July 20, 19 16] 



NATURE 



431 



In attempting to estimate correctly the amount of 

 energy used for the actual forward progression of the 

 body it is essential to deduct from the total measured 

 energy output a fraction which will represent what 

 may be termed the basal maintenance metabolism, and 

 it is somewhat difficult to decide what value to take 

 for this purpose. The authors on the whole prefer 

 to take as this basis the energy output found when 

 the subject is standing still with the muscles relaxed, 

 and this value certainly appears more reasonable than 

 that found when the subject is lying at rest, though 

 the latter has been used frequently by earlier workers 

 on the subject. They have, however, considered other 

 possible bases, especially with reference to walking at 

 a very fast pace when pronounced movements of the 

 arms occur. 



With one of the subjects the pace was limited to 

 slightly under three miles an hour, but with the other 

 it was varied widely, ranging, roughly, from two and 

 a half to five and a half miles an hour. As the pace 

 increases the amount of energy output to move one 

 kilo of the body weight one metre horizontally in- 

 creases very greatly, as other observers have found. 



Some experiments performed with the subject run- 

 ning showed that it was more economical of energy 

 to run than to walk at the rate of more than five 

 miles an hour. 



In examining the influence of food on the energ}' 

 output during the exercise, the authors find that the 

 increase in the metabolism due to the walking is at 

 any given pace in the main constant and merely super- 

 imposed on the increased resting metabolism due to 

 the food. With a large protein diet there is evidence 

 that the heat output per unit of work is increased. 

 Apart from the question of the absolute expenditure 

 of energy, the figures in the various tables will be of 

 extreme interest to any who wish to study the char- 

 acter of the metabolism during muscular exertion. 



C. G. D. 



THE GRAVELS OF EAST ANGLIA. 



THE Cambridge University Press has published 

 two interesting geological pamphlets by Prof. T. 

 McKenny Hughes, the first on "The Gravels of East 

 Anglia " (price 15.), the second entitled *' Notes on the 

 Fenland," with a description of the Shippea man by 

 Prof. A. Macalister (price 6d.). The gravels of East 

 Anglia are especially useful in any inquiry as to the 

 age and origin of the superficial deposits of our 

 countn,', because of their wide distribution and the 

 long continuous sections on the coast, in which many 

 of them may be studied. They consist for the most 

 part of subang^lar flints, which cannot have been 

 derived directly from the chalk, and Prof. Hughes 

 concludes that they are the debris of an old Miocene 

 land-surface on which the chalk with flints was ex- 

 posed. After a well-illustrated account of many sec- 

 tions, and a brief discussion of the mammalian 

 remains found in the gravels and associated deposits. 

 Prof. Hughes summarises the sequence of phases 

 in the later geological histor}- of East Anglia as he 

 now understands them. All these gravels are of 

 Pleistocene age, but the marsh-deposits of the fenland 

 are distinctly later. They contain remains of the 

 brown bear and the beaver, which survived in England 

 until historic times, but none of the typical Pleisto- 

 cene mammalia ; while the most remarkable of the 

 birds is the pelican. There is no definite chrono- 

 k)gical succession which will hold throughout the 

 fens, and the relative dates of the various remains 

 found in them cannot be well determined. The human 

 skull and associated remains from Shippea Hill, 

 described bv Prof. Macalister, may be quite modern, 

 though perhaps as old as the Bronze age. 

 NO. 2438, VOL. 97] 



THE ORGANISATION OF INDUSTRIAL 



SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHA 



II. 



IT is the common opinion of those who have to deal 

 with the organisation of research that only a small 

 percentage of all the investigations started are likely 

 to be successful, the great majority being either 

 dropped before they come to an end, or, being carried 

 through, are filed simply as records, without any 

 results having been obtained which would justify the 

 expense of the investigation ; that is to say, industrial 

 research is justified only by the great value of the 

 successful attempts, and these must bear the burden 

 of a great number of unsuccessful attempts, which 

 may have been quite as costly as the successful ones 

 themselves. Naturally, the object of organisation is to 

 attempt to reduce the proportion of unsuccessful in- 

 vestigations which will be undertaken, as has already 

 been shown. This can be done by increasing the size 

 of the laboratory, by increasing the specialisation of 

 the workers, and especially by increasing co-operation 

 between workers in different fields. 



Naturally, the most important step which could be 

 taken to increase the efficiency of industrial research 

 would be to increase the likelihood of correct choice 

 of a promising investigation, but, unfortunately, very 

 little can be done in this direction. Those with the 

 most experience in research work are all agreed that 

 it is almost impossible to say whether a given investi-. 

 gation will prove remunerative or not. The only 

 general conclusion that can be drawn is that the deeper- 

 a given investigation goes towards the fundamentals 

 of the problem the more likelihood there is that the 

 results will be of value, and the more superficial an 

 investigation is, even although it appears more pro, 

 mising at first sight, the less likelihood there is that 

 it will finally prove of real worth, so that the choice 

 of investigations must necessarily be made largely at 

 random, and will be influenced to a great extent by 

 the ideas of the scientific workers themselves; if any 

 worker has a desire to take up any particular line of 

 work, provided that it is associated with the general 

 trend of work in the laboratory-, it is usually wise 

 to let him do so, but the expedition with which a 

 decision can be reached as to the probable value of the 

 investigation after it has been started is ver>- g^reatly 

 enhanced by the complete co-operation of workers in 

 the different branches of science in consultation on the 

 problem. 



At this point it might be well to discuss the organisa^ 

 tion of a large research laborator\'. Such a laboratory 

 should be established in charge of a director who has 

 had some actual manufacturing experience in the 

 works processes, but at the same time he must have 

 a considerable sympathy with purelv scientific work 

 and an interest in the advancement of scientific theory-. 

 Both these qualifications are desirable, but if such a 

 director combining the two cannot be found, then a 

 man of full scientific training should be chosen and 

 put into a position of responsibility in the manufactur- 

 ing side of the industry until he has become fully 

 acquainted with the technique of the industry-. It is 

 most inadvisable to take a man from the industry 

 who has not had a full scientific traininer, including 

 advanced research work in academic problems, since, 

 he will generally be lacking in sufficient knowledge of, 

 and svmpathy with, the more academic investigations 

 of which he will be in charge, and if the two necessary 

 qualifications cannot be found united in one man, it 

 will be necessary to take a man with the scientific 



1 Ad address delivered at Columbia University by Dr. C. E. Kenneth . 

 Me<>5, director of the Research Laboratory, Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, 

 N.V. Continued from p. 413. 



