March i6, 1916] 



NATURE 



09 



lellowships. Although there may be cause for criti- 

 cism of the method of administration of the fund 

 placed in the hands of the committee of the Privy 

 Council, there is no doubt that, if wisely administered, 

 it will have very far-reaching results, not only in 

 developing our scientific industries, but in stimulating 

 research in our universities and levelling up the 

 standard of scientific attainment among the whole 

 bodv of our science students. 



IXSriTUTIOX OF MECHANICAL 

 EXGIXEERS. 



THE annual report of the council of the Institution 

 of Mechanical Engineers for the year 1915 shows 



hat the fund raised in conjunction with other institutions 

 lO establish a memorial to the late Sir \V. H. White, 

 K.C.B., amounted to more than 3000/. After provid- 

 ing for a medallion portrait, to be placed in the Insti- 

 tution of Civil Engineers, and a donation to the West- 

 minster Hospital, the bulk of the fund, together with 



uiy further contributions, is being devoted to the 



?tablishment of a research scholarship in naval archi- 

 tecture, to be administered by the Institution of Naval 

 Architects. The report also states that the Thomas 

 Hawksley medal for 1916 has been awarded to Prof. 

 H. L. Callendar, for his paper " On the Steady Flow 

 of Steam through a Nozzle or Throttle," and pre- 

 miums of 5/. each have been awarded to Prof, A. H. 

 Gibson and Mr. W. J. Walker, for their paper on 

 The Distribution of Heat in the Cylinder of a Gas 

 Engine." A grant of 15Z. has been made from the 

 Bryan Donkin Fund, for original research in mechan- 

 ical engineering, to Mr. A. H. Barker, in aid of his 

 research at University College, London, " to investigate 

 a new method of determining the radiant temperature 

 and air temperature in a room." The balance of the 

 third triennial award has been devoted to aiding the 

 steam-nozzles and hardness tests researches of the 

 institution. 



The report contains particulars of the work 

 done during the year by the various research 

 • ommittees of the institution. The work of 



iie Alloys Research Committee, on the alloys of 

 aluminium with zinc and copper, has been continued 

 at the National Physical Laboratory. The importance 

 of light alloys in connection with aeronautics has 

 led to a Government grant for the erection and work- 

 ing of an experimental rolling-mill capable of dealing 

 with ingots and billets. Further progress has been 

 made with other branches of the work, including the 

 -:udy of the constitution of the alloys and the "dis- 



iitegration " research. The series of researches re- 

 lating to the double carbides of iron, under the direc- 

 tion of Profs. J. O. Arnold and A. A. Read, has been 

 completed. The results of the studies on the carbides 

 of cobalt and of molybdenum have been embodied in 

 papers on "The Chemical and Mechanical Relations 

 of Iron, Cobalt, and Carbon" and "The Chemical 

 and Mechanical Relations of Iron, Molybdenum, and 

 Carbon," both printed in the Proceedings of the In- 

 stitution. A report was also submitted by Sir Robert 

 Hadfield describing the effects of molybdenum upon 

 iron, up to 18 per cent, of Mo. The Steam-Nozzles 

 Research Committee has held three meetings and is 

 engaged on the design of apparatus for conducting 

 experiments relating to the action of steam passing 

 through nozzles and steam-turbines. The British 

 Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company 

 has offered to lend two large condensers to the com- 

 mittee, and substantial progress has been made with 

 the design of nozzle-testing apparatus. The Hardness 

 Tests Research Committee has been considering the 



NO. 2420, VOL. 97] 



design of a machine to determine rate of wear as a 

 measure of hardness. An existing machine at the 

 National Physical Laboratory was adapted as a pre- 

 liminary procedure, but the results obtained from this 

 machine and modifications thereof have not yet been 

 satisfactory. The work of the Refrigeration Research 

 Committee has been suspended. Prof. C. Frewen 

 Jenkin, the reporter, being on active service. 



Interesting particulars ot the war work undertaken by 

 members of the institution are contained in the report. 

 The engineer unit of the Royal Naval Division, which 

 was principally recruited from the members of the In- 

 stitutions of the Civil, the Mechanical, and the Elec- 

 trical Engineers, was on active service in Gallipoli. 

 In the early stages of the war, a list w^as compiled 

 of the engineering and other qualifications of mem- 

 bers desiring to obtain commissions in the Army, and 

 copies were forwarded to quarters where they were 

 likely to be of use. The names of selected members 

 have been put forward as candidates for commissions 

 in the 12th King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry), 

 Pioneer Companies, the Mechanical Transport branch 

 of the Army Service Corps, and other engineerings 

 branches of the Army. Particulars of the engineer- 

 ing training and other qualifications of ,159 members 

 who expressed a desire to undertake engineering work 

 in connection with the war have been forwarded to 

 the Ministry of Munitions and other Government 

 departments from time to time throughout the year. 

 In response to an application from the Ministry of 

 Munitions for the nomination of engineers for em- 

 ployment in connection with contracts for the manufac- 

 ture of munitions, the council appointed a small com- 

 mittee to select possible candidates. The qualifica- 

 tions of sixty-seven members and others were con- 

 sidered, and the names of twenty-seven were sub- 

 mitted to the Ministry. In August last a list of , 

 543 members on active service in the Army was com- 

 piled for transmission to the War Office. During the 

 year 661 members had been on active service. Several 

 designs for a mechanical bomb-thrower have been 

 received from members and submitted to the War 

 Office. Designs have also been submitted of appa- 

 ratus for destroying barbed-wire entanglements, for 

 clearing mines from the products of the explosion of 

 the mine, and for non-slip chains for rubber tyres 

 of motor-wagons. At the request of the Director of 

 Fortifications and Worlcs, a list was compiled of the 

 names of mechanical engineers with whom the War 

 Office might communicate in connection with 

 problems arising out. of the war. 



THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH MEASURES OF 

 LENGTH.^ 



A LTHOUGH there is considerable variety in the 

 -^*- measures of length used bv the different nations 

 of the world, there can be no doubt that they are, 

 for the most part, derived from a common origin, 

 and that their ancestors, if the expression may be 

 used, existed in times so remote that the date of their 

 invention has been completely lost. 



For the sake of clearness, it is convenient to divide 

 the measures of length into four categories which are, 

 to a certain extent, independent of one another, and 

 may be defined as follows : — 



(i) The shorter measures of length, used for build- 

 ing and manufacturfng purposes, of which the more 

 imoortant in ancient times were the cubit, the palm, 

 and the digit, or finger breadth, and the English 

 representatives are the yard, the foot, and the inch. 



1 Abridged from a paper in the Tournal of the Royal Society of Arts,, 

 December 31, 1915, by Sir Charles M. Watson. K.C.M.G., C.B. 



