342 



NATURE 



[November ii, 1920 



difficulty lay in the working out of melhotls of 

 manufacture, particularly the devising of mechanical 

 methods, and in imposing them upon an industry 

 which was rather unwilling to adopt them. 'ihe 

 glassmaker's chair and tools had to be replaced by 

 moulds, and even then the procc>dure adopted in 

 mould-blowing as practisedi in the country had to be 

 modified. Instead of employing men to finish iuch 

 articles as beakers, machines had to be devised to carry 

 out the processes which could be operated by girls. 

 Drastic alterations in the methods of annealing had 

 to be introduced. In some branches, such as the 

 manufacture of graduated ware, the technical processes 

 for production in mass had to be worked out from 

 the commencement. 



Now the fullest information as to the composition 

 of German chemical glassware was at the disposal of 

 anyone who had access to a chemical laboratory, such 

 as Prof. Baker kindly placed at my disposal in 

 October, 1914, and could make an analysis of glass. 

 The reproduction of these glasses, on the basis of 

 the analyses, called for some knowledge of com- 

 mercial materials, and such information as was avail- 

 able as to the qualities of the glasses actually on- the 

 market made improvement a matter of no very great 

 difficultv. If the chemical probFems had been the 

 essential ones the scientific public would have had 

 everv reason to complain if the manufacturers had 

 not at the outbrc;ik of war at once produced perfectly 

 satisfactory scientific glassware, and had never failed 

 to give them the most complete satisfaction. How- 

 ■ever, the actual fact is that the chemical difficulties 

 were almost non-existent ; but, on the other hand, the 

 technical difficulties were very real, involving the 

 expenditure of a vast amount of energy and money 

 which had to be provided by the manufacturers them- 

 selves. I can say most definitely that all those who 

 have been concerned in the industry have actually lost 

 money in the venture, but that they do not grudge 

 the cost. 



During the war a vast amount of information was 

 collected and shared between the various firms engaged 

 in the industry, but it was often impossible to make 

 use of it owing to the difficulties which stood in the 

 way of obtaining machinery and plant. It would 

 now be possible to make use of this information, to 

 reorganise completely factories for mass production, 

 and to install new plant, but the manufacturer is 

 hampered by the stringency of the financial position, 

 the enormous increase in the cost of machinery, 

 etc., and the absolute uncertainty as to the policy of 

 the Governrnent. However, if the industry is doing 

 its best to meet the situation, it deserves '■he support 

 of the scientific public, which has also the right to 

 demand guarantees. I suggrest, therefore, that the 

 manufacturers should invite the Institute of Chemistry 

 and the Institute of Phvsics, which represent the 

 professions most closely concerned, to investigate the 

 position of the industry and to report upon it. 



It must not be imagined that the cost of scientific 

 glassware will ever approach the pre-war standard, 

 and it does not appear that the increase in cost is 

 in excess of the increase in cost of other commodi- 

 ties. During the war, while I had the opportunity 

 of checking the figures, I know that our prices were 

 lower than the pre-war prices relatively to the increase 

 in the cost of production. Temporarily, owing to the 

 rate of exchange, German glass is obtainable at a 

 lower rate than English, but if this fact is taken 

 advantage of now, the scientific public is likely to 

 have to pay for its short-sighted policy so soon as 

 the industry is once more completely in German 

 hands. M. W. Tr.avers. 



November 6. 



NO. 2663, VOL. 106] 



Negative Electron Curve. 



The elements are constructed, so it is now believed, 

 of collections of hydrogen atoms bound together by 

 negative electrons. The atomic weight of an element 

 is not, as a rule, a whole number. I think the 

 importance of this departure from integers is most 

 significant. 



If we can consider that the element is composed 

 of a number of hydrogen atoms, then the departure 

 from the simple sum of the weight of the hydrogen 

 atoms composing the element must be due to the 

 negative electrons. For example, the element vana- 

 dium has an atomic weight of 5106. Suppose we 

 consider it to be composed of 51 hydrogen atoms,' 



HYDROGEN, ATOMrC WEIGHT I 008 



VANADIUM. •• ■• 5106 



(1-008 X 51)— 51-06 = ZU-b 



GALLIUM. - •• 69-9 



(1-008 x7i) — 69-9 •» — i-eea 



Fig. I. 



then its atomic weight should be 1-008x51=51-408; 

 but its atomic weight is 5106. The difference is 

 — 0-348, due, I take it, to the negative electrons which 

 have entered into the composition of the element. 



I have obtained miniKS quantities for a number of 

 the elements, starting from hydrogen, atomic weight 

 1-008, and stopping at Ge, and I find that they space 

 themselves along a regular curve, as shown in Fig. i. 

 That the minus quantities of the atomic weights 

 should have arranged themselves in this regular way 

 by pure accident I cannot believe, so I suggest that 

 there is some natural law at work to account for it. 

 The explanation is to be sought, I think, in the 

 supposition that the hydrogen atoms attract each 

 other, producing the force of gravity, while the nega- 

 tive electrons are repulsed by gravity ; the elements 

 are, therefore, lighter than the sum of the hydrogen 

 atoms themselves. 



Referring again to the curve, if the helium atom is 



