June 21, 19 17] 



NATURE 



JOD 



William Thomson. Petrographers had been in the 

 habit of examining the structure of rocks by cutting 

 the sections thin enough to be transparent, and 

 examining them under the .microscope. Sorby in 1861 

 found it was not possible to examine metals thu^, and 

 developed the art of polishing the surface and etching 

 it with suitable chemicals, thus bringing out the 

 internal structure. Its application to engineering 

 problems passed unnoticed until the method was in- 

 dependently revived by Osmond in France, and Mar- 

 tens in Germany. Seebeck discovered that when in a 

 circuit of two metals a difference of temperature exists, 

 between the junctions, an electric current is produced 

 in the circuit. iTie strength of this current is a 

 measure of the difference in temperature, and this 

 discovery was applied many years later by Le Chatelier 

 to construct a thermocouple for the measurement of 

 temperature in metallurgical processes. Applying 

 these two instruments of research, metallurgists have 

 now a clear idea of the structure of the more impor- 

 tant metals and alloys used in industry, and of the 

 manner in which the properties which fit them for 

 their various uses are related to that structure. The 

 intensive study of pure science, the determined effort 

 to hand on still brightly burning the lamp lighted 

 for us by those who have e'one, is perhaps the best 

 contribution which Cambridge now can make to our 

 national welfare. 



The great discovery is usually small in its begin- 

 nings ; it does not at first strike the imagination. 

 The seeds, from which the revolution is to come lie 

 hidden in the ground, and the tiny sprout which first 

 appears seems but of small importance. Few besides 

 some students in the universities realised the wide- 

 reaching scope of Maxwell's theory of the electro- 

 magnetic field, when it was first published; few, again, 

 picture, when they read of the early experiments of 

 Hertz and Lodge, the future marvels of wireless tele- 

 graphy, even in the short years that have passed since 

 Lodge delivered his Royal Institution lecture. The 

 successful applications of science to industry attract a 

 wider notice and gain a fuller recognition. It is given 

 to but few men to carry through the revolution that 

 their own discoveries have produced. James Watt and 

 Kelvin were such men. Pasteur and Lister saw, in 

 some degree, the fruit of their labours. Faraday, on 

 the other hand, died at Hampton Court in the receipt 

 of a Civil List pension. The work of making the 

 discoveries of science available to promote the pros- 

 perity and advancement of a nation appeals to others than 

 the great discoverers, and is usually best left in other 

 hands. Let me explain what I mean, even at the risk 

 of some repetition, for I have recently spoken and 

 written more than once on this subject, and, indeed, 

 the applications of science to industry have been the 

 work of the National Physical Laboratory since the 

 twentieth century began. 



Speaking at the opening of the laboratory in 1902, 

 his Majesty — then Prince of Wales — said: — "The ob- 

 ject of the scheme is, I understand, to bring scientific 

 knowledge to bear practically upon our everyday in- 

 dustrial and commercial life, to break down the barrier 

 between theory and practice, to effect a union between 

 science and commerce," and these words still express 

 our aims. 



Various writers have pointed out recently that in this 

 process three distinct stages are generally required. 

 We need 



(i) The work of the man of science in his laboratory. 



(2) The investigations which go on in a laboratory 

 of industrial research, developing new processes or 

 introducing new products. 



(3) The works laboratory proper, controlling the 

 quality of raw materials, or of finished products. 



I have spoken already of the work of the 

 student of science in his university or college. 

 Before dealing with the laboratory of industrial re- 

 search, let me devote a few words to the works labora- 

 tory proper. 



It is necessary, as I have said elsewhere, to main- 

 tain the standard of the output, to secure that the 

 proper grade of material is supplied to the works, to 

 check the instruments in use, and to test the product 

 in its various stages of manufacture. The days are 

 gone by when successful manufacture could be carried 

 on entirely by rule of thumb, trusting to the skill of 

 some trained workman for the success of each delicate 

 operation, when the hereditary instinct passed down 

 from father to son was sufficient to produce each year 

 practically the same results. New processes come 

 which appear likely to improve production or to reduce 

 its cost ; the works laboratory serves to test these. 

 New products are suggested, which mav or may not 

 have the advantages claim,ed for them ; this can be in- 

 vestigated in the works laboratory, and all these inves- 

 tigations and tests must go on in the works themselves 

 under the eyes of men familiar with the process of 

 manufacture in its every stage. 



A distinguished Trinity man, Mr. Michael Long- 

 ridge, when recently, addressing, as president], the In- 

 stitution of Mechanical Engineers, traced the pro- 

 cess bv which during the latter half of last century 

 England became the leading industrial nation, and con- 

 cluded thus : — 



"And as the mechanical engineer was responsible 

 in no small measure for the transformation, so he 

 must be held responsible for the maintenance and 

 efficiency of the workshop on which the feeding of the 

 people and the defence of the people against their 

 enemies now depend. He became, and he remains, a 

 trustee of the British Empire. How did he discharge 

 the trust? By humblv seeking knowledge to turn 

 the gifts of Nature to the use of man? By invoking 

 the aid of science to develop the discoveries of the 

 men who had prepared the rjjad to his success? By 

 caring for the welfare of the thousands who were 

 spending their waking hours in his factories? Bv 

 giving them a fair share of the profits of his business? 

 I think we have the grace to-day to answer ' No. ' 1 

 think we are willine^ to confess that our heads were 

 turned by elation at our prosperity, that we were 

 obsessed by admiration of our own achievements ; too 

 confident of the suflficiency of our limited knowledge; 

 too contemptuous of the few who tried to throw the 

 light of science on our path ; too eager for wealth, 

 and the social influence, it could buv in the new state of 

 society ; too careless of the needs and aspirations of 

 the ' hands ' who helped to make the rapid accumula- 

 tion of large fortunes possible. And what has been 

 the consequence? For every lapse from the ideal — and 

 there is an ideal even of industrial polity — Nemesis 

 Adrasteia, sooner or later, exacts retribution." 



The lesson has now, been learnt with more or less 

 completeness, and now each modern engineering 

 works possesses its own laboratory and utilises the 

 teaching of science at each stage of its pro- 

 cesses. Cambridge can supply the men who will do 

 this work. 



But there is another need. The step between the 

 university laboratory' and the works laboratory is a 

 long one. Discoveries do not leave the man of science 

 in a form which can be at once assimilated by the 

 engineer, the shipbuilder, or the manufacturer. Some 

 means are needed to make them available to such men 

 to secure the advantages which come from the gVowth 

 of knowledge bv which alone they may keep in the 

 forefront of their trade. The problem has recently 

 been discussed in a paper by Dr. Mees published by 



