August 27, 1891] 



NATURE 



399 



been considerable talk with reference to the address of 

 the President of Section A, and opinion is divided as to 

 the propriety of introducing the metaphysical into a 

 Section which has emphatically to do with the " solid 

 ground of Nature." On the other hand, Prof. Lodge's 

 experiment to test whether the ether is disturbed in the 

 presence of a rapidly-moving body has excited the 

 greatest interest and admiration. 



The soirees at the present meeting can hardly be com- 

 pared in attractiveness and brilliancy with those held last 

 year in Leeds. Wealthy and populous as Cardiff is, she 

 has not command, apparently, of the scientific and artistic 

 collections which are so creditable to the intelligence and 

 taste of the dingy Yorkshire city. However, the dance 

 into which to-night's conversazione developed evidently 

 atoned for a multitude of shortcomings. The lectures 

 have been fairly well attended. Prof. Ri.icker"s beautiful 

 experiments evidently fascinating his audience, in spite 

 of a serious hitch caused by the failure of a steam-engine 

 to do its duty when called upon. The discussion, in 

 Section D, as to the relations between animal and plant 

 life was well sustained, and it is a pity that arrangements 

 had not been made to have it fully reported. This can 

 be done at very small cost, and the publication of detailed 

 reports of such discussions could not but greatly increase 

 the good they are calculated to do. There is a general 

 belief that inter-Sectional discussions would be of immense 

 advantage in showing the intimate relations which exist 

 betweenthedift"erentbranchesofscience,and in stimulating 

 research in profitable directions. It is probable that several 

 such discussions may be arranged for the next meeting. 



As usual, Section E had its sensation. A very large 

 audience attended to hear Mrs. French Sheldon describe 

 her journey to Lake Chala, at the base of Kilimanjaro. 

 Mrs. Sheldon was evidently suffering greatly from her 

 serious accident ; and although her address was some- 

 what disjointed, it contained a good deal of fresh in- 

 formation, especially on the natives, which male travellers 

 have hitherto overlooked. Mrs. Bishop (Miss Isabella 

 L. Bird) proved equally attractive in describing her visit 

 to the Bakhtiari country and the Karun River, and, as 

 might have been expected, was somewhat more solid 

 than her less-experienced fellow traveller. 



The Ordnance Survey formed the subject of an im- 

 portant discussion in Section E, and the Association as 

 a body has resolved to do its utmost to induce Govern- 

 ment to introduce reforms. It is fortunate that by the 

 combined action of Sections A, E, and G, a grant of ;^75 

 has been obtained for supplying instruments for climato- 

 logical observations in Central Africa. 



There was considerable discussion at the general com- 

 mittee meeting yesterday as to the date of the Edinburgh 

 meeting next year. In certain quarters the end of Sep- 

 tember was advocated, but there can be no doubt that 

 the great majority of the working members of the Associa- 

 tion preferred the beginning of August, a date which will 

 suit those connected with the Universities and will catch 

 the citizens of Edinburgh before they leave for their holi- 

 days. It is, therefore, not surprising that August 3 has 

 been fixed upon for the Edinburgh meeting, the President 

 of which will be Sir Archibald Geikie. Nottingham has 

 been selected as the place of meeting for 1893. 



It is evident that the people of Cardiff are somewhat 

 at a loss what to make of the Association and of the 

 hundreds who are crowding the streets of the town and 

 rushing from one Section room to another. The Sectional 

 secretaries especially, seem to be a puzzle. In the hotel 

 in which they are housed a commercial stock-room has 

 been set apart for their use, with a long baize-covered 

 table down the centte ; while to discourage all tendencies 

 to loafing, they have been provided with nothing else but 

 hard kitchen chairs to sit upon. 



Altogether, from a scientific point of view, the Cardiff 

 meeting may be said to have come up to a fair average. 



NO. 



3Q. VOL. 44I 



SECTION B. 



chemistry. 



Opening Address by Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen, 



C.B., F.R.S., President of the Section. 

 The selection of Cardiff as a place of meeting of the British 

 Association led to the presidency of Section B being intrusted 

 to a metallurgist. It will be well, therefore, to deal in this 

 address mainly with considerations connected with the subject 

 to which my life has been devoted, and I hope that it may be 

 possible for me to show that this practical art has both pro- 

 moted the advancement of science and has received splendid 

 gifts in return. 



It is an art for which in this country we have traditional love ; 

 nevertheless the modes of teaching it, and its influence on science, 

 are but imperfectly understooil and appreciated. Practical 

 metallurgists are far too apt to think that improvements in their 

 processes are mainly the result of their own experience and 

 observation, unaided by pure science. On the other hand, those 

 who teach metallurgy often forget that for the present they have 

 not only to give instruction in the method of conducting techni- 

 cal operations, but have truly to educate, by teaching the 

 chemistry of high temperatures, at which ordinary reactions 

 are modified or even reversed, while they have further to deal 

 with many phenomena of much importance, which cannot, as 

 yet, be traced to the action of elements in fixed atomic propor- 

 tions, or in which the direct influence of the atom is only 

 beginning to be recognized. 



The development of a particular art, like that of an organism, 

 proceeds from its internal activity ; it is work which promotes 

 its growth and not the external influence of the environment. 

 In the early stage of the development of an industry the crafts- 

 men gather a store of facts which afford a basis for the labours 

 of the investigator, who penetrates the circle of the " mystery " 

 and renders knowledge scientific. Browning, inspired by the 

 labours of a chemist, finely lells us in his *' Paracelsus " : — 



To know 

 Rather consists in opening out a way 

 Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape, 

 Than in effecting entry for a light 

 Supp sed to be without. 



If it be asked who did most in gaining the industrial treasure 

 and in revealing the light of chemical knowledge, the answer is 

 certainly the metallurgists, whose labours in this respect differ 

 materially from others which have ministered to the welfare of 

 mankind. First it may be urged that in no other art have the 

 relations belwetn theory and practice been so close and enduring. 

 Bacon, who never undervalued research, tells us that in the 

 division of the labour of investigation in the New Atlantis there 

 are some "that raise the former discoveries by experiment into 

 greater observations, axioms, and aphorisms : these we call the 

 interptetcrs of nature." There are also others ''that bend 

 themselves, looking into the experiments of their fellows and 

 casting about how to draw out of them things of use and practice 

 for man's life and knowledge : . . . these we call the f/i?wrj/ w^-w 

 or benefactors.'" In reviewing the history of metallurgy, especially 

 in our islands, it would seem that the two classes of workers, the 

 interpreters of nature and the practical men, have for centuries 

 sat in joint committee, and, by brin^jing theoretical speculation 

 into close connection with hard industrial facts, have "carried 

 us nearer the essence of truth." 



The main theme of this address will therefore be the relation 

 between theory and practice in metallurgy with special reference 

 to the indebtedness of the practical man to the scientific investi- 

 gator. 



We will then consider — 



(i) Certain facts connected with "oxidation" and "reduc- 

 tion," upon which depend operations of special importance to 

 the metallurgist. 



(2) The influence in metallurgical practice of reactions which 

 are either limited or reversible. 



(3) The means by which 1 rogress in the metallurgic art may 

 be effected, and the special need for studying the molecular 

 constitution of metals and alloys. 



(i) The present year is a memorable one for chemists, being 

 the centenary of the birth of Faraday and the bi-centenary of 

 the death of Robert Boyle. The work of the former has re- 

 cently been lovingly and fittingly dealt with in the Royal Insti- 

 tution, where he laboured so long. I would, in turn, briefly 



