6io 



NATURE 



[October i8, 19CX) 



bricks and encaustic tiles manufactured from the clinker, and 

 some interesting figures as to the strength of these materials were 

 also given. 



Another paper by a Yorkshire engineer, Mr. E. K. Clark, 

 dealt with the subject of the shop buildings in large engineering 

 works. The author had collected a large amount of statistics 

 and figures, both as to the method of construction now generally 

 adopted — viz., the shops all on one level — and as to the materials 

 commonly used in their construction, and the paper will form a 

 very valuable reference for any engineer engaged either in laying 

 out new engineering workshops, or in reconstructing old 

 buildings. 



Mr. Glass contributed a lengthy paper dealing with the coal 

 and iron ore fields of Shansi and Honan, and railway con- 

 struction in China. The author was engaged in 1898 by a 

 syndicate to proceed to China, and to examine and make a com- 

 plete report on the coal and iron-ore fields of these two im- 

 portant provinces of China, and also to make surveys for the 

 railways which it would be necessary to construct in order to 

 utilise these deposits. 



An interesting description was given of the general features of 

 the country, illustrated by some beautiful lantern slides from 

 photographs taken by the author, and also a very complete 

 account of the Chinese method of working these mineral deposits. 

 The author stated that it was somewhat difficult to arrive at very 

 exact estimates of the quantity of coal available in these great 

 fields, but it is believed there are more than 33,000 square miles 

 of coal-fields in Shansi alone, and that the present output of 

 Great Britain, which is more than 200 million tons a year, could 

 be maintained from the anthracite coal-fields of Eastern Shansi 

 alone for a period of 3000 years. 



Samples of the coal have been analysed and show that it is a 

 good steam coal. 



Similar favourable accounts were given in regard to the iron 

 ore deposits, and the author computed that it would be possible 

 to produce a ton of pig-iron from these ores at the very low cost 

 of I2s. i^d. per ton, assuming labour to be at the same rate as 

 it is now at Middlesbrough in England. The lowest price at 

 which the pig-iron was being sold at ttie foundries visited by the 

 author was a little over 20s. per ton. 



The extraordinary richness of these mineral deposits and the 

 enormous area awaiting development show how pressing the 

 problem of reorganising peacefully the internal government of 

 China is for the civilised world. 



On the day devoted to electrical engineering, two short com- 

 munications were read by Sir Wm. Preece and Mr. F. J. Behr, 

 dealing with the proposed Monorail High Speed Electric Line 

 between Manchester and Liverpool. 



It will be remembered this scheme came before Parliament 

 last session and was rejected, largely owing to the strenuous 

 opposition of the existing railways. 



The interesting feature in these papers was the account given 

 of the brakes and signals which it is proposed to adopt, which 

 must be an important matter on a line where it is proposed to 

 run the trains at frequent intervals, and at such an excessively 

 high speed as 1 10 miles per hour. Perhaps if the promoters had 

 been content to reduce the proposed speed somewhat at the 

 beginning, their scheme might have been more favourably con- 

 sidered. 



A valuable paper dealt with on this day was one on the 

 measurement of the tractive force, resistance and acceleration of 

 trains, by Mr. A. Mallock. The author described the apparatus 

 which he used for the purpose, and gave an account of some 

 experiments which he has recently carried out on these important 

 questions. He concluded from his results that pendulum obser- 

 vations combined with a record of speed and power offer a 

 simple and effective means of determining the resistance to and 

 efficiency of electric or other kinds of motor vehicles. 



On this day also, a communication from Mr. W. T. E. Binnie, 

 a son of the president, was read, describing a new form of self- 

 registering rain-gauge which he has invented. The accuracy of 

 the gauge depends on the fact that all drops falling from a tube 

 are of constant size, provided that the tube is either very small 

 so that the water passing down the interior chokes the bore, or 

 that some special device is provided to spread out the water so 

 as to vvet the entire circumference of the tube. If, therefore, 

 the weight of each drop were ascertained, it is clear that a 

 measure of the amount of water passing down the tube would be 

 obtained by counting the number of drops, and the electrical 

 appliances are concerned with this part of the work. 



NO. 1616, VOL. 62] 



An instrument made on this principle has been in operation 

 for some time, and the records obtained from it in a period of 

 five months give a total ekcess of i '6 per cent, over the register 

 of an ordinary rain-gauge. 



Mr. W. Dawson contributed a paper descriptive of the 

 Demerbe system of tramway construction, a system which has 

 been tried on the Bradford Corporation tramways and found 

 very successful in the reduction of the cost of permanent way 

 repairs. In the Demerbe system the rail consists of a hollow 

 trough and the fish plate is placed inside under the ends of the 

 rails and exactly fits its contour, the fish-plate being forced into 

 close contact with the under side of the rail by driving in two 

 cotters. The rail, when laid in position, is completely filled, 

 by means of specially-designed tools, with concrete. The tie 

 bars are flat and very simply arranged, and the gauging of the 

 rails can, therefore, be done rapidly with almost mathematical 

 exactitude. 



The system certainly seems to have considerable merits com- 

 pared to the girder system of tram rails. 



Two other instruments described in short communications 

 were a combination integrating wattmeter and maximum 

 demand indicator, ithe invention of Mr. J. H. Barker and Prof. 

 Ewing, and a new form of calorimeter for measuring the wetness 

 of steam, designed by Prof. Goodman. 



The former instrument is designed to measure two quantities, 

 the total amount of electricity used by a consumer and the 

 maximum number of lamps or their equivalent ever lighted at 

 one time. By this means it is possible to grade the charges for 

 electric energy, and it enables the consumer to be charged at a 

 lower rate for current he may use over and above the units 

 which would have been used had the largest number of lamps in 

 his installation burnt for one hour every day during t he whole 

 period the current was in use. 



Prof Goodman's instrument is intended to get over some of 

 the more serious difficulties in measuring the wetness of steam 

 supplied by any boiler. He discards entirely the wire-drawing 

 system, and determines the wetness by condensing a known 

 weight of the mixed steam and water in a known weight of 

 cold water, and measuring the rise of temperature. 



Prof. Beaumont, of Leeds, in a most interesting paper de- 

 scribed the photographic method of preparing textile designs 

 due to Szczepanik, a number of designs being shown which had 

 been produced by this process. 



In continuation of a paper which was read before the Asso- 

 ciation at Liverpool in 1896, Mr. A. T. Walmisley gave further 

 information as to the use of expanded metal in concrete work, 

 and gave particulars of a number of important tests which have 

 been carried out to determine the increase of strength and the 

 adhesion between the concrete and the metal. 



The attendance at the sectional meetings was very good, 

 and the president. Sir Alexander Binnie, may be congratulated 

 on a successful and useful meeting. 



BOTANY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



T N the absence of Prof. Vines the presidential address was read 

 -•■ by Dr. D. H. Scott. On the motion of Prof Bayley Bal- 

 four, supported by Prof. Marshall Ward, Prof. Bower and other 

 speakers, it was unanimously agreed to ask the Recorder of the 

 Section to convey to Prof. Vines the sincere regret of the 

 Botanists that he was prevented by illness from presiding over 

 their meeting. 



The customary semi-popular lecture was this year delivered 

 by Prof Percy Groom, who chose for his subject *' Plant-form 

 in relation to nutrition." 



On Monday, September 10, the Section of Geology joined 

 Section K in a discussion on the conditions under which the 

 plants of the Coal Period grew. The discussion was opened by 

 Mr. Kidston (Stirling), who gave a general account of the flora of 

 the Coal-measures, illustrated by a series of excellent photo- 

 graphs of the various types of Upper Carboniferous plants. Mr. 

 Seward dealt with the botanical evidence bearing on the climatic 

 and other physical conditions under which coal was formed. On 

 the geological side the discussion was opened by Mr. Strahan and 

 Mr. Marr. Dr. Horace Brown discussed the question of the 

 possible richness in CO2 of the coal period atmosphere, and gave 

 an account of some of his recent experiments with plants grown 

 in an atmosphere containing twice or thrice the present amount 

 of carbonic acid gas. Dr. Scott, Dr. Blackman, and Prof Hartog 

 also took part in the discussion from the botanical standpoint. 



