40 



NATURE 



[March ii, 1920 



II of c', />v+. No such frequency is visible on the 

 film, which seems to have recorded only the funda- 

 mental and the octave. This vocal note might fairly 

 be called a "dud." Though sustained with greater 

 effort than (3) above, there is no ring in it, energy 

 being wasted in the attempt to force a vibration in a 

 mistuned resonator. When a singer happens upon a 

 note of this kind he instinctively alters the oral con- 

 figuration. Hence the endless complaints that some 

 vocalists, no matter what language they sing, distort 

 the vowels. It is impossible always to combine good 

 resonance with purity of vowel sound, and the higher 

 the voice, the more frequent the occurrence of such 

 an unfavourable conjuncture as here illustrated. It is 

 a matter of arithmetic. 



(16) " 128 not, •? 6." The seventh harmonic was not on 

 the programme. The proposal was to repeat (i) louder. 

 The note began well, but while forcing the voice I 

 became doubtful whether I could hold out until the 

 one second which was to receive duration had come 

 and gone, and listening anxiously for the click of the 

 shutter lost ear-control of the harmonic. In fact, 1 

 have to confess to a facial lapse, as sometimes happens 

 when one is having a photograph taken. A slight 

 enlargement of the lip-opening in the direction of the 

 vowel in jar, a nearer approach to the vowel in not 

 as I speak it naturally, introduces harmonic 7 of the 

 fundamental 128. It would be easy to demonstrate 

 this at another sitting. The earlier part of the film is 

 all at sixes and sevens. The strip reproduced with 

 its apparently lop-sided octave proves that the period 

 has been correctlv marked in (1). 

 NO. 2628, VOL. 105] 



(7) " 128 Somerset R." It was hoped to discover 

 why the Wessex or American r should sound harsh 

 to unaccustomed ears. So far, the ear tells me more 

 than the eye. 



It would be interesting to try a longer film marked 

 " 128 we may, pa, all go too, ? 17 to 5." 



W. Perrett. 

 University College, Gower Street, London, 

 W.C.I, February 27. 



Scientific Direction of Industrial Research. 



Embodied in its rules, the National Union of 

 Scientific Workers states that one of its objects is 

 " to secure in the interests of national efficiency that 

 all scientific and technical departments in the public 

 service, and all posts involving scientific knowledge, 

 shall be under the direct control of persons having 

 adequate scientific attainments." The executive com- 

 mittee of this union realised that it had to over- 

 come much prejudice existing against the application 

 of this rule to the older Departments of State ; 

 but from the very circumstances which gave birth to 

 the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research 

 it imagined that the Department would adopt this 

 rule as a cardinal principle, and enforce it in its rela- 

 tions with the many manufacturers' associations the 

 co-operation of which was invited in the formation of 

 research associations for the benefit of British indus- 

 tries. 



Until the great war cut off supplies from Gerrnany 

 the British nation as a whole had realised neither 

 its dependence upon that country for dyes, drugs, 

 instruments, and glassware, among other things, nor 

 the fact that great German industries had been 

 founded upon the original work of British men of 

 science. The war brought enlightenment ; the nation 

 discovered that its manufacturers, either from apathy 

 or ignorance, had failed to exploit British brains for 

 the benefit of the British communities; and it is safe 

 to assume that the Department of Scientific and Indus- 

 trial Research came into being to remedy this state of 

 things and to bring the manufacturing interests into 

 touch with the real scientific worker as distinct from 

 the essentially "business" man. 



The appointments of Sir Herbert Jackson, Prof. 

 Crossley, and Dr. Slade as directors of research of 

 different industrial research associations were wel- 

 comed by this union as an indication of the Depart- 

 ment's acceptance of the principle laid down bv all 

 men of science, but later appointments have given 

 rise to dismav, particularlv that of Mr. R. L. Frink as 

 director of the* Glass Research Association, referred 

 to by Dr. Travers in Nature of February 5. Mr. 

 Frink appears to have been successful as the head of 

 a commercial organisation connected with thew-indow- 

 glass and bottle-glass trade, but careful inquiry has 

 failed to provide evidence that by training or experi- 

 ence he can claim to be a man of science. 



My union feels compelled, therefore, to protest with 

 all its power against the appointment. It has sent 

 its protest both to the Glass Research Association, 

 which made the appointment, and to the Department 

 of Scientific and Industrial Research, which approved 

 it. From the former no reply has been received, 

 although a month has elapsed since we made our 

 protest ; from the latter the following extracts from 

 the reply are a confession of impotence to deal effec- 

 tivelv with the matter : 



" It is the intention of the Government that, so far 

 as the conduct of the affairs of research associations 

 is concerned, this shall be in the hands of the associa- 

 tions themselves. ... 



"Accordingly, the responsibility for the selection of 

 a director of research and for the conditions of his 



