July 17, 1919] 



NATURE 



;95 



some things we must have, and we do not want to 

 be driven back to Germany for them, but our manu- 

 facturers must wake up. 



These glass squares were for mounting marine 

 animals in formalin under large watch-glass covers — 

 a mode of exhibition that had proved effective and 

 durable. Mr. Renouf also explained a method of 

 cutting large holes in glass with a screw-tap, and 

 recommended Steubner's waterproof ink for injecting 

 fine blood-vessels. Mr. Rowley described an exhibit 

 for children in the Exeter Museum ; Mr. Lowe 

 showed a revolving frame for exhibiting coins; Mr. 

 Carline discussed open-air folk-museums; and Prof. 

 Myres advocated the preservation of objects rapidly 

 changing under present conditions. Profs. Poulton, 

 Sollas. Bourne, and Bowman vied with Messrs, 

 Balfour, Hogarth, and Leeds in demonstrating the 

 riches and methods of their respective museums and 

 dcipartments. 



Sir William Martin Conway was elected president 

 of the association for the coming year, and the new 

 secretary is Dr. W. M. Tattersall, Manchester 

 Museum 



THE NORTH-EAST COAST INSTITUTION 

 OF ENGINEERS AND SHIPBUILDERS. 



Wjf ITH the view of honouring some of those who 

 • ' helped to win the war, of recording the work 

 done on the North-East Coast for the war, and of com- 

 memorating those members of the institution who fell 

 during the war, the North-East Coast Institution of 

 Engineers and Shipbuilders held a Victory meeting at 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne on July 8-11. The honorary 

 fellowship of the institution was presented to the 

 Hon. Lady Parsons, Marshal Foch, Sir David Beatty, 

 Sir Douglas Haig, Lord Weir, and Sir Joseph Paton 

 Maclay. 



Lady Parsons read a paper on women's work in 

 engineering and shipbuilding during the war. The 

 record of skilled work done by women given in the 

 paper controverts the impression which many people 

 have that women are only capable of doing repetition 

 work on fool-proof machines. There is no doubt that 

 manv women developed great mechanical skill and a 

 real love of their w^ork. The engineering industry is 

 again barred to women by an agreement made 

 between the Treasury and the trade unions, with the 

 result that women wealth-producers are scrapped. 

 The meeting agreed with Lady Parsons's condemna- 

 tion of the Labour Party, which, while demanding full 

 IX)litical equality for women and their right to sit in 

 the House of Lords and to practise at the Bar and 

 as solicitors, will not grant to women equality of 

 industrial opportunity. 



Mr, A. H. J. Cochrane gave a short record of the 

 work of the principal industries of the North-East 

 Coast during the war. There have been two im- 

 portant developments in marine engineering for which 

 the war period is partly responsible. These are the 

 increased and increasing use of speed-reduction gear- 

 ing in turbine-driven sets — the output of gearing by 

 one firm during 1915-18 amounted to 2,830,000 shaft- 

 horse-power — and, secondly, the high standard of 

 accuracy which has been reached in the design, con- 

 struction, and installation of turbine machinery. This 

 efficiency has enabled the Admiralty to dispense with 

 exhaustive preliminary trials of machinen,'. Probably 

 the most remarkable case cited in the paper is that 

 of the destroyer Nonsuch, which, under conditions of 

 emergency, actually raised her full power within seven 

 minutes of leaving the piers. It is also of interest to 

 note that the total stoppages of work due to raids 

 and raid-alarms amounted to 47 hours 24 minutes 

 NO. 2594, VOL. 103] 



during the whole war period of 221 weeks. The total 

 output was 1 130 vessels, with a tonnage of 3,324,912, 

 which gives an average of five ships per week. 



A long paper on developments in aircraft design 

 and application during the war was read by Lord 

 Weir. The section dealing with future develc^ments 

 is of special interest. iVn outbreak of war should see 

 us with the very best designs of engines and aircraft, 

 tried and tested, and with a manufacturing nucleus 

 on which war production may be readily expanded. 

 In civil aviation the more immediate problems of inter- 

 national and domestic aerial legislation have been 

 provisionally solved by the International Aerial Con- 

 vention and by the Civil Aviation Act, and it is 

 gratifying that in both these directions Great Britain 

 has taken the lead and shown the way. In another 

 direction much remains to be carried out quickly. 

 We possess fleets of aircraft of trustworthiness and 

 of great performance possibility, but our navigational 

 facilities are still almost non-existent, and herein lies 

 one of the main fields of action of our new Depart- 

 ment of Civil Aviation. The two qualities of out- 

 standing merit in the new form of transport are speed 

 and independence of action as against land transport 

 requiring roads or rails. Speed in transport is asscv- 

 ciated with high cost, and speed will always command 

 a high value. Early action should be taken in regard 

 to a few main routes, especially in countries with 

 equable weather conditions, and in new countries 

 backward in • rail development. Two such main 

 routes would be Egypt to India, and Egypt to South 

 .Africa. 



Lt.-Com. Norman Wilkinson gave some interesting 

 particulars regarding his methods of dazzle-painting 

 of ships, from which it appears that the object was 

 not to secure invisibility, but to perplex submarines 

 in the attempt to determine the precise course of the 

 "dazzled " ship. The author, who is a marine painter 

 of long experience, does not consider jt possible to 

 secure invisibility at sea. Success in _ submarine 

 attack depends upon the attaining of a position which 

 enables the attack to be made, and if a sybrnarine 

 once fails to secure the favourable position it is not 

 likely to have a second opportunity. Reports from 

 other ships bear striking testimony to the value of 

 dazzle-painting : — "The vessel, at a distance of two or 

 three miles, appeared as a wreck." "At four miles' 

 distance I decided it was a tug towing a lighter." 

 " I was on the point of stopping my engines and 

 going full soeed astern to avoid a collision, when I 

 discovered that she was altering course to starboard. 

 After passing the vessel it was almost impossible to 

 sav how she was steering." 



Sir Dugald Clerk gave a paper on the limits of 

 thermal efficiency in Diesel and other internal-com- 

 bustion engines. ' The author considers that conditions 

 all point to ultimate success in the construction of 

 large gas-engine units composed of many cylinders 

 geared to a common shaft. Large cylinder engines, 

 such as had been developed dn Germany before the 

 war, do not permit of very large unit powers except 

 at an extravagant weight and cost, and have no chance 

 of competing with the steam turbine. 



The paper on ship repairing by Messrs. M. C. 

 James and L. E. Smith contains many interesting 

 photographs and descriptions of extraordinary and 

 urgent repairs executed during. the war. 



One of the most valuable papers of the meeting was 

 that on science and its aoplication to marine problems 

 by Prof. J. C. McLennan. Reference is made to the 

 development of listening devices in the submarine 

 campaign. An echo method consists in the use of a 

 beam of sound-waves used in a manner analogous to 

 the use of a searchlight. If an object of sound such 



