August 30, 1917] 



NATURE 



527 



must re-draw them. If Russia, China, and South 

 America want British or American productions, 

 they must buy them in our sizes. But surely we 

 have attained a broader outlook than this? If 

 not, the future for our industries is not of the 

 brightest. \\'ill Japan, for example, follow such 

 :\. lead or take the broader view? 



Granted, then, that the metric is now the only 

 possible universal system, will it pay Britain and 

 the United States to adopt it? The answer to 

 this question entails the consideration, in the first 

 place, of wTiat the exp)enses are likely to be, and, 

 in the second, of what return may reasonably be 

 expected. In the paper already referred to, and 

 particularly in an article on "The Metric System : 

 Its Meanings for the Machine Shop," appearing in 

 the Times Engineering Supplement of May 25, the 

 expenditure that would be entailed in making- the 

 proposed change is advanced as the main and most 

 potent reason against the proposal. This argu- 

 ment is exactly that which advocates for the 

 change would expect and wish to answer. The 

 question is now brought down, or rather elevated, 

 to a practical issue which those who are for and 

 those who are against must seriously face. Action 

 must be taken one way or the other, and a decision 

 on this particular, and possibly dominant, issue 

 may readily be arrived at. Instead of the writer 

 in question quoting only capital expenditure on 

 gear cutters, drills and reamers, screwing tackle, 

 measuring instruments, machine tools and gears, 

 let him also supply a trading account — a yearly 

 turnover account — based upon a standard plant 

 on which the expenses of the proposed change 

 may also be arrived at. Here is a simple one taken 

 from the textile industries (a worsted drawing 

 plant) : — 



Total cost of installation 



Annual depreciation — allowance at ji 



per cent, per annum ... " 



Turnover of raw material 



1,120 



84 

 56,250 



From this it must be evident that two of our 

 greatest industries, cotton and wool, have much 

 more serious questions to face than capital 

 charges ; and in these days, when we do not hesi- 

 tate to spend 9,000,000/. a day on the war, there 

 must be something more than a mere statement of 

 expenses, however small or however great, if such 

 an objection as that advanced by the writer in the 

 Times Engineering Supplement is to be seriously 

 considered. There must be a careful balancing 

 up, with all the disadvantages and the advantages 

 in full view. The writer can state, without hesita- 

 tion from personal experience, that at least in cer- 

 tain of our industries not only would there be a 

 prospect of recuperating from the inevitable ex- 

 penditure within a reasonable limit of time, but 

 also that from the day the metric system was 

 adopted there would be a credit side to the account. 



If, then, it be granted that it is desirable whole- 

 heartedly to adopt the metric system, the prac- 

 tical rneans of carrying this into effect should 

 immediately be thought out and the train laid and 

 fired. Here is straight away a splendid use for 

 XO. 2496, VOL. .99] 



our schools and colleges. The task that will be 

 set them is one which, if their teaching staffs will 

 rise to the occasion, will revitalise mathematical 

 knowledge, introducing inspiration in the place of 

 the too often orthodox deadness and stimulating 

 both the teacher and pupil. The task of supply- 

 ing the necessary weights and measures might 

 well be left in the hands of those who would first 

 instruct, and then organise into an active force, 

 the more capable of our men returning from the 

 front on the declaration of peace. What an oppor- 

 tunity for organising and carrying into effect a 

 movement that would be a credit even to a nation 

 which has so valiantly helped to withstand, at all 

 too short a notice, the onslaught of the greatest 

 militan,' force the world has ever seen. 



The alternative to the compulsory adoption of 

 the metric system throughout our industries at 

 once is its gradual introduction trade by trade ; 

 but of the alternatives we prefer the former. 

 Already certain manufacturers are prepared to 

 run their factories on the metric system, and are 

 only deterred from so doing by the necessity of 

 training every fresh hand that enters their estab- 

 lishment from non-metric factories. With this 

 difficulty removed by suitable legislation, the ad- 

 vantage is most markedly on the side of the metric 

 system. At least, this is the firm opinion of those 

 who have worked under both systems in British 

 and Continental workshops and factories. 



A. F. B. 



PROF. W. B. CLARKE. 

 "pHE death of William Bullock Clarke on July 

 -»- 2y deprived Maryland of one of its most 

 distinguished men of science. He came of an 

 old New England family, his ancestors having 

 crossed in the " Mayflower. " He was born in 

 Vermont in i860, and after taking a degree at 

 Amhurst College studied at Munich from 1884-87, 

 where he obtained the degree of Ph.D. He 

 returned the same year to Baltimore to the post 

 of geological instructor at Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity, and in 1894 became professor and head of the 

 Department of Geology there. He used his 

 vacations and spare time in working for the 

 Geological Survey of the United States, on the 

 regular staff of which he remained until 1907. 

 Most of his work for the survey was on the 

 Cretaceous and Kainozoic rocks of the coast dis- 

 trict, and he helped in the geological survey of 

 the country around Philadelphia and Trenton. 



His most important single piece of research is 

 probably his bulletin on the Mesozoic echinoids of 

 the United States. He was, however, led from 

 research by his skill as an organiser. In 1892 

 he founded the Maryland State W^eather Service, 

 of which he remained director until his death. 

 In 1896 he established the Maryland Geological 

 Survey and became State geologist. Under his 

 direction the State Survey issued a series of 

 geological reports which are notable both for 

 their breadth of view and their unusually excellent 

 form. As State geologist he was responsible for 

 the Road Service, on which, before its separation 



