57.8 



NA TURE 



[October 15, 1891 



Lord Rose's present assistant, carried out a series of observa- 

 tions for the purpose of testing the striking result previously 

 arrived at by Dr. Copeland, viz., that "the maximum of heat 

 seemed to occur somewhat before full moon." It was then 

 found that " The heat as before diminished, and increased again 

 nearly proportionally to the light, becoming inappreciable on 

 reaching the limits of totality. The minimum of heat apparently 

 fell later than that of illumination. But the most remarkable 

 thing was that while during the short interval between the first 

 contact with the penumbra and the commencement of total 

 phase, all appreciable radiation vanished, between the end of 

 total phase and the last contact with the penumbra, and even 

 forty minutes later, the heat had not returned to the standard 

 for full moon, being deficient by about 12 per cent." These 

 facts are remarked upon by Lord Rosse in an Introduction to a 

 paper by Dr. Boeddicker, giving the results obtained during the 

 lunar eclipse of January 28, 1888 (Transactions of the Royal 

 Dublin Society, Series III., vol. iv., Part ix., 1891). The 

 measurements of radiation were commenced about an hour 

 before the first contact with the penumbra, and a decrease of 

 heat seems even then to have set in. But excluding this diminu- 

 tion of heat exhibited by the curve connecting the observations, 

 there is indisputable evidence that the decrease had definitely 

 commenced about three minutes before the eclipse began, and 

 probably fifteen minutes before. This indicates, therefore, that 

 the terrestrial atmosphere extends to a height of not less than 190 

 miles, and intercepts the sun's rays before any part of the moon 

 has entered the earth's shadow. In 1888, as in 1884, the anomaly 

 of the heat not returning to its standard value even i hour 40 

 minutes after the last contact with the penumbra, was observed. 

 Dr. Boeddicker enumerates the series of observations required 

 to elucidate these interesting points, and hopes soon to publish 

 some further results of his investigations. 



Two New Variable Stars.— The Rev. T. E. Espin has 

 found two new variable stars in Cygnus, viz. D.M. + 36° -3852 

 and D.M. -^ 49°*3239. They are both of a strong red colour. 

 The first has a Type III. (Group II.) spectrum, and the second 

 belongs to Type IV. (Group VI.). 



A New Asteroid. — The asteroid observed by Dr. Palisa 

 on August 12 turns out to be Medusa (^, as was suggested by 

 Dr. Berberich. On this account, the asteroids from ^3) to ^is) 

 must be numbered from (^ to (sin, and the one discovered on 

 September 24 by Charlois will be (sis). 



A New Comet. — A bright comet was discovered on October 

 2, by Mr, E. E. Barnard, at Lick Observatory, in R.A. 

 7h. 31m. 24s., and Decl. -27° 54'. It was moving to the 

 south-east. 



THE IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE. 

 'T'HE autumn meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute was held 

 -*- on Tuesday the 6th inst. and Wednesday the 7th inst., 

 under the presidency of Sir Frederick Abel. After the excite- 

 ment of last year's meeting in the United States, the gathering 

 of last week fell rather flat. As our readers are aware, it is 

 the custom of this Society to hold two meetings each year— the 

 first, in the spring, being in London, and the second, in the 

 autumn, either in the provinces or abroad. This year it was 

 proposed that Birmirgham should be the place of meeting, but 

 the great town of the Midlands does not appear to have re- 

 sponded to the overtures made, and, no other invitation being 

 forthcoming, the Council was thrown back on the metropolis. 

 In one point, at any rate, the meeting was a success, as on Tues- 

 day a larger number of members travelled down to Woolwich, 

 where a visit had been arranged to the Royal Arsenal, than 

 perhaps have ever been got together before on an excursion. 



The excursions are generally the leading feature of the 

 autumn meetings, but there was but one organized for the 

 meeting just past— namely, that to Woolwich Arsenal. The 

 following is a list of the papers read : —On the constitution of 

 ordnance factories, by Dr. William Anderson, F. R. S. , Director- 

 General of Ordnance Factories ; on the measuring instruments 

 ased in the proof of guns and ammunition at the Royal Arsenal, 

 Woolwich, by Captain Holden, R.A., Proof Officer at Wool- 

 wich ; on the manufacture of continuous sheets of malleable iron 

 and steel direct from fluid metal, by Sir Henry Bessemer, ' 



F.R.S. ; on illustrations of progress in material for shipbuilding 

 and engineering in the Royal Naval Exhibition, by W. H. 

 White, C.B., Chief Constructor; on the forging press, by W. 

 D. Allen, Sheffield ; on an undescribed phenomenon in the 

 fusion of mild steel, by F. J. R. Carulla, Derby ; on the elimina- 

 tion of sulphur from pig-iron by J. Massene/, of Hoerde, 

 Germany ; on the Metailurgic Department, Sheffield Technical 

 School, by B. H. Thwaite, Liverpool. 



The first two papers were read at the Literary Institute, 

 Woolwich. Dr. Anderson's contribution was taken first. It is 

 a curious fact that the Director-General of Ordnance Factories, 

 whose admirers used to claim, before he occupied his present 

 position, that he was too scientific to be a successful business 

 man, should have contributed what is perhaps the least scientific 

 paper to be found within the Transactions of the Institute. The 

 paper was what its title indicated, strictly a description of the 

 constitution of the Royal Ordnance Factories. It told how they 

 comprise the Laboratory, Gun Factory, and Carriage Depart- 

 ment at Woolwich, the Gunpowder Factory at Waltham Abbey, 

 and the Small Arms Factories at Enfield Lock and Birmingham. 

 These establishments are, the author said, "supposed" to be 

 worked on commercial principles. Dr. Anderson is an accurate 

 and careful man, as has been proved by much good scientific 

 work in the field of mechanical engineering which he has done, 

 and there is much virtue in his "supposed." If ever a manu- 

 facturing establishment were worked with a view to profit after 

 the manner of Woolwich Arsenal, the profits probably would be 

 very small. The paper tells us that ;^400,ooo is invested in 

 stores, ;^557,945 in buildings, and £Ti?>,9^g in machinery. 

 By far the larger part of the work is done on the piece, or on 

 the fellowship system. The number of hands employed is about 

 17,000, of which 13,000 are at Woolwich. In the financial 

 year 1889-90, the value of completed work issued amounted to 

 ;,^2,259, 126. The expenditure on all services, complete and in- 

 complete, was ;,^2, 590,053, of which wages were responsible for 

 ;^i>339»045> and materials for ;i^i,oo5,224. The average wage 

 earned per week per man and boy is 32.f., and about ^^19,000 a 

 year is spent in medical attendance, which the men receive free. 



Captain Holden's paper was on an interesting subject, but 

 was far too brief to treat it in anything approaching an adequate 

 manner. In addition to which illustrations are necessary to 

 make clear the working of the various delicate instruments used 

 in the measurement of the velocity of projectiles, but no wall 

 diagrams were exhibited. It is true that some of the actual 

 machines were shown, but these are a very poor substitute for 

 sectional drawings, as one can see nothing but the outside. 

 The Novez-Leurs chronoscope, Prof. Bashforth's chronograph, 

 Schultz's revolving drum, together with the various modifications 

 of it which have been introduced, were all briefly referred to. 

 Most of these instruments are fairly well known, although not in 

 general use. The Le Boulonge instrument, which is the one 

 now universally used for determining the velocity of projectiles 

 outside guns, was shown and its action illustrated. The author 

 mentioned that when the Le Boulonge instrument was first 

 introduced the highest normal muzzle velocities of guns were 

 about 1000 feet per second. "Now," Captain Holden said, 

 " they are double that amount ; and it is probable they will . 

 reach 3000 feet per second." As an instance of the accuracy • 

 required in instruments of this nature, the author gave the 

 following example: "The case of a shot whose mean velocity 

 between two screens placed 180 feet apart is 1800 feet per 

 second. A variation of one foot above or below 1800 feet per 

 second is represented by a decrease or increase in time of only 

 •0005 of a second approximately." In order to work within 

 such narrow limits the greatest care has to be taken to eliminate 

 all sources of error in the instrument, and the precautions taken 

 are briefly outlined in the paper. 



After the reading of these two papers the members were con- 

 ducted round the Arsenal, but such official wrath was threatened 

 against any person who wrote for printing about anything he 

 saw that we are too frightened to make further reference to this 

 part of the proceedings. 



On the second day of the meeting the members assembled at 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers, Sir Frederick Abel, the Pre- 

 sident, again occupying the chair. The first paper taken was a 

 contribution by Sir Henry Bessemer, in which he described an 

 invention of his, devised nearly half a century ago. This con- 

 sisted of the rolling of steel sheets direct from the molten metal 

 as tapped from the furnace or converter. The process is simple 

 in the extreme, and one can only marvel that the present com- 



NO. 1 146, VOL. 44] 



