294 



NATURE 



[June 13, 1918 



tion and the intrinsic value are the same. With* 

 regard to the English didactic method, we have been 

 struck by a greater tendency towards a systematic 

 arrangement and simplification of methods; one 

 receives the impression that 'the whole system of Eng- 

 lish education is based much more on visual repre- 

 sentations than is the case with Italian methods, 

 which are more verbal and abstract. This is par- 

 ticularly apparent and important in connection with 

 primary and secondary instruction, which makes an 

 excellent impression, both on account of the intuitive 

 basis of the education and the distribution of sub- 

 jects and time, as well as on account of the large 

 part which is devoted to moral and physical training. 

 In her conception of what elementary and secondary 

 schools should be, both intrinsically and e.xtrinsically 

 (methods of teaching and scholastic buildings), Eng- 

 land offers a notable example, which is worthy of 

 study, especially by us Italians, for whom these 

 problems are of the greatest importance, as the 

 Government and the people are fully aware. 



With regard to the universities, on the other hand, 

 we were able to pursue our journey in comjfany with 

 English men of science, trusting to those spiritual 

 affinities which have hitherto been of such great value 

 in, strengthening the friendship between our two 

 peoples. Our visit to certain universities which were 

 more particularly technical gave us great .satisfaction 

 for a different reason, since they showed us that they 

 were well on the way towards that co-operation 

 between the man of science and the industrialist 

 which, with ourselves, has recently proved to be very 

 efCective. It is in virtue of a similar co-operation that 

 the Italian universities have now, in some branches of 

 education, an abundance of means which ensures 

 their proper working; and it is hoped that not only 

 the phvsico-chemical sciences, but also the biological 

 sciences' to their full extent and application, will soon 

 be enjoying the benefit of the assistance of the indus- 

 trialists. 



To the Italian delegation it seemed that the 

 reciprocal knowledge of the languages of the two 

 countries was the problem that had, in the first place, 

 to- be solved ; the meetings at the Royal Society of 

 Literature, the lectures delivered at various places 

 that were visited, did much towards assisting the 

 efforts in this direction, and it was certainly a great 

 encouragement to us, coming from Italy at this grave 

 moment to carry on a work of reconstruction, to find 

 so much willingness expressed in the English manner, 

 not in words alone, but in deeds as well, to spread 

 the knowledge of our language, which is the chief and 

 the most effective instrument of our union. 



PlERO GlACOSA. 



APPLIED SCIENCE IN THE COTTON 

 INDUSTRY. 



OPINIONS may differ as to which is the most 

 valuable or most important of the manv aspects 

 of this question which were set forth by Dr. Lawrence 

 Balls in a paper entitled " Some Applications of Re- 

 search to the Cotton Industry," read before the Roval 

 Society of Arts on April lo, and published in the 

 Journal of the society for May 3 (vol. Ixvi., p. 389). 

 His contributions to the scientific and practical sides 

 of the problem may appeal in varying degrees to 

 different people, but no one could fail to be impressed 

 by their compelling interest. 



The necessity for scientific research is in danger 

 of becoming a catchword which everyone repeats, 

 though few have sufficient knowledge of what it means 

 to have anv real faith in it. Dr. Balls has shown that 

 the scientific study of the cotton plant and its environ- 

 NO. 2537, VOL. lOl] 



ment is essential before the spinner can even describe 

 what he wants in his raw material, in terms which 

 can be translated by the plant-grower into efforts to 

 produce the desired results. Even the question of 

 length of staple has always been dependent on a rule- 

 of-thumb method of determination which left the 

 grower very much in the dark. On this point one 

 might be tempted to award the major importance to 

 Dr. Balls 's invention of an ingenious machine which 

 will not merely give the maximum and minimum 

 length of individual hairs in a cotton sample, or even 

 the average length, but will sort them out in graduated 

 lengths and make it easy to measure the total quantity 

 of each length, thus ascertaining accurately the degree 

 of uniformity or otherwise of the staple, which is of 

 prime importance to the spinner. The use of this 

 machine should go a long way towards determining 

 in a really definite way the value of any cotton sample, 

 and may prove the main step towards a method which 

 would enable the grower himself to estimate the 

 suitability of a new cotton for a particular trade. 



Equally valuable from the practical point of view 

 was the hint which Dr. Balls 's studies of flowering 

 and boiling curves give of a scientific method of 

 forecasting such crops as cotton. If it is not too 

 good to be true, we may live to see the "arrivals" 

 of the crop plotted out weeks in advance, and the 

 probable total yield of the crop foreseen with an 

 accuracy which would certainly be an improvement 

 on the present rather haphazard and sometimes very 

 deceptive methods. 



The important results of the work out of which 

 much of Dr. Balls's material arose, in its effects on 

 the water control policy of the Egyptian Irrigation 

 Department, is now a matter of history, but it is 

 one which cannot be told too often either in scientific 

 or official circles as an encouragement and stimulus 

 to the one and a warning to the other. 



THE CO-ORDINATION OF ELECTRIC 



POWER SUPPLY.. 

 T^HE report of the Committee appointed bv the 



A Board of Trade to consider the question of elec- 

 tric- power has now been issued (Cd. 9062, price 3d.). 

 Several of the questions the Committee had to con- 

 sider have already been dealt with by the Coal Con- 

 servation Sub-Committee, the report of which was 

 described in Nature of January 3 and February 14 

 last. The report begins by the statement of several 

 general conclusions on which it bases its recom- 

 mendations. The first of these is that after the 

 war the success of British industry will depend 

 to a large extent on the adoption of the most 

 efficient methods and machinery, so that manu- 

 facturing costs may be reduced to a minimum. In 

 this connection the extension in the use of electric 

 power supplied at the lowest possible price will be a 

 most important factor. The present system of supply 

 by separate authorities to small areas is economically 

 unsound, and prevents the cheapening of the supply. 

 Hence a comprehensive system for the generation of 

 electricity and, where necessary, for reorganising its 

 supply should be established as soon as possible. 

 With these statements every engineer is in agreement. 

 If it had been possible to work on a clean slate, the 

 devising of a suitable scheme under a central authority 

 would have been comparatively easy. Owing, how- 

 ever, to the existence of the present patchwork system 

 and the many conflicting interests which will have to 

 be adjusted, the problem is one of considerable com- 

 plexitv. The Committee advises that a new body to 

 be called the Electricity Commissioners be^set up, to 

 whom the existing powers of the Board of Trade 



