May 13, 1920] 



NATURE 



343 



Sir Napier Sliaw, Mr. F. VV. Lanchester, and Sir 

 George Greenhill. The new Committee differs con- 

 siderably from the older one in its personnel, and 

 indicates an apparent break in continuity. This is 

 not wholly the case, for many of the new members of 

 the Research Committee have for some time been 

 j memljers of sub-committees of the Advisory Com- 



mittee. It was inevitable that the end of a strenuous 

 period, such as that which brought the war to a close, 

 should be taken as a suitable time for the withdrawal 

 of the older members from some of their activities, 

 and this has happened to a great degree in the case 

 of the members of the Advisory Committee for Aero- 

 nautics. The place of such members is taken by 

 specialists in aeronautics together with one or two 

 men of science of wide experience. 



It was recommended, in the report referred to, that 

 funds should be provided for a school of aeronautics 

 at the Imperial College of Science, South Kensington, 

 to which institution the Zaharoff chair of aviation was 

 attached. The Treasury has approved of the neces- 

 sary funds being provided, and steps have now been 

 taken for the formation of the necessary educational 

 staff. The Committee's scheme recommended that 

 this staff should include, in addition to the Zaharoff 

 professor, whole-time professors of aerodynamics and 

 airship construction, together with part-time teachers 

 on design, materials, aero-engines, meteorology, navi- 

 gation, and airships, and a whole-time junior staff. 

 Mr. L. Bairstow, a former student of the college, has 

 been appointed to the chair of aerodynamics. His 

 work at the National Physical Laboratory on the 

 stability of aircraft is well known and constitutes an 

 important advance in aeronautical engineering. Mr. 

 Bairstow is a member of the new Aeronautical 

 Research Committee, and this dual position — like that 

 of Sir Richard Glazebrook — should afford ample 

 facilitv to enable the Research Committee to supervise 

 the educational work of the new school. 



In general the scheme proposed attempts to provide 

 a common meeting-ground for everybody connected 

 with aeronautics. As a central body responsible for 

 advice and criticism and for the broad lines of policy 

 in research, the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 

 I proved to be of the greatest value. It had no direct 

 ■ executive powers, although the National Physical 

 Laboratory had departments in aeronautics provided 

 solely for carrying out the wishes of the Com- 

 mittee. 



The experience gained is apparently considered bv 

 the ."Mr Ministry to have justified an extension of 

 powers, and, in particular, the contact with full-scale 

 research at Farnborough and elsewhere is made of the 

 same character as that previously holding for the 

 model work at the National Physical Laboratory. In 

 addition, the Committee has intimate relations with 

 the Imoerial College for educational needs. The 

 terms of reference to the Committee and the delimita- 

 tions of the respective responsibilities of the Air 

 Ministry and the Department of Scientific and' Indus- 

 trial Research give some indication of the very com- 

 plex arrangements contemplated. Control in all 

 directions is divided, and it is some consolation in 

 these troubled times to find the whole of the essential 

 elements of aeronautics combining to give a fair and 

 generous trial to a scheme without definite rules. 

 I.e. to a scheme which assumes helpful co-ooeration 

 as the basis of success. Whatever diflRculties may 

 appear in this direction can only be known later, but 

 it may be hoped that the new Committee will be a 

 worthv successor to the .Advisory Committee for Aero- 

 nautics and so help to confirm a healthv precedent in 

 the relations of industry and research to the Depart- 

 ments of State. 



NO. 2637, VOL. 105] 



Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies. 



'y HE report for the ye^r 1919 gives evidence that 

 -*• the Board continues to discharge useful work. 

 During the year there was a danger that supplies of 

 casern and glue would fall short, and that aeroplane 

 manufacture would suffer thereby. The Board came 

 to an arrangement with the Air Group of the Ministry 

 of Munitions, and carried out a research into the 

 nature, functions, and manufacture of adhesives. This 

 resulted in the discovery of two new adhesives, one 

 possessing very remarkable properties, and the other 

 prepared from a waste product of which there was a 

 large supply in the country throughout the war. In 

 addition to this. Dr. Schryver and his colleagues 

 devised improvements in the manufacture of casein 

 which effect a considerable saving in material and an 

 improvement in its quality. 



The Committee on the Water-power of the Empire,, 

 with Sir Dugald Clerk as chairman and Prof. A. H. 

 Gibson as secretary, drew up a second report, in which 

 it is able to claim that it has stimulated in- 

 terest in water-power investigations in many parts of 

 the Empire. In India, Ceylon, British Guiana, Aus- 

 tralia, the Union of Scuth Africa, and the East Africa 

 Protectorate steps are being taken by the appointment 

 of commissions or committees, or by preliminary in- 

 vestigation and survey, to estimate the water-power 

 supplies which will be available, and in several 

 instances the committee has been asked to give guid- 

 ance and assistance. Much new development is taking 

 place in New Zealand. A proposal has been put 

 forward to hold an Imperial Water-power Conference 

 in London. ^ Attention is directed to the general lack 

 of facilities in universities and technical institutes for 

 the specialised training of young men in hvdro-electric 

 engineering. 



The committee of which Sir Robert Hadfield is 

 chairman has sent deputations to interview Sir Alfred 

 Mond and Mr. Stanley Baldwin (on behalf of the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer) in order to put forward 

 its opinion that there is a great need for better and 

 more centralised accommodation for the technological 

 and scientific societies. 



The Patent Laws Committee drew up a series of 

 recommendations, which were adopted bv the Board 

 and transmitted to the Federation of Briti.sh Industries 

 for use in its endeavour to introduce modifications into 

 the new Patent Laws. 



.'\n elaborate report on the advisability or otherwise 

 of the compulsory adoption of the metric system, 

 drawn up by a committee with Mr. Wilson-Fox as 

 chairman and Mr. A. R. Hinks as secretary, was dis- 

 cussed at a special meeting of the Board' called for 

 the purpose. The report, which envisages boldly the 

 actual practical difficulties which would confront com- 

 pulsory adoption, especially during the war, is shortly 

 to be published on the authority of the committee, 

 accompanied by a series of criticisms on the part of 

 the scientific and technical societies to which it has 

 been submitted. 



Other pieces of work summari.sed in the report 

 relate to such subjects as the supply of timber for 

 aeroplanes, the establishment of geophysical and petro- 

 phvsical institutes, and the place of science in warfare. 

 The Board has also taken its share in the discus- 

 sion of the formation of national and international 

 research councils, and in advocating the publication 

 of a work devoted to the mineral resources of the 

 Empire. The Bulletin, which is printed and issued to 

 the conjoint societies and the members of the Board, 

 erives in a comprehensive form a forecast of the meet- 

 ings of the societies and an early announcement of the 

 papers to be read thereat. 



