February io, 1921] 



NATURE 



765 



A larg^c amount of experimental work has been ] 

 done on the mechanical behaviour of leather under 

 tension, repeated bending to test fatigue effects, 

 and abrasion. Some of these results have been 

 given in a printed paper entitled " Experiments on ' 

 the Wearing of Bottom Stock Leather under 

 Abrasion," copies of which may be obtained from 

 the secretary at the address given above. 



The nature of the problems which are considered i 

 likely to be of immediate importance may be illus- I 

 1 rated by the questions which have arisen in the 

 work of the special committee on welted insole 

 leather. This committee was set up to consider i 

 the properties required in leather to render it ' 

 ■satisfactory for welted in.soles, to seek the relation 

 i)etween different tannages and the extent to which 

 the desired properties are produced, and to set up 

 a standard for an adulterant-free welted insole. 



During the prtxress of manufacture the leather 

 must be such as admits of a satisfactory and 

 ilurablc seam in the process of welt sewing and 

 in wear. It should Iwhave in an ideal manner in 



its relation to the perspiration from the feel. 

 Most of the finglish tanners who produce this 

 kind of leather have submitted samples of their 

 products, and these samples are being submitted 

 to the following kinds of tests :- - 



(i) Wearing ttsts on hot and dry feci. 



(2) Chemical analjses giving percentage of ash, fat, 

 moisture, hide substance, tannin, and water solubles. 



(3) Microscopic examination of fibres. 



(4) Physical and chemical tests, including tension, 

 abrasion,' fatigue on reix-ated bemling, water penetra- 

 tion, drving after wetting, and the tearing strength 

 given by the channel cut in a standard inanner. 



In conclusion, it must be stated that ihe Boot 

 and Sho<' Research .Association has been set up 

 on a very modest scale, with some uncertainty as 

 to the extent to which scientific methods can be 

 applied to the industry. Hxperience to date has 

 shown that definite and important lines of in- 

 vestigation do exist, and it is hoped ilhat the work 

 of the as.sociation will extend. 



Obituary. 



Dr. J. C. Cain. 



DR. JOH.\ CANNKLL CAIN, whose death oc- 

 curred suddenly at his residence in Brondes- 

 hury I'ark on .Monday morning, January 31, at 

 th«? early age of forty-nine, was the eldest son 

 • >f the Rev. Thomas Cain, of Stubbins, 

 Lancashire, and was born on September 28, 

 1871, at Kdenfield, near Manchester. He received 

 liis education at the X'ictoria University (Owens 

 College) and at the Universities of Tiibingen and 

 Heidelberg, obtaining the B.Sc. in the Honours 

 ^chtKjl at Owens in \^2, and the D.Sc. at TiJbin- 

 ijen in 1893. It was after he had migrated from 

 i'iibingcn to Hcidelb«Tg in the autumn of 1893 

 ihat the writer of this notice first met him. He 

 returned to Owens College for a short time 

 in 1894, where he worked with \V. \. Bone, but 

 t is evident that at this period he was already 

 '•eling drawn tow;irds that field of organic chem- 

 slry to which he ultimately devoted his life, for 

 1) 1895 he resisted the lure of research in the 

 .ipidly developing organic school at Manchester 

 irid entered the works of Messr.s. Levinstein, Ltd., 

 ■if Crumpsal \'alc, where he remained until 1901. 

 It was during this period of his career Ihat the 

 vrifer Ix'camc intimately acquainted with him, for 

 hey lived in the same luiuse at Cheetham Hill, 

 ihe writer working at research at Owens College, 

 and Cain at Crumpsal. Many were the discussions 



■ ti colour chemistry which were held during the 

 \enings. and it was here that it was decided to 



■ rite the b<M)k which ultimately appeared un<ler 

 lie title of "The Synthetic Dye.sfuffs " in 1905. 



Cain did not, however, remain long at I.evin- 

 -lein's, and in u)oi he became head of the chem- 

 istry and physics departments of the Municipal 

 I'lilinical Schiiiil .it Bury, in Lanc.ishirr. uhire 

 \o. 26;' IC^] 



he started, with Frank N'icoll, the important series 

 of researches on the rate of decomposition of diazo- 

 compounds, three parts of which were published 

 during 1902 and 1903. .\t this stage he also com- 

 menced his study of the diphenyl compounds, an 

 investigation which, as will be seen, he continued 

 at a later date elsewhere. As an outcome of his 

 research work, Cain obtained the degree of D.Sc. 

 in the L'niversity of Manchester in 1904, being 

 one of the first three to receive the highest degree 

 of the newly created University. Nevertheless, 

 his love for the practical side of his science 

 prompted him in 1904 to leave the Bury Technical 

 School and to take up the post of manager and 

 head chemist to Messrs. Brook, Simpson, and 

 Spiller, of London, a position in which he re- 

 mained until igo6, when he was appointed editor 

 of the Chemical Society's publications, an office 

 he held at his death. 



During the period of his editorship Cain spent 

 much of his spare time at research, and in 1907 

 published his theory of the constitution of the 

 diazo-compounds, an ingenious attempt to har- 

 monise much conflicting evidence, which, 

 although it has not found general acceptance, yet 

 still affords the simplest means of explaining many 

 of the reactions of these very reactive substances. 

 In igo8 Cain published the first edition of his 

 "Chemistry of the Diazo-Compounds, " a IxMik 

 which contains a complete account of these valu- 

 able substances, .\lthough during this period he 

 was handicapped by Ihe strenuous work required 

 by his ofTice, and to a certain rxteni by Ihe lack 

 of laiM>ratory accomm<Kl;itir)n, he was able to con- 

 tinue his research work on the diphenyl com- 

 pounds, and in conjtmction with Miss Mickle- 

 ihwait, Dr. Bra<ly, ami nthcrs (n- published 



