December 9, 19 15] 



NATURE 



407 



ing to 7 in. in the south-west, whilst it was less than 

 1 in. in the north-east and in part of the upper 

 Thames. 



In an address to the American Institute of Electrical 

 Hngineers in February last Dr. Rosa, chief physicist 

 at the Bureau of Standards, gave an account of the 

 work done by the bureau, with special reference to 

 the electrical part of ihe work. The address is repro- 

 duced in the November number of the Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute, and from it we learn that a new 

 electrical building, 190 ft. by 60 ft., and five stories 

 high, has just been completed at a cost of 40,000?., 

 and that a similar building is about to be erected for 

 the chemical division. When this is complete the 

 L'nited States Government will have spent 400,000?. 

 on the bureau and its equipment. So far as the elec- 

 trical division is concerned, the work is subdivided 

 into eleven sections as follows : — Resistance and elec- 

 tromotive force; inductance and capacity; commercial 

 measuring instruments ; inagnetic measurements ; 

 photometry; wireless telegraphy; electric railway 

 work; electric lighting and power; safety rules, regu- 

 lations, and devices; gas supply; telephone service. 



Mr. C. p. Sparks, who has succeeded Sir John Snell 

 as president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, 

 delivered his inaugural address on November 18. He 

 dealt chiefly with the development of the electricity 

 >upply industry, and, in the last part of his address, 

 suggested the directions in which further progress 

 might be anticipated. These, he thought, would 

 largely be governed by the necessity for fuel economy, 

 and he put forward the proposition that the economical 

 use of coal had been hindered in this country by its 

 low price. One of the next steps to lower the cost of 

 production will be the gas-firing of boilers, the gas 

 being obtained from producers worked at low tempera- 

 ture so as to provide by-products from the distillation 

 i)f coal as a raw material for other industries. As the 

 In-product processes can only be worked with real 

 success on a large scale, this will have to be preceded 

 by a fairly thorough centralisation of electricity supply 

 stations, so that the outputs of the numerous small 

 electricity works will gradually be merged into a few 

 large generating stations of sufficient size to 

 work with the utmost economy. The necessity for fuel 

 economy will also result in the more complete dis- 

 l)lacement of gas lighting by electric lighting. With 

 < lectricity generated in modern power-houses, and 

 ordinary metal filament lamps, 750,000 candle-power- 

 hours are generated per ton of coal, compared with 

 260,000 c.p. per ton of coal when gas and modern gas 

 mantles are used. The extended use of so-called 

 "half-watt" lamps will soon double this 750,000, so 

 ihat it would require an improvement in gas mantles 

 unite beyond the range of immediate probabilities to 

 . qualise matters. 



Scientific societies and journals which deal with 

 certain special subjects do not appear to have suffered 

 much by the war. This does not mean that those 

 engaged in scientific work have held back from taking 

 their places with the fighting forces ; indeed, the rolls 

 of honour of the universities show that exactly the 

 reverse is the case. It may be due partly to the fact 

 NO. 2406, VOL. 96] 



that many workers in science are past the militan,- 

 age, and partly also to the diminished number of 

 students, leaving more time for research to those most 

 qualified to carry it out. In certain directions there 

 is even an expansion noticeable in the scope of the 

 subjects dealt with, and we congratulate the editors 

 of the Archives of the Rontgen Ray ujion their choice 

 of a new and wider title for that important publica- 

 tion. It is the only English periodical dealing with 

 the subject of X-rays in all its bearings, and it natur- 

 ally embraces radio-activity, in addition to matters 

 concerning the applications of radiations generally as 

 well as electricity to medical purposes. We note that 

 the new title is Archives of Radiology and Electro- 

 therapy, so that as broad a field as possible may be 

 covered; and to judge by the issues since this change 

 was made last June there is every reason to expect 

 that this publication will meet with the success it 

 deserves. To the publisher, Mr. W. Heinemann, 

 great credit is due, especially for the excellence of the 

 reproductions of radiographs. Each part is well and 

 fully illustrated, and contains a valuable collection of 

 data relating to cases of some special interest. 



Engineering for December 3 contains the concluding 

 article of a descriptive account of the machinery of the 

 motor-ship Kangaroo, constructed by Messrs. Bur- 

 meister and Wain, "Glasgow, and purchased by the 

 Western Australian Government for carrying produce 

 to Britain. The vessel is propelled by twin-screws, 

 each driven by independent six-cylinder Diesel engines 

 on the four-stroke cycle. Each cylinder has a dia- 

 meter of 22-05 in-> t^i^ stroke being 29-92 in. ; the 

 designed power for each set at 140 revs, per min. is 

 1125 indicated horse-power, making a total of 2250 

 indicated horsepower. Much care has been given in 

 this ship to the general arrangement of the main 

 engines and auxiliaries, and the whole design is note- 

 worthy from this point of view. During the trials, at 

 light draught, the full power was developed at 144 

 revs, per min., and the total consumption of oil-fuel 

 for main and auxiliary engines was then 0292 lb. per 

 indicated horse-power per hour — a very creditable per- 

 formance. The speed of the ship at light draught 

 was 1 1-2 knots. Sir John H. Biles and Co. acted as 

 naval architects for the owners. 



M. Max A. Laubeuf, late chief constructor in the 

 French Navy, read a paper on submarines at the 

 International Engineering Congress, 1915, in San 

 Francisco, a summary of which appears in Engineer- 

 ing for December 3. The present tendencies 

 of the constitution of submarine flotillas appear 

 to be (a) coastguard submarines of 350 to 500 

 tons surface displacement, well armed {e.g. two minor 

 torpedo tubes and outer tubes or outer torpedo launch- 

 ing equipment), and having speeds of 14 to 16 knots 

 on the surface, and 9 to 10 knots when submerged; 

 (b) squadron submarines having a great displacement 

 (say 1200 tons when submerged), high speed, say 

 23 knots surface speed and 15 knots submerged, and a 

 f)owerful armament, say eight inner torpedo tubes and 

 sixteen torpedoes on board. Engineering also reprints 

 a paper on the submarine of to-morrow by Mr. L. Y. 

 Spear, read at the Society of Naval Architects and 



