August 14, 19 19] 



NATURE 



475 



accounted for by theoretical considerations Messrs. 

 Shinjo and Watanabe endeavour to show that the con- 

 stancy of angular momentum results from the hypo- 

 thesis that the celestial bodies have evolved from 

 primordial swarms of meteorites. 



THE DESIGN OF OPTICAL MUNITIONS 

 OF WAR. 



IX a paper read before the Optical Society in 

 January last,' Lt.-Col. A. C. Williams, the otficer 

 until lately in charge of the inspection of optical 

 munitions at Woolwich, described in some detail the 

 tests made by his department when inspecting^ the 

 various optical instruments submitted by the manu- 

 facturers. The precedent thus set is a most useful 

 one. It is common knowledge what an immense 

 number of instruments were made and accepted, but 

 it is not so generally known how stringent were some 

 of the tests. Col. Williams makes no apology for 

 the stringency of these tests, and in stating the con- 

 ditions of service shows how different Army condi- 

 tions are from those of civil life. They are indeed 

 severe. " It must be remembered that Service instru- 

 ments may be sent to any part of the world, and must 

 remain serviceable when used in Arctic snows, 

 Flanders mud, Mesopotamia heat and desert sand- 

 storm, or after travelling in lorries for thousands of 

 miles over bad roads. In some cases they are at- 

 tached to giins, and have to withstand the shock of 

 firing. It must also be remembered that they are not 

 always used by men accustomed to handling delicate 

 instruments, and that it is only on rare occasions that 

 they can be sent to a workshop for repair." In ad- 

 dition to these considerations, that of weight is always 

 present. As Mr. J. W. French in his interesting con- 

 tribution to the discussion points out, it is easy to 

 make an instrument to withstand severe shock tests 

 if lightness is not of importance. 



Interesting as is the description of the various tests | 

 made at Woolwich, the most interesting part of | 

 the paper is the glimpse given of the pre-war attitude 

 of the Government Department to the scientific 

 instrument maker. 



Col. Williams assumes that the manufacturer by 

 some uncanny instinct *' shoujd know what classes of 

 instruments are required, and should submit to the 

 authorities the highest class of designs of such instrur 

 ments." The designs would then be considered by a 

 immittee of experts, who would criticise and decide 

 n the most serviceable. ! 



In the past the complaint of almost every manu- 

 icturer of scientific instruments has been the 'dif!iculty 

 r learning what instruments were required by the 

 ^ rvices and of obtaining detailed information of the 

 •irticular problem. Secrecy was necessary during 

 :he war, but even then it was frequently insisted upon 

 to an unnecessary extent. In times of peace it has | 

 the effect of holding back the development of new 

 instruments. It is common knowledge how much 

 Prof. Cheshire did to bring together the manufac- I 

 turer and the officers testing and using the instru- i 

 ments when made. In the future it is essential that i 

 The designs of the Service instruments should be I 

 intly considered by a body of experts, manufacturers ; 

 - well as officers, so that instruments are not builc j 

 up in the haphazard way they were in days gone by. I 

 I It is not necessary to trace the evolution of an instru- 

 ment by its obsolete excrescences or unnecessary parts t 

 It is essential, however, that the fundamental parts 



1 "The Dexiffn and Inspection of Certain Optical Munitions of Wa'." By 

 Lt.-Col. A. C. William-:, R.A. (Tran-. Oniical Soc, Januarj-, 1919.) 



NO. 2598, VOL. 103] 



should be accurate, within certain specified limits, and 

 that the experts should decide on those limits. 



The Government must also be prepared to pay 

 liberally for the manufacture of first models. In the 

 future, with the aid of the National Physical Labora- 

 tory, the Institute of Technical Optics, the British 

 Optical Manufacturers' Association, and the British 

 Scientific Instrument Research Association, the 

 Government Departments should not find it difficult 

 to obtain good and generous technical assistance. 

 Robert S. Whipple. 



THE OUTLOOK OF METEOROLOGICAL 

 SCIENCE.^ 



AT no period in the sixty-nine years of the society's 

 ■*• •*■ existence has the president had a wider range 

 of choice for the subject of his address than at the 

 present moment; and certainlv never has the richness 

 of choice been more of an embarrassment than on this 

 occasion. The notable and welcome increase in the 

 number of fellows adds to the responsibility of the 

 situation. Whether we look backward over the days 

 of war, or forward to the future and all that it 

 may have in store for those who are interested in the 

 study of weather, there is more than enough to occupy 

 the time which tradition has placed at my disposal. 



Looking Backward— The Position before the War— 

 The Investigation of the Upper Air. 

 Looking backward, we must take account of a 

 promise of remarkable activity in all branches of 

 meteorology. Even if there had been no war, the last 

 five years would have been fruitful vears in the 

 development of the science. The progress of aeria] 

 navigation, already begun in 19 14, promised un- 

 exampled opportunities in the comparatively new study 

 of aerography, in addition to those which meteoro- 

 logists had previously made for themselves. 



The Shock of War and the Reaction. 



Thus the outbreak of war found the various meteoro- 

 logical agencies actively employed upon their own pro- 

 jects for the world's enlightenment,* and its first effect 

 was to paralyse a good deal of their activity. It cut 

 our wireless communications, hampered our telegraphic 

 reports, put shipping cut of bounds, claimed our active 

 workers and their possible substitutes for services that 

 wore a uniform, and altered the whole balance of the 

 complicated machinery which had been elaborated for 

 our contribution to the world's stock of knowledge of 

 the atmosphere. 



The whirligig of time has brought its revenges. 

 We are no longer allowed to regard the weather as a 

 subject of curious inquiry that can be ignored in time 

 of war. It has been borne in upon us that weathef 

 has; its influence on the production, preservation, and 

 transport of food; that it has A bearing upon the 

 health of the community; that floods and droughts, 

 sunshine and storm, such trivial circutnstances as low 

 clouds and fog. have their effect upon operations of 

 offence and defence ; and we have learned in the 

 school of experience ' that aerial rtavigation rhav be 

 attended with danger to others beside the navigators. ' 



The Call for more General Knowledge of Meteoro- 

 logical Methods and Results. 

 The quickened interest in the studv of weather for 

 all purposes has expressed itself in the creation of a 

 number of special establishments for the Naval Air 



1 From an adHres* on " Metcorologv : The Society and it^ Fellows." 

 ildivered l>efcfe ihe Koyal Meteorological Society on January 15 by S\f 

 Napier Shaw, F.R.S., preiident of the society. 



