October g, igig] 



NATURE 



121 



discussion in the articles is based upon results of 

 tests carried out by the author, and a valuable feature 

 is a large table giving details of these results for 

 loo boiler plants, chiefly of the Lancashire type. Mr. 

 Brownlie's figures indicate that the average net 

 working efficiency of colliery steam-boiler plants is 

 only about 55-5 per cent. By carrying out a re- 

 organisation of such plants on modern scientific lines 

 it is possible to obtain 70 per cent, efficiency, and 

 Mr. Brownlie estimates that about 6,600,000 tons of 

 coal per annum could be saved by the adoption of 

 scientific methods and by more extensive use of refuse 

 coal. 



The too boiler plants tested have a total of 

 570 boilers, 500 of these being Lancashire, 2 Cornish, 

 37 egg-ended, and 31 modern tubular boilers. The 1 

 average efficiency of the egg-ended boilers is less than 

 35 per cent., and there appears to be still a fair 

 number of this type at work, in spite of it being 

 hopelessly out of date. It is also of interest to note 

 that the few modern tubular boilers installed are, 

 on the average, giving no better results than the 

 Lancashire boilers, which average 55 per cent, 

 efficiency. This fact obviously indicates improper 

 arrangements in the installation or bad methods of 

 working, "Or both. 



.\nother point of importance to which Mr. Brownlie 

 directs attention arises from the Final Report of the 

 Coal Conservation Committee, which states that " the 

 policy of collieries has been to set free the best quali- 

 ties of coal for the market, and to retain for colliery 

 consumption the poorest quality. The returns show 

 that the quantity of ash in some of the fuels used 

 ranges from 50 per cent, to 80 per cent." Mr. 

 Brownlie actually finds an average of 155 per cent, 

 ash and coal of 10,500 B.Th.U. used at colliery boiler 

 plants, and most people will support him in his 

 statements that he has never heard of a case of 

 50-80 per cent, ash ; that such instances must be 

 rare ; and that the statement in the report is most 

 misleading. In actual fact, 52 per cent, of the coal 

 emploved at collieries is high-grade coal; of the 

 remainder, 32 per cent, could be used economically 

 in industrv for steam generation, and only 16 per 

 cent, is definitely unsaleable. The highest ash-content 

 of this refuse coal was 35 per cent. Mr. Brownlie 

 maintains that these results are tvpical of the colliery 

 industrv, and the idea that collieries burn chiefly 

 refuse and unsaleable coal is a complete fallacy. 



.^s a matter of fact, there are millions of tons of 

 refuse coal lying unburnt at collieries, and a very 

 large proportion of this refuse could be utilised for 

 steam generation, as has been proved by Mr. 

 Brownlie's firm on a number of colliery plants. The 

 carrying out of this proposition would result in a 

 verv large saving in the coal consumption, even after 

 ample deduction for the cost of extra boilers and 

 jilant necessary because of the low calorific value. 

 .\ fair average price for the whole of the coal burnt 

 on colliery boiler plants is to-day about 20.«. per 

 ton ; making allowance for extra labour, plant, and 

 depreciation, and taking 3 tons of refuse coal as 

 equal in practice to i ton of saleable coal, the 

 value of refuse coal to-day would be about 8,?. per 

 ton. 



Mr. Brownlie's pamphlet is to be welcoined, partlv 

 on account of the strong case for reform presented 

 in view of the need for national economv, and partlv 

 on account of the large number of test results which 

 he gives in a form suitable for ea.sy comparison. 

 The pamphlet may be obtained from Messrs. 

 Brownlie and Green, Ltd., 2 .Austin Friars, London, 

 E.C.2. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION . 

 BOURNEMOUTH. 



SECTION D. 



ZOOLOGY. 



AT 



NO. 2606, VOL. 104] 



Opening Address bv Dr. F". A. Dixey, M.A., F.R.S., 

 President ok the Section. 



One of the results of the great war now happily at 

 an end has been its effect upon science. On the one 

 hand it has checked the progress of scientific investi- 

 gation ; it has done much to destroy international co- 

 operation and sympathy ; it has removed from our 

 ranks, temporarily or permanently, many admirable 

 workers. On the other hand it has acted as a great 

 stimulus in m.;my departments of scientific inquiry, and 

 it has given the general public an interest in many 

 scientific questions which have hitherto met with little 

 recog'nition or encouragement from the people at large. 

 It was perhaps inevitable, but at the same time, as 

 I venture to think, rather to be deplored, that that 

 interest has tended to concentrate itself upon applied 

 more than upon abstract science ; that it has been 

 concerned chiefly with the employment of natural 

 knowledge in devising and perfecting new methods 

 of destruction. Terrible as is the power which the 

 present-day engines of warfare have attained, it may 

 be reasonable to hope that some compensation for the 

 mischief and suffering which they have caused may 

 eventualK be found in peaceful directions ; that the sub- 

 marine, the aircraft, and even the high explosive may 

 cease to be a terror to civilisation, and in spite of their 

 past history may after all become agents in the ad- 

 vancement of the general welfare : 



Hoc paces habuerc bon;e, ventiquc secundi, 



will, let US hope, be a legitimate reflection in later 

 times. But for the true scientific worker, I think I 

 may safely assert, the primary object of his studies 

 is the attainment of knowledge for its own sake : 

 applications of such knowledge may be trusted to 

 follow; some beneficial, some perhaps the reverse. 

 Still, whether they do or do not so follow is less a 

 concern of the scientific man than whether his labours 

 have resulted in a fresh advance into the realms of the 

 unknown. I confess to some sympathy with the feel- 

 ing which is said to be expressed in the regular toast 

 of a certain scientific gathering : — " Pure mathematics, 

 and may they never be of any use to anybodv." 



For genuine enthusiasm in the cause of science for 

 its own sake, I think that we zoologists may claim a 

 good record. We are by no means unmindful of the 

 great benefits to humanity which have taken their 

 rise more or less directly from zoological science. I 

 need do no more than mention the services to medi- 

 cine, great at the present and destined to be greater 

 still in the future, that are being rendered by the proto- 

 zoologist and the entomologist. We may look for- 

 ward also to results of the highest practical import- 

 ance from the investigations into the laws of heredity 

 in which we are engaged with the cooperation of our 

 allies the botanists. But what we are entitled to 

 protest against is the temper of mind which values 

 science only for the material benefits that may be got 

 from it ; and what: above all we should like to see is a 

 greater respect, on the part of the public for science 

 purely as science, a higher appreciation of the labours 

 of scientific men, and a greater readiness, in matters 

 where science touches on the common affairs of life, 

 to be guided by the accumulated knowledge and experi- 

 ence of those who have made such matters the subject 

 of constant and devoted study. If the war leads to any 

 repair of the general deficiency in these respects, it 



