420 



NATURE 



[December i6, 1915 



seven-storey building- with a staif of 150 re- 

 searchers. It possesses a good library in which 

 the chief scientific publications are available, an 

 elaborately equipped workshop and experimental 

 rooms for scientific investigations. A consider- 

 able portion of its work is connected with the 

 testing of insulating material for electrical 

 machinery. Other subjects of study are the 

 mechanical and electrical properties of alloys 

 both for magnetic and resistance work. Experi- 

 mental investigations are undertaken in connec- 

 tion with incandescent lamps. The experiments 

 made there were the basis of the new gas-filled 

 tungsten lamp. The scientific groundwork of 

 the processes of lamp manufacture in all its 

 branches is thoroughly examined. One room is 

 devoted to phenomena occurring in very high 

 vacuum. The electron emission from a hot tung- 

 sten filament in a vacuum, so high that there is 

 very little ionisation, has been studied and has 

 been utilised in the Coolidge X-ray tube and in 

 the development of a high voltage rectifier. 

 Another branch of study is that of the high 

 frequency phenomena which find their application 

 in wireless telegraph transmission, and for this 

 purpose a wireless antenna for experimental pur- 

 poses has been erected. In an article by Mr. 

 L. A. Hawkins describing the laboratory, he 

 states that : — 



"The laboratory is continuously conducting 

 researches of a purely scientific nature and pub- 

 lishing the results, to endeavour to contribute 

 its share to the progress of scientific thought. 

 . . . These investigations may be initiated be- 

 cause of their scientific interest without any 

 definite practical object in view, but . . . every 

 marked advance in science sooner or later, 

 directly or indirectly, has resulted in important 

 effects on industry, and these laboratory inves- 

 tigations have certainly nearly always had prac- 

 tical results. ... It should not be supposed, 

 however, that all the important achievements of 

 the laboratory have been thus brought about. 

 Many of them were the result of persistent and 

 resourceful effort directed from the beginning 

 towards a perfectly definite goal. ... Even in 

 those cases where unforeseen practical results 

 are made possible by the new insight into funda- 

 mentals, gained from purely scientific research, 

 they seldom first appear in fully developed form, 

 like Athena sprung from the brain of Zeus, but 

 much work, inventive and experimental, is usu- 

 ally necessary before that end is reached." 



It would be impossible to express more clearly 

 than has been done in these paragraphs the point 

 of view which scientific men have been urging 

 for many years past, and it is a hopeful sign that 

 those responsible for such a large industrial 

 NO. 2407, VOL. 96I 



undertaking as the General Electric Company 

 should have come to the conclusion that purely 

 scientific investigation is one of the necessary 

 conditions of progressive development, and should 

 have acted so practically as a result of that 

 belief. 



The industrial conditions existing in this 

 country hitherto have made it almost impossible 

 to establish research laboratories in connection 

 with many engineering works. Possibly this 

 may have been due to a failure on the part of 

 those concerned to recognise the importance of 

 industrial research. Possibly, and more prob- 

 ably, it has been due to the financial conditions 

 under which many British engineering firms have 

 had to work, and to the insecurity of the markets 

 which they have had to supply. If neglect of re- 

 search is the true explanation of our backward- 

 ness, tjhe excuse will hold no longer, as the war 

 has proved, as nothing else could have done, what 

 remarkable productive results may be obtained 

 from a scientifically organised industry. 



WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY AND TIME 

 SIGNALS. 

 (i) The Wireless Telegraphist's Pocket Book of 

 Notes, Formulae, and Calculations. By Prof. 

 J. A. Fleming. Pp. xii + 347. (London : Wire- 

 less Press, Ltd., 191 5.) Price 65. net. 

 (2) Wireless Time Signals: Radio-telegraphic 

 Time and Weather Signals Transmitted from 

 the Eiffel Tower, and their Reception. Issued 

 by the Paris Bureau of Longitudes. Pp. ix + 

 133. (London: E. and F. N. Spon, Ltd., 

 191 5.) Price 35. 6d. net. 

 (i) 'npHIS book, though of more than three 

 1 hundred pages, is of a size that can 

 go into a moderately large pocket, and contains, 

 in virtue of the clear and close printing, a large 

 amount of information. To those who are familiar 

 with Prof. Fleming's large treatise on electric- 

 wave telegraphy the present volume may be 

 briefly described by saying that it is for the 

 main part a series of notes carefully selected from 

 that work, together with matter from recent 

 papers by the author, and with a number of 

 mathematical tables. 



In style and contents the * book is a decided 

 departure from other " pocket books " dealing 

 with engineering subjects, for it is devoted rather 

 to the abstract theory of its subject than to the 

 workaday aspects. Moreover, many of the for- 

 mulae and equations are developed in full logical 

 form, and not merely thrown down before the 

 reader in their final shape, ready for practical 

 applications. 



