132 



NATURE 



[April 6, 191 6 



gough, was therefore very timely, and the discussion 

 of this paper occupied the greater part of the proceed- 

 ings of the meeting. It was followed by a paper by 

 Mr. Elliott Cumberland, who gave a demonstration 

 of his method of minimising the corrosion of condenser 

 tubes, which created considerable interest. 



The ground covered in the report to the Corrosion 

 Committee is very extensive, and it is only possible 

 within the limits of this article to give a brief sum- 

 mary of its most salient features. Five alloys have 

 been subjected to corrosion tests under a great variety 

 of conditions. Of these one was ordinary condenser 

 tube metal (70 : 30 brass), another was Admiralty 

 brass, containing i per cent, of tin, and another a 

 special lead brass (2 per cent, of lead). The fourth 

 was a bronze, containing 35 per cent, of tin and a 

 trace of phosphorus, and the fifth a copper-aluminium 

 alloy containing 8 per cent, of aluminium. These 

 have been tested in (a) stagnant sea-water over the 

 temperature range i5°-6o° C. ; (b) in diluted sea- 

 water of various degrees of dilution and with both 

 gentle and violent aeration. The influence of their 

 surface condition has been carefully examined, the 

 effect of air bubbles adhering to the metal, and that 

 of the E.M.F. due to unequal temperature distribution. 

 Two main types of corrosion have to be considered : — 

 (a) Complete, in which all the constituents of the 

 alloy dissolve simultaneously at approximately the 

 same rate and uniformly over its surface ; (b) selective, 

 In which one constituent dissolves preferentially. In 

 brass alloys it is usually zinc, and the process is called 

 dezincification. This type of corrosion, however, niay 

 conveniently be subdivided into ''general," which 

 occurs over the whole surface uniformly, and ''local- 

 ised," which occurs in spots. Selective localised corro- 

 sion is the type which is responsible for the chief 

 failures in practice, giving rise as it does to "pitting," 

 which is the most frequent cause of failure. 



The authors have come to the conclusion that it is 

 the formation of oxy-salts and their adherence to the 

 surface of the alloy which is the prime cause of pitting, 

 and in spite of the fact that the bronze came worst 

 out of the majority of the tests, when the results were 

 •expressed in the form of loss of weight per unit of 

 area, they have concluded that it would be the most 

 likely to give the best results in practice, because its 

 •corrosion is of the " complete " type, and no oxy-salt 

 is formed until a temperature of 60° C. is exceeded. 

 T^o one alloy was found to be satisfactory under all 

 •conditions, but much the most resistant alloy under 

 the majority of conditions was that composed of copper 

 and aluminium. 



The authors' recommendations as to the minimising 

 of corrosion in condenser tubes are : — (i) The tem- 

 perature of the water should be kept as low as pos- 

 sible; (2) its flow should be made smooth, foaming 

 and churning being avoided ; (3) oxy-salts should be 

 removed as soon as possible after formation. 



H. C. H. Carpenter. 



CIVIL SERVICE ESTIMATES FOR SCIENi ^ 

 AND EDUCATION. 



THE Estimates for Civil Services for the year end- 

 ing March 31, 1917, are being issued as Parlia- 

 mentary Papers. Under Class IV. are included the 

 estimates of expenditure on Education, Science, and 

 Art ; and we record below the main points of these 

 estimates, with details of those relating to scientific 

 investigation and higher education. 



It will be noticed that the grant in aid of scientific 

 and industrial research has been increased from 

 25,000/. to 4o,oooL 



NO. 2423, VOL. 97] 



United Kingdom and England. 



BOARD OF EDUCATION. 



1916-17 



203,667 



222,578 



Administration 



Inspection and examination 



Public elementary schools 

 etc. ... ... ... ■•• 



Training of teachers 



Secondary schools and pupil 

 teachers and bursars, etc. 



Technical schools, etc. 



Scholarships, exhibitions, 

 and other allowances to 

 students, prizes, etc. 



University institutions in 

 respect of technological 

 work... 



Assistance in choice of em- 

 ployment 



Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology 



Chelsea Physic Garden 



Royal College of Art 



Victoria and Albert Museum 



Science Museum 



Geological Museum ... 



Geological Survey of Great 

 Britain 



Bethnal Green Museum ... 



[2,640,528 

 408,282 



919,800 

 576,000 



19,110 



60,600 



4,000 



30,000 

 150 



8,494 

 63.375 

 13.943 



3,212 



14,718 

 2.735 



1915-16 

 209,551 



252, 45« 



12,696,815 

 577,000 



863,050 

 638,000 



30,160 



59,000 



4.500 



30,000 



150 



10,300 



7o,4.=;9 

 18,892 



3.805 



16,820 

 5'433 



SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION, ETC. 



Royal Society : 



(i) (a) Scientific investiga- 

 tions undertaken with 

 the sanction of a com- 

 mittee appointed for the 

 purpose (4,oooi.), and 

 (&) scientific publications 

 (i,oooZ.) 



(ii) Magnetic Observatory 

 at Eskdalemuir ... 



(iii) National Physical 

 Laboratory 



(iv) Aeronautical Section of 

 of the National Physical 

 Laboratory 



5,000 



1,000 



7,000 



10,400 



5,000 

 1,000 

 7,000 



9.425 



Total for Royal Society ;^23,4oo 



;^22,425 



Meteorological Office 

 Royal Geographical Society^ 

 Royal Academy of Music ... 

 Roj'al College of Music ... 

 Marine Biological Associa- 

 tion of the United Kingdom 



1 The British Museum (Bloomsbury) (except the Reading Room, etc.)^^ 

 part of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, are closed during 

 the war. 



2 A condition of the Grant is that the Society exhibits to the public, free 

 of charge, its collection of maps. 



500 



22,500 



1,250 



500 



500 



500 



