August 26, 1920] 



NAl URE 



827 



political and economic interest. At present she has 

 no place in the reconstructed Europe, and a complete 

 political re-orientation will be necessary if she is to 

 emerge successfully from her present trials. 



The pre-war frontier of Italy in the east is un- 

 satisfactory, because it assigns to Austria the essentially 

 Italian region of the Lower Isonzo. But beyond that 

 region and a position on the neighbouring highlands 

 for strategic purposes, Italy has no claim except what 

 she can establish on ethnic grounds. The so-called 

 "Wilson line" meets her requirements fairly well. 



Economic Science and Statistics. 



Dr. J. H. Clapham's presidential address to Section F 

 contains a comparison and contrast between the econo- 

 mic condition of Western Europe after the Napoleonic 

 wars and its economic condition to-day. Figures for 

 the total losses of France and for the debt accumu- 

 lated by Great Britain during the former period go to 

 prove tliat if warfare in those days lacked intensity, 

 it made up in duration. As in 1918, France was short 

 of men, and her means of communication had suf- 

 fered ; her rapid recovery illustrates the essential dif- 

 ference between the two periods : a hundred years ago 

 few men were demobilised in either France or Ger- 

 many, and these were readily absorbed in an agricul- 

 tural community. In 1816 the harvest was bad, and 

 Western Europe approached starvation ; the situation 

 was sa\>ed only by the excellent harvest of the fol- 

 lowing year. Economic organisation was primitive, 

 but elastic. A modern parallel is Serbia, which 

 has improved wonderfully since the bountiful har- 

 vest of 1919. Germany suffered rather longer owing 

 to the lack of a strong 'central Government ; the States 

 which have risen from the wreckage of the Austro- 

 Hungarian Empire are now m a similar plight. Great 

 Britain was partly industrial, and recovery was delayed 

 by mismanagement of supplies, taxation, and de- 

 mobilisation. Stocks of Colonial goods had accumu- 

 lated with which home markets were flooded, and a 

 commercial and industrial crisis followed. A sirnilar 

 situation exists now in the United States ; she is a 

 creditor nation with a big export trade, but she will 

 not permit indiscriminate exchange. Modern financial 

 methods are staving off such a crisis as followed the 

 Napoleonic wars. The central problem is : When will 

 the inability of war-damaged countries to pay for the 

 material they require to restart their industries be felt 

 by the nations supplying them? If trade balances are 

 adjusted, the post-war slump will become a slow- 

 decline ; otherwise, a crisis must occur when inter- 

 national obligations cannot be met. Another feature 

 of the situation in the early part of the nineteenth 

 century was the rapid growth in population observed 

 everywhere. Oflficial figures indicate the possibility 

 of a' repetition of this phenomenon. 



Engineering. 



Prof. C. F. Jenkin in his presidential address 

 to Section G suggests that the time has come 

 for an extensive revision of the theory of the 

 strength of materials as used by engineers. The 

 mathematical theory needs to be extended to cover 

 anisotropic materials, such as timber, and to enable 

 concentrations of stress such as occur at all changes 

 of section to be calculated. Our knowledge of the 

 physical properties of materials requires to be ex- 

 tended so that their suitability for all engineering 

 purposes may be known. The need for the wider 

 theorv and for more research into the properties of 

 materials is illustrated by examples of the problems 

 which occurred in aeroplane construction during the 

 war. The first material dealt with by the Air 

 Service was timber. How was the strength of such 



NO. 2652, VOL. 105] 



material to be calculated? It was shown that the i 



components of the tensile stress in three principal j 



directions must not exceed the tensile strengths in J 

 those directions. Curves limiting the stress at any 

 angle to the grain have been drawn for spruce, ash, 

 walnut, and mahogany. For plywood, *' split-off" 



veneers were recommended in place of "cut-off" ; 



wood. The method used for the determination of \ 

 Young's modulus for wood neglects the effect of shear, 



and is therefore inaccurate. As an example of an j 



isotropic substance steel is discussed. Fatigue limit , 

 is suggested as a measure of strength ; in samples 



examined it was found to be slightly less than half ; 



the ultimate strength. Research is necessary to deter- i 

 mine the effects of the speed of testing, rest and heat 



treatment, and pi»3vious testing. For this improved \ 



methods are required; Stromeyer's method would be ; 

 useful if modified for commercial use. Present 

 methods of testing in torsion are unsatisfactory, and 



knowledge of the internal mechanism of fatigue ^ 



failure is required. For members of structures sub- ■ 



jected to steady loads a proof-load specification which i 



limits the permanent set to \ per cent, or \ per cent. \ 



is suggested. If fatigue limit is the basis for engine- < 



strength calculation, the distribution of stresses in \ 



irregularly shaped parts of the machine must be inves- '\ 



tigated. Prof. Coker's optical method has been \ 

 applied to this end, but A. A. Griffith's calculations 



on the effects of grooves and polishing have not been ' 



tested. Wood and steel are the only materials about ■ 



which trustworthy data have been collected. ^ 



Anthropology. 



Prof. Karl Pearson in his presidential address to , 

 Section H urges the importance of anthropology, " the ''■ 

 true study of mankind." Science should be studied, I 

 not for itself, but for the sake of man. For this reason 

 there is no use for the collection of measurements of i 

 height, span, size of head, etc. The important char- 

 acteristics are the psycho-physical and psycho-physio- 

 logical factors, reaction-time, mental age, and pulse- \ 

 tracing. Body measurement has no connection with ^ 

 " vigorimetry " and psychometry, for no pure " line " ; 

 in man has been traced. Moreover, present methods , 

 are entirely qualitative ; they must be made quantita- '- 

 tive. Three things are urged as essential to the j 

 recognition of anthropology as a useful science. First, \ 

 folk-psychology as well as individual psychology should 

 be studied as a means to determine race efficiency. J 

 For this purpose, the ancestry of man must be investi- 

 gated in order that we may know which is likely ' 

 to have the greater influence on his future. Nature or \ 

 nurture. Secondly, institutes for the study of anthro- 

 pology ought to be established in at least three of our \ 

 universities. There the workers would be in touch 

 with allied sciences, they would have a wide field open ,| 

 for measurements, and would be able to teach as well i 

 as to research on the subject. In this way men j 

 could be fitted for important " extra-State " work as j 

 diplomatic agents, traders, etc., in foreign lands. \ 

 Another section of the work should be devoted to a i 

 study of the population at large; the schools, the \ 

 factories, and the prisons must all be investigated, so ^ 

 that the present wasteful organisation of society may \ 

 be remedied. When its value to the State has been \ 

 proved, anthropologv can ask for adequate support as 

 its right. The third point urged is the adoption of a ] 

 new technique. Logical accuracy and mathematical j 

 exactness must be introduced ; training should start \ 

 with anthropometry in its broadest sense, advancing ^ 

 later to ethnology, sociology, prehistory, and the I 

 evolution of man. Only by devotion to problems of i 

 real use can anthropolc^y achieve her true position as \ 

 "Queen of the Sciences." \ 



