28o 



NATURE 



[January 17, 1901 



the trigger-guard, moved the trigger. This pneumatic 

 method was employed by the authors of the paper 

 because it introduced no vibration when acting, and the 

 method is strongly emphasised by the writers, who 

 apparently have overlooked the fact that an exactly 

 similar method has been in use in England for the last 

 seven years in connection with the Tram chronograph 

 used in ballistic work. Since the pneumatic method of 

 firing introduces no vibration, it could be used in con- 

 nection with a gun slung by ropes. 



An attempt is made to show nodal points of vibration 

 by means of sand figures, after the manner of Chladni, 

 and sand curves were produced on a surface attached by 

 cement to the guns when clamped and also when sup- 

 ported loosely, and also in the case of a barrel used with- 

 out a stock. The vibrations appeared to be approximately 

 the same in each case. The research concludes with a 

 list of results, and it is stated that in the case of the 

 6 mm. gun the exit of the shot takes place just before 

 the completion of the first quarter vibration of the first 

 appearing second over tone. The research, although 

 presented in a form almost too much condensed in parts 

 to be quite clear, is of considerable interest, and has 

 •evidently been conducted with care and patience. 



I wish to take this opportunity of acknowledging the 

 kind assistance given me by Mrs. Max Schiller in con- 

 nection with some portions of the authors' work on 

 ballistics. F. J.-S. 



THE ROYAL INDIAN ENGINEERING 

 COLLEGE. 



TT is evident from the letters and comments which 

 •'■ have appeared in the Times and other papers, that the 

 summary notice of dismissal of a large part of the scien- 

 tific staff of the Royal Indian Engineering College, 

 Coopers Hill, is regarded as an act of injustice which, if 

 permitted to take effect, would be distinctly detrimental 

 to the interests of science. The facts of the case were 

 stated in these columns last week, and an examination of 

 them is sufficient to convince any one that the seven 

 gentlemen who have received notice that their services 

 will not be required after the end of the Easter term 

 have been treated with little courtesy and no considera- 

 tion. That it should be possible for men of scientific 

 eminence to be dismissed from their posts more easily 

 than if they were civil service messengers or clerks, is 

 one of the many indications we have of the small value 

 attached by the official mind to scientific work and dis- 

 tinction. Perhaps Lord Kelvin's letter, which we reprint 

 below from the Times, will show that the matter is not to 

 be permitted to rest in its present unsatisfactory position. 



Sir, — The correspondence which appeared in the Times of 

 January 3 regarding Coopers Hill College has caused a painful 

 shock to all who know of the good work which the college has 

 done in giving to India the benefits of well-trained engineers in 

 the service of its Government. No one can read that corre- 

 spondence, I believe, without being convinced that the seven 

 professors and teachers whose position is threatened are justified 

 in asking for an inquiry. 



The proposed action — a sudden and arbitrary dismissal of 

 able and distinguished scientific teachers who have been doing 

 duty for periods of nine to thirty years in a satisfactory manner — 

 is certainly not to be expected in institutions under the control 

 of the British Government ; and I sincerely hope that the 

 Secretary of State for India in Council will see his way to 

 granting the request for an inquiry. 



I am your obedient servant, 



Kelvin. 



Netherhall, Largs, Ayrshire, January II. 



The principle of the action is as bad as the private 

 injury, for it suggests that gentlemen of education and 

 •distinction, who have held Government posts for long 

 periods, may have their services dispensed with at the 



NO. 1629, VOL. 63] 



will of a military officer having no special qualifications 

 to enable him to know the value of their work. If there 

 is no more security of tenure for scientific men than is 

 implied in the act of the president of the College at 

 Coopers Hill, it is because they have not asserted their 

 rights with sufficient insistence, and the sooner they do 

 so the better it will be for their positions. Opportunity 

 for showing that the gentlemen who have been instructed 

 to give up their appointments at Coopers Hill have the 

 world of science behind them will be afforded by a 

 memorial in their favour which we hear is being prepared, 

 to be submitted to the Secretary of State for India. 



No excuse worthy of consideration has been offered for 

 the dismissal of half the educational staff of the Cpllege. 

 The salaries of the gentlemen who have received notice 

 — for that is what it amounts to — are by no means too 

 liberal, so that the statement that the action has been 

 taken with a view of reducing expenses seems altogether 

 insufficient. As " M. A. " shows in the Times, money 

 is available for the needs of the College, and "it is the 

 worst form of economy to starve the staff of a teaching 

 institution." Another writer goes even further, for he 

 asks, ''Is it not the case that the college has been for 

 some years self-supported by fees from students ?" But, 

 putting this question aside, we have no hesitation in say- 

 ing that the work done by the gentlemen dismissed could 

 not be carried on with the present efficiency at less cost. 

 In any case, the method adopted is not the one best 

 calculated to improve the efficiency of any institution. 



There is one other point, and it is not the least impor- 

 tant. Assuming that the president of the College is able 

 to dismiss arbitrarily as many members of the staff as 

 he cares to dispense with, then some substantial compen- 

 sation should be given to those thus compulsorily retired. 

 Dr. Johnstone Stoney mentions in the Tiines that " when, 

 twenty-one years ago, the Government through Parlia- 

 ment gave Ireland an Examining Board in place of a 

 University, it allotted when doing so the full amounts of 

 their salaries or emoluments as compensation for loss of 

 office to the outgoing members of the staff of the late 

 Queen's University and to those professors of the 

 University who were required by their statutes to dis- 

 charge University as well as college duties." This 

 principle should be brought to the front and urged upon 

 all who have the control of institutions like that at 

 Coopers Hill, namely, that adequate compensation for 

 loss of office must be awarded to the members of the 

 staff who have to retire after years of good service. 



NOTES. 

 Sir Archibald Geikie will shortly retire from his post of 

 Director-General of the Geological Survey of the United 

 Kingdom. He will be entertained by his friends at a com- 

 plimentary dinner early in March. All who wish to attend 

 should communicate with Mr. F. W. Rudler, Museum of 

 Practical Geology, 28, Jermyn Street, London, S.W. 



The death is announced, at seventy-eight years of age, of 

 Prof. Hermite, the eminent French mathematician. He was a 

 member of the Academy of Sciences and a Foreign Member of 

 the Royal Society. Announcement is also made of the death 

 of M. Chatin, the botanist, and a member of the Paris Academy 

 of Sciences. 



The Geological" Society will this year award its medals and 

 funds as follows : — The Wollaston medal to Mr. Charles Barrois, 

 of Lille ; the Murchison medal to Mr. A, J. Jukes-Browne, of 

 Torquay ; the Lyell medal to Dr. R. H. Traquair, of Edin- 

 burgh ; and the Bigsby medal to Mr. G. W. Lamplugh, of the 

 Geological Survey. The Wollaston fund goes to Dr. A. W. 

 Rowe, the Murchison fund to Mr. T. S. Hall (Melbourne), and 

 the Lyell fund to Dr. J. W. Evans and Mr. A. McHenry. 



