NATURE 



[April 24, 19 19 



Reference has already been made in our "Notes" 

 to the Admiralty salvage operations during the war. 

 An article in the Engineer for March 21 gives an 

 account, with illustrations, of the submersible salvage 

 pumps and engines employed in these operations. It 

 is not always convenient to supply current from a 

 salvage vessel, and in such cases the electric current 

 for driving the pumps is supplied by an oil engine- 

 driven dynamo. It is essential that the plant should 

 be weatherproof and unaffected by sea-spray or rain. 

 Although a dynamo which will withstand being sub- 

 merged has not yet been produced, the oil-engines 

 described in the article are capable of being covered 

 with water without coming to any harm. The engine 

 cannot, of course, work while submerged. The 

 necessity for an engine of this kind arose in con- 

 nection with the installation of centrifugal purnps 

 on a wreck situated in tidal waters, which had, owing 

 to unforeseen circumstances, to remain in position 

 while the tide rose and completely submerged the 

 plant. A number of these engines have been built at 

 the Bedford works of Messrs. W. H. Allen, Son, and 

 Co. Up to the present there are two standard sizes, 

 one with two cylinders of 12 brake-horse-power, and 

 the other having four cylinders giving from 46 to 

 50 brake-horse-power. 



At the annual meeting of the Institute of Metals, 

 held on March 25 and 26, the fourth report to the 

 Corrosion Research Committee of the Institute of 

 Metals was presented by Capt. Bengough and Dr. 

 Hudson. The publication of this investigation, which 

 is subsidised by the Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research, has been considerably delayed 

 owing to the request of the Admiralty that the results 

 should not be made available during the war. The 

 report is divided into three main parts. The first is 

 devoted to the question of the nature of the attack 

 ■v^hich takes place when metals such as zinc, copper, 

 and aluminium, and alloys such as 70 : 30 brass, 

 corrode in neutral or nearly neutral liquids, e.g. dis- 

 tilled water and sea-water. The second section is 

 devoted to the consideration of the behaviour of con- 

 denser tubes in similar liquids, and variations of 

 behaviour in different samples of tubes of nominally 

 the same composition. The third section is an 

 attempt to set out in some detail a statement of the 

 practical problems of corrosion in sea-water, which 

 appear to the authors to be ver>' different from what 

 is usually supposed. A preliminary account is also 

 given of experiments carried out with the object of 

 testing an electrolytic process of protection and a pre- 

 oxidising process designed for the same end. The 

 authors express the view that corrosive attack on 

 condenser-tubes is more diverse in character and com- 

 plicated in nature than has been generallv supposed. 

 The first action is one of chemical oxidation, and 

 secondary actions are of great importance. No one 

 single remedy is likely to be found effective for all 

 the different kinds of attack which occur in practice. 

 The nature of the tube used and the protective 

 measures chosen should be dependent on the particular 

 set of conditions. 



"Co-ordination of Research in Works and Labora- 

 tories" is the title of a paper by the late Mr. H. R. 

 Constantine read before the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers on March 27. A scheme is outlined in 

 which it is proposed to place under the direction of a 

 central board all the laboratories attached to the uni- 

 versities, colleges, and training institutions of the 

 country, as well as many experimental laboratories 

 connected with private works. The board would keep 

 full records of what each laboratory was doing, and 

 receive all inquiries for research work to be done; 

 it would keep a record of results published all the 



NO. 2582, VOL. 103] 



world over. Further, the board would be invested 

 with power to order any laboratory to undertake 

 certain research work, or to leave another research 

 alone, or, indeed, to transfer, if considered advisable, 

 part of its equipment or personnel to another labora- 

 tory. Finally, all discoveries would be communicated 

 to the board, which would have power to dispose of 

 them after consideration of the rights of the indi- 

 vidual worker. If adopted, the scheme would ap- 

 parently supersede the Industrial Research Associations 

 established already in connection with the Department 

 of Scientific and Industrial Research, which has had a 

 grant of i,ooo,oooi. placed at its disposal by the 

 Government, and has been for some time actively at 

 work. It is also as well to point out that the research 

 work carried on in universities and other teaching 

 institutions is conducted not wholly for the sake of 

 the results looked for, whether purely scientific or 

 technical, but for the educational purpose of training 

 students in method. Moreover, as repeatedly pointed 

 out, the original researcher in connection with funda- 

 mental problems will not usually be willing to unfold 

 his ideas' to others, at any rate in their early stages, 

 before they have been tested. 



Among forthcoming books of science we notice the 

 following : — •' Problems of Fertilisation," Prof. F. R. 

 Lillie (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press; 

 London : The Cambridge University Press) ; " Influenza : 

 A Modern Account of its Pathogenesis, Symptoms, 

 Complications, Sequels, and Treatment upon Combined 

 Specific and Non-specific Lines," Sir T. J. Horder 

 (Henry Frowde and Hodder and Stoughton) ; a new 

 edition, thoroughly revised and enlarged, of "Prac- 

 tical Physiological Chemistry," S. W. Cole, 

 with an introduction by Dr. F. G. Hopkins (Cam- 

 bridge : W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd.); "Com- 

 mercial Forestry in Britain : Its Decline and Re- 

 vival," E. P. Stebbing; "Conifers: A Key to their 

 Identity and Converse," C. C. Rogers, illustrated; 

 "Tin," G. M. Davies; "Manganese," A. H. Curtis; 

 and new and revised editions of " Heredity," Prof. J. 

 Arthur^ Thomson, illustrated, and " Hydrographical 

 Surveying : A Description of the Means and Methods 

 Employed in Constructing Marine Charts," the late 

 Rear- Admiral Sir W. J. L. Wharton, revised and 

 brought up to date by Admiral Sir Mostyn Field (John 

 Murray) ; "A Woman Doctor : Marv Murdoch of 

 Hull," H. Malleson, and "Advance in Co-Education," 

 edited by A. Wood (Sidgwick and Jackson). 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Changes on Jupiter. — Observers appear to be fairly 

 well agreed on the character of the recent variations 

 in some of the more prominent and durable of Jovian 

 features. The Rev. T. E. R. Phillips, who has 

 devoted much attention to Jupiter's appearance in 

 recent years, says that the opposition of 1918-19 will 

 be a memorable one. To his eye "the south tropical 

 disturbance and the hollow in the southern belt have 

 practically disappeared, but the red spot remains 

 quite distinct on a night of good definition." The 

 changes which have affected this particular region of 

 the surface have been rapid and most remarkable. 

 Mr. Phillips employs two instruments, one a 12^-in. 

 reflector and the other an 8-in. refractor. He regards 

 it as likely to afford much satisfaction to observers 

 that the red spot continues to retain a definitely 

 elliptical outline, for the obliteration of this familiar 

 marking would be regarded as a great loss by all 

 students of the planet. That this object may at some 

 future time regain its former (1878-80) conspicuous 

 aspect is quite possible, and it should be attentively 

 watched for changes of both shape and motion. 



