or by 

 reheating to lower temperatures. This change is the 

 result of the appearance of a new constituerit, prob- 

 ably a nickel-aluminium-copper solid solution, the 

 separation of which is accompanied by changes m 

 densitv and electrical conductivity, in addition to its 

 effect on tensile, hardness, notched bar, and other 

 tests. The separation of this special constituent takes 

 place slowly, so that chill-cast alloys and hot-rolled 

 rods of srnall section consist almost wholly of the 

 a-constituent. On annealing the cold-rolled alloys 

 softening proceeds slowly up to 500° C, wheri pre- 

 cipitation of the nicke'l-aluminium-rich constituent 

 begins to take place. If the separation is sufficient, 

 this may give an alloy of high elastic limit and tensile 

 strength and good elongation. The hardest product 

 is obtained bv reheating the quenched alloy for some 

 time at 600-700° C. Alloys so treated generally give 

 better properties than those obtained by uniform rates 

 of slow cooling, and shov^- considerable endurance 

 under alternating stresses above their true fatigue 

 limit.— R. T. Rolfe : The effect of increasing propor- 

 tions of lead upon the properties of Admiralty gun- 

 metal, with an appendix dealing with the effect of 

 lead on gunmetal containing copper 85 per cent., tin 

 5 per cent., and zinc 10 per cent. Svnthetic alloys 

 containing increasing proportions of lead up to i-68 per 

 cent, were examined. In sand-cast gunmetal lead 

 gradually increases the strength, ductilit\-, and soft- 

 ness of the alloy up to about 15 per cent, of lead, but 

 above this proportion causes a decrease in all three. 

 It does not affect the soundness. In chill-cast gun- 

 metal the effect on the hardness parallels that of the 

 sand-cast metal, with a change-point at about 1-5 per 

 cent, of lead, but associated with a minimum rather 

 than a maximum strength figure. It does not affect 

 the soundness. The influence of lead on liquation, 

 machinabilitv, corrosion, and behaviour for bearing 

 purposes is discussed, and it is suggested that in sand- 

 cast gunmetal the proportion of lead permitted by the 

 Admiralty specification might with advantage be in- 

 creased from 05 to I per cent.— R. Genders : The casting 

 of brass ingots. The failure of hollow-drawn articles 

 made from brass rod has generally been found to be 

 due to the presence of non-metallic inclusions which 

 originated in the cast ingot. The methods used_ in 

 casting ingots of brass vary, much consideration being 

 given to the saving of rolling. When a hollow article 

 subject to expanding stresses is to be made, the avoid- 

 ance of inclusions of foreign matter is vital, and the 

 form of ingot requires modification. The ingots made 

 were 3 in. square and 30 in. in length, as compared 

 with the Ingots 6-7 ft. in length and t^ in. square 

 section in common use. A hot sinking head or 

 "dozzle " was introduced, and molten brass is poured 

 through the "dozzle." No pipe is formed in the ingot 

 proper, and additions of metal mav be made at any 

 time to the metal in the "dozzle" without risk of 

 introducing defects into the ingot, any dross rising 

 to the top of the still fluid head. The moulds were 

 tapered, the top being enlarged by increasing amounts 

 in successive experiments, and ingots were cast at the 

 usual foundry- speed. — T. G. Bamford : The density 



