February 19, 1920] 



NATURE 



677 



3-2 mag. Two determinations of the parallax are 

 given : 



(i) o-2o"±o-o5" M. Philippot. 



(2) o-o6"±oo7'' M. Delporte. 



Both determinations appear to be improbably large, 

 judging by the small proper motion and the values 

 obtained for other novae. 



A. C. D. Ckommelin. 



THE LIVERPOOL MARINE BIOLOGY 

 COMMITTEE.^ 



THE issue of the thirty-third annual report of the 

 Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, and, as 

 we are informed, the last of the series, is an opportune 

 moment for the publication of a review of the im- 

 portant work that has been done since the formation 

 of the committee in 1885. This report is not the swan- 

 song of a dying enterprise, but rather the triumphant 

 cry of those who have achieved an initial victory that 

 gives hope for a rapid and continuous advance in the 

 future; and, although the old L.M.B.C. ceases to 

 e.\ist, there is every reason to believe that its work 

 will be carried on with increased efficiency by the 

 newly organised staff of the oceanography department 

 of the University of Liverpool. 



Tn the short history of the work of the committee 

 that is published in this report it is clear that a very 

 substantial contribution has been made to our know- 

 ledge of the species of animals and plants that inhabit 

 the waters of the Irish Sea, and that valuable informa- 

 tion has also been acquired about the many characters 

 of the sea-bottom round the Isle of Man and the 

 north coast of Wales. 



All this is necessary pioneer work, although much 

 of it may seem dull and uninteresting when in print. 

 The workmen must learn the use of their tools before 

 undertaking the more serious work of production. 

 But we see in the L.M.B.C. memoirs, of which 

 twentv-three have already been published, in the im- 

 portant investigation of Prof. Herdman and his col- 

 leagues on the fluctuations of the plankton, and in the 

 biochemical researches of Prof. Moore_ and others, 

 that these valuable contributions to our scientific know- 

 lodge of the sea have outgrown the "Records " of the 

 early years of the life of the committee. 



The work of recording and describing the booty of 

 the sea must, of course, continue ; but with the ripe 

 experience of thirty-three years, with the more com- 

 plete equipment of laboratory space and apparatus, 

 and with the new organisation of the oceanography 

 department of the University, we may confidently look 

 forward to further important developments in the 

 general scientific work of the Port Erin institution. 



We may tender to Prof. Herdman our cordial con- 

 Uratulatioiis on his achievements in the past and our 

 good wishes for the full success in the future of the 

 great enterprise which is so largely due to his own 

 personal genius and enthusiasm. S, J. H. 



cannot (in general) be found without first finding the 

 corresponding spectrum fringes, the second chapter is 

 devoted to spectrum fringes. The work described in 

 the third chapter was undertaken at the request of 

 Prof. W. G. Cadv, in the endeavour to obtain the 

 elastic constants of small bodies. The application of 

 the displacement method proved astonishingly easy in 

 a case where a degree of rough handling is inevit- 

 able, but it was found that there lurked in the elastic 

 apparatus some discrepancies, both of viscosity and 

 hysteresis, the nature of which escaped detection after 

 many attempts to locate its origin. The fourth chapter 

 contains applications of the rectangular interferometer 

 using achromatic fringes to the study of gravitation. 

 .A method for the determination of the Newtonian con- 

 stant is worked out. Again, the same interferometer 

 is associated with the horizontal pendulum for the 

 detection of small changes in the inclination of the 

 earth's surface. Series of observations extending 

 between January and August are recorded. In the 

 fifth and last chapter the author deals with the 

 application of Interferometers to the study of vibrating 

 systems. To test the method, an examination is made 

 of the vibration of telephonic apparatus. Interference- 

 vibration curves have been obtained for two identical 

 telephonic svstems joined directly in series, while these 

 forms subsided completely when the telephones were 

 joined differentially. 



APPLICATIONS OF INTERFEROMETRY. 



IN a report by Prof. Carl Barus, of Brown Uni- 

 versity, recently published by the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion of Washington, a number of interesting applica- 

 tions of achromatic interferometry are described. In 

 the first chapter a method of measuring small angles 

 is discussed. The general theory of the subject is 

 developed at some length, and a variety of interfero- 

 meter devices, with mirror, ocular, and collimator 

 micrometers, are instanced. As the achromatic fringes 



1 The Marine Biological Station at Port Eiin. Thirty-third Annunl 

 Report of the Liverpool Marine Htolopy Committee. Drawn up hy Prof. 

 W. .K Herdman. Pp. 8*. (Liverpool : C. Tingling and Co., 1919.) 



NO. 2625, VOL. 104] 



RESEARCHES AT HIGH TEMPERATURES 

 AND PRESSURES. 



By the Hon. Sir Charles A. Parsons, K.C.B., 



F.R.S.' 



I. 



JUST ten years ago in this room Sir Richard 

 Threlfall discussed the effects of temperature and 

 pressure on various substances, and commenced by 

 referring to a suggestion I made in 1904 to sink a 

 bore-hole twelve miles deep in the earth with the 

 object of exploring the region beneath us, about which 

 so little is known. Last summer at Bournemouth 

 I ventured again to direct attention to the desirability 

 of such an exploration in the interests of science 

 generally, and to the possibility that it might ulti- 

 mately lead to some developments of practical import- 

 ance and utility. 



Ten years ago no experiments had been made on 

 the behaviour of rocks under the conditions existing 

 at great depths below the surface of the ground; but, 

 prompted by my suppestion in 1904, and after soirie 

 subsequent correspondence in regard to the possibility 

 of the rock crushing in and closing the shaft, Prof. 

 Frank D. Adams, of McGill University, Montreal, 

 commenced experiments on the strength of rocks to 

 resist the closing up of cavities under the conditions 

 prevailing at great depths below the surface. He 

 published the account of these experiments in the 

 Journal of Geology for February, 1912. 



Adams's method was to place a block of granite or 

 limestone in a tightly fitting cylinder of nickel-steel, 

 which was shrunk lightly around the block to ensure 

 perfect fitting and support; hard steel rams actuated 

 bv a hydraulic press were arranged to exert a known 

 pressure against the ends of the block. Two 

 small holes were previously drilled in the specimen, 

 one axial in the centre and one transverse, the diameter 

 of the holes being 0-05 in., or one-tenth the diameter 

 of the specimen. The temperature of the container 

 and specimen was maintained at any desired point up 

 \ to the softenin? point of steel. In some experiments 

 I no heat was apniied, while in others the temperature 



\ 1 Discourse deliveied Pt the Foyal Institution on Prii'ay, January 23. 



