October 28, 1920] 



NATURE 



281 



fascinating hypotheses which later proved to be base- 

 less. E. W. MacBride. 

 Imperial College of Science and Technology, 

 South Kensington, London, S.W.7, October 22. 



British Laboratory and Scientific Glassware. 



The question ot the manufacture of laboratory and 

 scieniihc glassware in this country is now receiving 

 the attenuon of the House of Commons, together 

 with otner Key industries. Ihis matter has been the 

 subject of considerable correspondence in Nature, and 

 1 leel that readers of this journal will be interested 

 to know what progress has been maUe in this work. 



The advance maUe in the manufacture of laboratory 

 and scientihc glassware in Great Britain during the 

 last five years is not only remarkable, but is also a 

 monument to the capacity and ability of the British 

 scientific worker. It is unnecessary to point out here 

 the inifKjrtance and necessity of scientihc worli or of 

 the vessels and instruments that men of science use. 

 That the latter must be of the finest quality and 

 manufacture is indisputable. 



At the outbreak of war men of science were abso- 

 lutely dependent on supplies of German, glass. They 

 realised the danger, and at once stepped into the 

 breach that the British manufacturer, unaided, was 

 unable to fill. As a result of their efforts we now 

 have the nucleus of a considerable industry in this 

 country. While the supply is not yet equal to the 

 demand, rapid progress has been, and is being, made. 



Men of science are always critical of one another's 

 work, and the production of these laboratory glasses 

 has naturally led other workers to test and compare 

 their properties with those of German and other 

 makes. These results have been published in purely 

 technical journals, but I feel that they have not yet 

 had the publicity given to them that they deserve. 

 The results of these tests are really remarkable, and 

 prove quite conclusively that, in spite of the short 

 time that the industry has been established, British 

 laboratory glassware is the finest in the world. The 

 results have never been challenged in any way, and 

 go to show that the widely and cleverly advertised 

 properties of German glassware are not quite so good 

 as thev have been made to appear, and that the British 

 manufacturer has not merely equalled their best, but 

 surpassed it. 



The reports of the series of tests referred to are 

 contained in the Journal of the Society of Glass 

 Technology, the references being as follows ; — Vol. j., 

 p. IS3 : "The Attack of Chemical Reagents on Glass 

 Surfaces, and a Comparison of Different Tvpes of 

 Chemical Glassware." Vol. ii., p. 219: "Yhe Re- 

 sistant Properties of some Types of Foreign Chemical 

 Glassware. Vol. iii., p. 129: "Further Investiga- 

 tions of Chemical Glassware." These researches 

 have been carried out by a department of Sheffield 

 University. 



The glasses tested have been classified (vol. ii., 

 p. 230) under the headings "Good," "Moderate," 

 and "Bad," and include Jena glass, Greiner and 

 Friedrich's "R," Koln Ehronfcld's, Swedish, Italian, 

 French, American, and British. Of these only seven 

 (two German, two American, and three British) 

 remain in the " Good " class in every test. The tests 

 include the action of (i) boiling water, (2) boiling 

 water under pressure (autoclave), (3) 2N-NaOH, 

 (4) iV/io-NaOH, (5) 2;V-Na.CO„ and (6) boiling 

 HCI. 



The action of boiling water at atmospheric pressure 

 is so small on all soven glasses as to be, in the opinion 

 of the authors of these researches, within expcri- 

 mentnl error, and is, therefore, negligible for com- 

 parative purposes. 



NO. 2661, VOL. 106] 



An analysis of the table of results referred to above 

 shows that for the remaining five tests the order of 

 merit of the various glasses for general use is as 

 follows : (i) A British glass. (2) A German glass. 

 (3) -A British and an .'American glass. (4) -An .Ameri- 

 can and a German glass. (5) K British glass. 



This result speaks for itself, and it should be added 

 that neither of the two German glasses in this list 

 is Jena glass, which was found to occupy a com- 

 paratively low position in the table of results. 



One of the great troubles which the manufacturer 

 has had to face was that he was making this extra- 

 ordinary attempt, not in normal, but in abnormal, 

 times, when the supplies of raw materials and trained 

 and unskilled labour were not available. Men skilled 

 in the difficult art of " blowing " were almost un- 

 obtainable, yet these difficulties were gradually over- 

 come and continued improvements made, until to-day 

 the best British chemical elass bears comparison, 

 from every point of view, with the products of the 

 rest of the world. 



In the early days many complaints were urged 

 regarding the quality of the finish. This was only to 

 be expected. It is obvious that skilled l.nbour cannot 

 be trained in a dav, but I have no hesitation in saving 

 that the finish of the majority of the best British 

 makes of resistant plass is now as good as, if not 

 better than, that of German glass of comparable 

 composition. 



One feels that the British manufacturer has at 

 times been blamed for producing an inferior article. 

 Unbranded glass has often been sent to chemists as 

 British ware, whereas all the best makes of British 

 glaf^s are stamped with the name of the firm 

 making it. 



Unfortunately, those who were patriotic enough to 

 manufacture this plass during the war are in danger 

 of losing the result of their labours. Your renders 

 know the heavv cost of experimental and research 

 work, and will naturally realise that the British 

 manufacturer is extremely anxious lest the results of 

 this work should be permanently lost to the country. 

 It is for this reason that the British manufacturer 

 asks that the Key Industries Bill should be passed as 

 soon as possible, to enable him to tfain more labour 

 and to place this industry on a permanent and satis- 

 factorv footing. 



S. N. Jenkinson, 

 President of the Society of Glass Technology. 



"Rondels," Cookham Dean, Berkshire, 

 October 18. 



The Behaviour of Time-Fuzes. 



It might appear that in my article on "The 

 Behaviour of 1 ime-Fuzes " in Nature of October 14 

 I was describing my own researches. I wish to 

 correct any impression of that kind. The original 

 draft of my article was unsigned, but, unfortunately, 

 1 allowed the author's name (inserted by the Editor) 

 to remain in the proof. The experiments described 

 were made by a variety of people at Woolwich, at 

 the National Physical Laboratory, at Cambridge, at 

 University College, London, at Portsmouth, and else- 

 where; and not least of the credit for the progress 

 made in our knowledge of fuze-behaviour is due to 

 certain officers of H.M. Army and Navv, on the 

 Ordnance Committee, at the Slinistrv of Munitions, 

 and at H.M.S. ExceWent. My article, however, was 

 intended not to apportion credit, certainly not to 

 claim it, but to describe what I personally regard as 

 the leading lines of development of a strange and 

 interesting scientific by-product of the war. 



A. V. Hill. 



45 The Downs. Altrincham, Cheshire, 

 October 21. 



