46o 



NA TURE 



[April 8, 1922 



although he is not a machine, needs to be studied 

 with the same scientific care and methods as are now 

 applied to a machine, and within twenty years, he 

 imagined, the expert in psychology and physiology 

 would be at the elbow of every manager of a great 

 business. If this were done we should have taken a 

 step towards securing the contentment of the workers, 

 because they would, at the end of their day's work, 

 be fresh enough to turn their attention to that 

 spiritual refreshment and knowledge which would 

 give them the full meaning of life. 



Gas Cylinders Research. 



1"^HE first report of the Gas Cylinders Research 

 Committee has just been published by the 

 Stationery Office. The Committee was appointed in 

 1918 to inquire into the whole question of cylinders for 

 the storage and transport of compressed gases other 

 than acetylene, but the present report deals only with 

 the material for cylinders for the so-called permanent 

 gases which are not liquefied at the pressures pre- 

 vailing in the cylinders. The main question under 

 discussion was the advisability of using steel of 

 higher carbon content than has hitherto been per- 

 mitted in this country, the regulations based on the 

 recommendations of the 1895 Committee requiring 

 that the carbon should not exceed 0-25 per cent., 

 whilst in America the carbon may be as high as 

 0-55 per cent. The railway companies favour the 

 continuance of this restriction, arguing that the im- 

 munity of this country from cylinder accidents as 

 compared with foreign "countries points to the desir- 

 ability of using only low-carbon steel. On the other 

 hand, it is shown that cyhnders of steel containing 

 0-43-0-48 per cent, of carbon have given perfectly 

 satisfactory tests at the National Physical Labora- 

 tory, and that such cylinders are at present carried 

 by road, whilst the railways conveyed a large number 

 of hydrogen cylinders of this composition during the 

 war under an indemnity from the Admiralty. 



The Committee was not able to arrive at a unani- 

 mous decision. Eleven of the members sign the main 

 report, in which steel of the higher content in a 

 normalised condition is recommended as an alternative 

 material, the stress tests and tests for toughness 

 being specified. The chairman. Prof. H. C. H. 

 Carpenter, and the scientific members of the Com- 

 mittee are agreed on this point. The dissenting 

 member, Mr. J. H. B. Jenkins, is of opinion that 

 high-carbon steel is not only less tough, but also more 

 liable to variations in quality than mild steel, and 

 that the saving in weight which would be effected by 

 the change is too small to justify even a slightly 

 increased risk of accident. The report contains a 

 long account of mechanical tests and microscopical 

 examinations, and will be found of interest by all 

 steel metallurgists, whether they are concerned with 

 the immediate problem or not. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Aberdeen. — At the spring graduation 'ceremony 

 on March 30 the honorary degree of doctor of laws 

 (LL.D.) was conferred upon Prof. T. W. Griffith, 

 Professor of Medicine, University of Leeds ; Mr. 

 John Masefield ; and Dr. C. H. Turner, Dean 

 Ireland's Professor of Exegesis, Oxford. The follow- 

 ing higher degrees were also conferred. Science : 

 D.Sc, G. P. Hector, Agricultural Department, 

 Dacca, India. Thesis — " Studies in the Botany 

 and Genetics of Rice." Medicine : M.D., F. W. C. 

 Brown. Thesis — " A Critical Investigation into the 



Thermal Death Point of the Tubercle Bacillus in 

 Milk, with Special Reference to its Application to 

 Practical Pasteurisation." J. G. Danson. Thesis — 

 " Anaphylaxis : its Relationship to Asthma and Hay 

 Fever." M. Y. Garden. Thesis — " Observations on 

 the Treatment of Diseases of the Lungs and Pleura 

 by Artificial Pneumothorax." R. D. Lawrence. 

 Thesis — " The Estimation of Diastase in Blood and 

 Urine and ' its Diagnostic Significance." Ch.M., 

 Dr. W. Brander-. Thesis — " Spontaneous Rupture 

 of the Pathological Spleen." 



London. — The following doctorates have been 

 conferred : — Ph.D. (Science) on Mr. J. Mould for a 

 thesis entitled " The Properties of Dielectrics, in- 

 cluding the Variations of Dielectric Constant with 

 Frequency, the Energy dissipated therein and the 

 Variation in Conductivity," and on Mr. G. Sheppard 

 for a thesis entitled " Contributions to the Geology 

 of Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada, with 

 detailed reference to the Stratigraphy and Structure 

 of the Foothill Belt and its Associated Areas " ; 

 and Ph.D. {Economics) on Bal Krishna for a thesis 

 entitled " Commercial Relations between India and 

 England." 



The Lindley Studentship, of the value of 120/., 

 offered every third year, will be awarded to assist 

 research in physiology in the physiological laboratory. 

 Candidates should submit a statement of qualifica- 

 tions and the mode of research proposed to the 

 Academic Registrar by May i. 



Three Research Studentships for post - graduate 

 work, of the value respectively of 175^., 105/., and 

 75/. (with remission of school fees in addition), 

 and available for two years, will be awarded in July 

 next by the London School of Economics and Political 

 Science. Applications, upon a special form obtain- 

 able from the director of the school, Houghton 

 Street, W.C.2, must be sent in by, at latest. May 31. 



Manchester. — A Fellowship for the encourage- 

 ment of research in preventive medicine has been 

 instituted in memory of the late Auguste Sheridan 

 Delepine, professor of public health and bacteriology 

 in the university from 1891 to 1921, by the addition 

 of the emoluments of the former Junior Research 

 Fellowships in Public Health to the interest derived 

 from an endowment of 1000/., made by Dr. Charles 

 Slater of Tunbridge Wells. The regulations which 

 have now been approved provide for a Fellowship 

 of 300/., to be offered biennially and to be open for 

 competition by candidates who are graduates in 

 medicine of this or any other approved university, 

 or who hold an approved registrable medical quali- 

 fication. 



The Ashby Memorial Research Scholarship in 

 Diseases of Children, value 100/., is being offered 

 this session. Applications for the scholarship, with 

 information as to the subject proposed for investi- 

 gation and the qualifications of the candidates, should 

 reach the Internal Registrar of the university before 

 June 30. 



We referred in these columns on March 6, p. 325, 

 to a scheme put forward by the Colston University 

 Research Society, of Bristol, for the establishment 

 of Colston Research Fellowships in the University 

 of Bristol. Already the Society announces that 

 Messrs. J. S. Fry and Sons, Ltd., Messrs. E. S. and A. 

 Robinson, Ltd., and Messrs. C. Thomas and Bros., Ltd., 

 have each promised to contribute the 150/. annually 

 necessary to found Fellowships. It is to be hoped 

 that the lead given by these firms will be quickly 

 followed by other local manufacturers. 



NO. 2736, VOL. 109] 



