5« 



NA TURE 



[November i6, 1899 



VIBRATIONS OF GUN BARRELS} 

 nPHE authors of this research on the vibrations of gun 

 •*■ barrels were induced to make an experimental in- 

 vestigation of the behaviour of rifle barrels, in order to 

 -clear up certain difficulties connected with that which is 

 4cnown in ballistics as the error of departure. It had been 

 noticed that in shooting with a rifle (whether held loosely, 

 ■or firmly fixed), that the initial tangent to the trajectory 

 — "die Anfangstangente der Flugbahn"— does not co- 

 incide, as would be expected, with the axis of the bore 

 of the barrel, when produced, but is more or less in- 

 clined to it at a small angle ; this is called the angle of 

 ■error of departure. The authors, working with photo- 

 chronographic methods, determined the movements of 

 the muzzle end of a rifle in a vertical plane, and a 

 vibrational movement of the barrel was detected, and re- 

 corded on a moving photographic plate, on the same 

 plate ; a trace from a tuning-fork of known period was also 

 formed, so that the position of the muzzle was known at 

 -any instant. The rifle used was of the Mauser type M 71, 

 The collection of photo-chronographic records, twenty- 

 -eight in number, show the manner in which a rifle barrel 



especially in the domains of optics and electricity ; a Royal 

 Medal to Prof. William Carmichael Mcintosh, F.R.S., for his 

 important monogrAph on British marine zoology and on the 

 fisheries industries, and on account of his work in establishing 

 a Marine Biological Laboratory at St. Andrews ; the Davy 

 Medal to Mr. Edward Schunck, F.R.S., for his investigations 

 on madder, indigo and chlorophyll. Her Majesty the Queen 

 has graciously signified her approval of the award of the Royal 

 Medals. 



The first congress of Russian electricians, organised by the 

 Societe Imperiale Technique de Russie with the authority of the 

 Ministers of the Interior and Finance, will be held at St. Peters- 

 burg on December 27, 1899 (January 8, 1900), The objects of 

 the congress are the promotion of friendly intercourse between 

 electricians, the exhibition of the most recent inventions in 

 electricity and its applications to industry, the discussion of 

 instruction in technical electricity, and other subjects which are 

 concerned with the advancement of electrical science m Russia. 

 The apparatus and machinery, plant, models and inventions, 

 sent by electricians of any nationality, will be exhibited in the 

 rooms of the Imperial Technical Society, 

 Panteleimonskaja 2, St. Petersburg, to 

 which address all communications should 

 be forwarded. Objects intended for the 

 exhibition will be admitted into Russia 

 free of duty, under the condition that 

 they are removed within a month of the 

 close of the exhibition. 



J 



Curves showing the vibrations of different parts of a gun barrel after firing. The spot on the bright 

 line marked -^ indicates the moment at which the shot left the barrel. Fig. i is the vibration 

 curve of a point i'5 cm. from the mouth, and Fig. 2 of a point i8'5 cm. from the mouth. 



■vibrates when subjected to the concussion due to an ex- 

 plosive. Figures 6, Plate I., and 7, Plate II., indicate 

 •a rapid initial vibration, apparently due to the begin- 

 ning of the explosion. The records, as a whole, show 

 how an error of departure may be produced. The 

 .photographs in some cases are not so clear and de- 

 fined as those usually produced in physiological research ; 

 this is probably due to the beam of light having been 

 -cut off by an object of circular section, such as the wire 

 used by the experimentalists. A thin metallic lamina, 

 such as blackened aluminium foil, would have giv^n 

 sharper details. The authors show that the experimental 

 results agree well with figures calculated on the assump- 

 tion that the rifle barrel is a cylindrical tube. 



There is much in the work of Messrs. Cranz and Koch 

 ■which will be of value to the student of ballistics and to 

 those who design military and other rifles. F. J. J-S. 



NOTES. 

 The Council of the Royal Society has adjudicated the medals 

 for the current year as follows : — The Copley Medal to Lord 

 Rayleigh, F.R.S., for his contributions to physical science; a 

 aioyal Medal to Prof. George Francis Fitzgerald, F.R.S., for 

 his contributions to the advancement of physical science, 



Untersuchungen uber die Vibration des Gewehrlaufs." Von C. 

 Pp. 31- Six plates; 13 figures in letterpress. 



igei 

 Cranz und K. R. R 

 <Munchen : iSgg.) 



NO. 1568, VOL, 61] 



Prof. Tylor writes to call attention 

 to the remarkable activity of anthropo- 

 logical research of late years throughout 

 Austria-Hungary. Students interested in 

 such work may profit much by visiting 

 several districts now of easy access, 

 whether in quest of remains of .^the 

 Hungarian Copper Age, the caves and 

 burial-places of the Trieste district, the 

 dug-out canoes of the Bosnian fishermen, 

 or the dwindling survivals of ancient 

 patriarchal-communal life in the zadrugas 

 of Croatia. As an example of the activity of the anthropo- 

 logical museums may be mentioned the descriptive catalogue, 

 by Dr. Janko, of the Biro Ethnographic Collection from New 

 Guinea in the Hungarian National Museum at Buda-Pesth. The 

 first part has been lately published, and is of so excellent quality 

 that it is to be hoped that funds will be forthcoming to complete 

 the work on the same scale. 



Mr. R. F. Muirhead has been elected president o. the 

 Edinburgh Mathematical Society for the ensuing year. 



The American Geographical Society receives 1000/. under 

 the will of the late Mr. C. P. Daly, for the foundation of a 

 medal to be awarded for distiiiguished services to geography. 



The Chemist and Druggist announces that Prof. Moissan has 

 been appointed director of the Laboratory of Practical Chemistry 

 at the Paris Faculty of Sciences. 



Though the distance is not less than thirty miles, the sound 

 of the firing at Ladysmith is said to be so plainly heard at 

 Estcourt that the reports of heavy guns (supposed to be the two 

 naval 47-inch guns, followed by the bursting of Lyddite shells) 

 can be easily distinguished above those of the Boer 40pounders 

 and the smaller guns on both sides. 



We learn from Science that Mr. R. E. Snodgrass and Mr. 

 A. H. Heller have 'ust returned from a ten month.s' collecting 



