432 



NATURE 



[Sept. i6, 1875 



represented. I have spoken of applied mathematics, I 

 meant rather mathematical dynamics than applications 

 to art and mechanical operations. Then practical appli- 

 cations should be represented, mechanics and mechanical 

 engineering ; then again civil engineering and geodesy, 

 mining engineering, statistical inquiries, and the scientific 

 branches of her Majesty's service ought to be thoroughly 

 represented. Engineer and Artillery officers and the navy 

 should be represented both in its navigation department 

 and in the department of seamanship, and the depart- 

 ment of gunnery. The mercantile interests of the country 

 and the agriculture of the country ought certainly to be 

 represented. The universities ought to be represented 

 amply — the English universities, the Scotch universities, 

 and the Irish universities. Also practical telegraphyj 

 w^hich is a very distinct branch of engineering, civil 

 engineering or mechanical engineering would not suffi- 

 ciently represent it." 



" Do you think that the functions which are proposed 

 to be assigned to the scientific Council would not interfere 

 in any way with the existing scientific departments of the 

 Government ; for example, the Medical Department of 

 the Privy Council, or some of the other Government 

 scientific departments? — I think it would relieve the 

 departments from pieces of scientific work at present 

 given to them, because there is no other body to whom 

 they can be given, and for which they are by their orga- 

 nisation and personnel almost necessarily ill fitted and 

 insufficiently competent." 



"You would leave to these departments their adminis- 

 trative functions, but give them the advantage of con- 

 sulting with the Council upon higher questions of science 

 on which they desired information ? — Yes, certainly ; every 

 question of science that falls under the notice of any 

 department of the Government would naturally be referred 

 to the scientific Council." 



Dr. Frankland ithus deals with Col. Strange's pro- 

 posal :— 



" Are you acquainted with Col. Strange's proposal for 

 the establishment of a consultative council of science ? — 

 Yes, I have heard from him some of the chief ideas that 

 he entertains on that subject." 



" Are you disposed to consider that such a Council 

 would be desirable .'' — I think so. I am not prepared to 

 say that it should be constituted exactly in the way that 

 Col. Strange mentioned, but a Council of that description 

 would be exceedingly desirable, on many grounds, for 

 furnishing the Government with trustworthy scientific 

 opinions in cases requiring them. . . ." 



" Are you of opinion that the advice of such a Council, 

 even on matters to which the larger proportion of the 

 members of the Council had not paid special attention, 

 would be valuable ? — Yes, I think it would, because thoee 

 members of the Council who were thoroughly acquainted 

 with the subjects would be expressing their opinion to 

 men conversant with scientific methods, and they would 

 be able to convince their colleagues with respect to the 

 opinion that the Council generally ought to give upon the 

 matter. It would be a very different thing from that of 

 convincing a Parliamentary Committee, for instance, upon 

 a scientific point, because all the men upon the Council 

 would have received a scientific training and would under- 

 stand the bearing of scientific arguments." 



" Have you considered at all how such a Council could 

 best be appointed, whether would you leave it to one of 

 the Ministers to appoint and select the proper persons to 

 serve on the Council ? — I should think that it must ulti- 

 mately fall upon the Minister, but he might be assisted by 

 the presidents of different learned societies or by the 

 Council of the Royal Society, in whom I think everyone 

 would have confidence." 



{To be continued.') 



THE IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE 



EVERY friend of science and true patriot must heartily 

 welcome the sound and steady progress of the Iron 

 and Steel Institute. The proceedings at the Manchester 

 meeting last week, as also its Journal, just received, con- 

 taining the papers read at the last London meeting, show 

 that it is doing exactly the kind of work which is now 

 becoming quite necessary for the maintenance of the 

 dignity and prosperity of British industry. It also dis- 

 plays a very important feature of industrial progress. 

 One need not be grey-headed to be able to remember 

 when iron-workers and iron-masters, in common with 

 other artificers, were nearly unanimous in believing that 

 their trade interests were best served by each man hugging 

 up to himself every bit of newly acquired trade informa- 

 tion, and keeping his competitors as much as possible in 

 the dark respecting it. Indentures of apprenticeship 

 still describe our common trades as "mysteries," and 

 bind the pupil to abstain from revealing the secrets of the 

 craft which his master solemnly agrees to communicate 

 in return for the premium and seven years' servitude. 

 The ceremonials, secrets, and degrees of freemasonry are 

 based on the old practice of hoarding the arcana of a 

 " craft " and communicating them in various degrees of 

 profundity to certain privileged individuals, who were 

 bound under dreadful penalties to reveal these sacred 

 mysteries to none but the initiated. 



Contrasted with these lingering shadows, these penum- 

 bral fringes of the old passing darkness, the meetings of 

 the Iron and Steel Institute are full of hopeful suggestion, 

 by displaying the magnitude of the revolution which 

 modern science is gradually effecting. In the still older 

 and still darker times all knowledge was made a mystery 

 and a craft, and was selfishly held by the initiated few 

 who used it for the oppression of their fellow-men. 

 Abstract or pure science was first thrown open ; learned 

 societies were formed for the discovery and diffusion of 

 natural truth by the open and world-wide co-operation of 

 philosophers ; their discoveries threw new light into the 

 dark mysteries of trade, and now. we see'^the craftsmen 

 themselves emulating the philosophers, and offering freely 

 to all the world the best results of their technical know- 

 ledge, their laborious investigations, and hard-earned 

 technical experience. This is the true chivalry of trade, 

 that only needs its full development in order to place 

 industry fairly upon the throne of its natural and proper 

 dignity. 



The Manchester meeting, under the presidency of Mr. W. 

 Menelaus, has been as successful as could possibly have 

 been wished. Although the papers read were too purely 

 technical to be referred to at length in Nature, still they 

 are all evidences that the iron and steel industries are 

 being more and more rigidly conducted on scientific me- 

 thods. The papers read were few, but they were all of a 

 thoroughly practical kind, and along with the discussions 

 which generally followed, were well calculated to promote 

 the objects for which the Institute has been established. 

 The first paper read, and which gave rise to a warm dis- 

 cussion, was by Mr. Daniel Adamson on " The Appli- 

 cation of High-pressure Steam to Quadruple Engines." 

 Mr. I. Lowthian Bell's paper on " The use of Caustic Lime 

 in Blast Furnaces " is likely to prove of great value to 



