September 6, 191 7] 



NATURE 



10 



reaching scientific investigations which are likely to 

 affect several sections of the industry are accordingly 

 more suitable for co-operative than for single-handed 

 attack. There will still be ample room for private re- 

 search by individual firms on the lines of their own 

 special work. Indeed, they may be expected to gather 

 many suggestions for this from the results of the co- 

 operative investigations. 



On the other hand, the German chemical industry 

 with its powerful firms engaged in handling the primary 

 raw materials through all their intermediate stages up 

 to the manifold but closely related final products, ex- 

 plosives, dyes, essences, drugs, antiseptics, would not 

 be suited for co-operative research, though it may be 

 piepared to go far in the direction of financial fusion — 

 a mere continuation of the previous line of develop- 

 ment, i 



If, as in this country, conditions are in many re- ; 

 spects specially favourable to co-operation in the con- 

 duct of research, the State is, we think, justified in 

 encouraging development along these lines by means 

 of monetary and other assistance. We find the justi- i 

 fication for our proposals for research associations in 

 these considerations. But when the firms have done \ 

 all that it will pay them to do in the way of both 

 private and co-operative research, there still remain j 

 lines of investigation which will either be sufficiently 

 fundamental to alTect a range of interests wider than 

 any single trade, however large, or else they will clearly 

 have a direct bearing on the health, the well-being, or 

 the safety of the whole population. The two types are 

 not mutually exclusive, but research of either kind 

 falls, we think, into the third class, and must be 

 undertaken by the State itself. 



Glass, Optical and Other. 



We indicated last year, and the public have learnt 

 to recognise the fact from constant reference to it, that 

 the study of .glass in many of its forms is one of serious 

 importance for the national safety. For a short period 

 there was grave anxiety, now happily removed, but we 

 have not relaxed our efforts to deal with this many- 

 sided industry in as comprehensive a manner as pos- 

 sible. The important research at the National Physical 

 Laboratory, carried on at the cost of the department 

 since 1915, has dealt with the fundamental problems 

 r>t" optical glass manufacture. Attention during the 

 -t year has been concentrated on the question of 

 factories. The superintendent of the metallurgical 

 lartment reports that "important and encouraging 

 -lilts were obtained, both with pots made of the same 

 lerial throughout and with others in which a more 

 lensive and highly refractory material was employed 

 I lining only. Further progress was also made with 

 ^t■stigations into methods of stirring and of melting 

 A hich shall protect the glass from furnace gases and 

 .11 her sources of contamination in such a way as to 

 leave the molten material freely accessible to stirring 

 and other manipulation. The developrnent of the elec- 

 tric furnace, particularly for the purpose of burning 

 refractories at very high temperatures, proceeded satis- 

 factorily. A new type of resistance furnace was 

 ■ nived. Heat is generated by contact resistance be- 

 rn specially shaped graphite parts, and an endeavour 

 being made to substitute pressed carbon similar to 

 that used in arc-lamp electrodes, as the latter can be 

 obtained in this country.'" Wiiile the National Phys- 

 ical Laboratory has been dealing with the fundamental 

 problems of manufacture. Prof. Jackson has been in- 

 \estigating the composition of certain optical glasses 

 for the department with the assistance of the Glass 

 Research Committee of the Institute of Chemistry. 



1 Report of Xational Physical I^boratrry, 1916-17 p 63."* 



NO. 2497, VOL. 100] 



He has succeeded in defining the composition of the 

 bath mixtures necessary for the production of several 

 glasses hitherto manufactured exclusively in Jena, in- 

 cluding the famous" fluor-crown glass. He has also 

 discovered three completely new glasses with properties 

 hitherto unobtainable. His work upon laboratory and 

 other glasses during the past year has been chiefly 

 devoted to assisting the manufacturers to perfect their 

 processes and to remove difficulties which have arisen 

 in the factories. Prof. Jackson's intimate acquaint- 

 ance with manufacturing conditions has been of the 

 greatest value for this purpose, and has, we are glad 

 to learn, completely won the confidence of the makers. 

 The dangerous position which existed when this council 

 was first established having now been removed, thanks 

 to the energy and initiative of the Institute of Chem- 

 istry, their Research Committee is now free to give its 

 attention to other less urgent but not less important 

 problems. 



An investigation into abrasives and polishing pow- 

 ders, primarily in relation to their use in the grinding 

 and polishing of glass, is about to be started under the 

 direction of a committee of the department, and the 

 Standing Committee on Glass and Optical Instruments 

 has conducted, or is conducting, a number of inquiries 

 with the view of ascertaining whether further research 

 is required on the following subjects : — The annealing 

 of glass ; anti-glare glasses ; the testing of, and the 

 formulation of standards for, laboratory glassware ; the 

 permissible variations in the optical properties of glasses 

 used by optical instrument-makers ; improvements in 

 refractometry ; the silvering of glass surfaces; the 

 standardisation of parts of optical instruments ; the 

 supplies .of fluorite and of Iceland spar ; and the plastic 

 properties of materials. In some of these inquiries the 

 department has already been able to give some assist- 

 ance to the Optical and Glassware Department of the 

 Ministry of Munitions and to the industries concerned. 



The Research Institute for Glass at the University 

 of Sheffield, in contemplation when we reported last 

 year,^ has now been established with the assistance of 

 grants from this department and from two associations 

 of glass manufacturers. The buildings have been 

 erected and equipped on a larger scale than we then 

 anticipated under an arrangement made by the Ministry 

 of Munitions in consultation with the Committee of 

 Council. Progress has already been made with several 

 systematic investigations on glass problems and the 

 results of one of them, concerned with the influenfe of 

 small amounts of chlorides and sulphates in producing 

 opalescence in glass, have appeared in the Journal of 

 the Society of Glass Technology. The work to be 

 undertaken will not duplicate the other researches into 

 glass carried on elsewhere. On the other hand, it will 

 be kept in close touch with them. This co-ordination 

 has been greatly facilitated by the establishment of the 

 Societv of Glass Technologists, founded by a few of 

 the active and enthusiastic workers at the technology 

 of glass in and near Sheffield. It now includes all 

 the progressive manufacturers as well as the men of 

 science interested in the subject. 



New Institute of Technical Optics. 



Closely related to problems of glass are those of 

 optics and optical instruments. For that reason we 

 established a single Standing Committee to deal with 

 both subjects. But here, as in every direction, we have 

 found that no sound progress in research is possible 

 without strengthening the bases of our national educa- 

 tion. We therefore welcomed the untiring persever- 

 ance of the London County Council, which has during 



2 Report of the Committee of the Privy Council for Scientinc and Indus- 

 rial Research, i9J5-i6, p. 34- [Cd. 8336.I 



