February 8, 1900] 



NA TURE 



347 



5CKX)/. towards the extension of the laboratory, regarding 

 this as a " peculiarly fitting memorial " to one who from 

 the first had been warmly interested in the school, and 

 who had so lately expressed a strong desire to assist in 

 furthering its development. 



A site was at once available, as a plot adjoining the 

 existing laboratory had previously been assigned to the 

 department. The design of the new buildings was 

 entrusted to Mr. W. C. Marshall, of Messrs. Marshall 

 and Vickers, and on November 29, 1898, the Senate of 

 the University authorised a syndicate to proceed with 

 the erection of the new wing at a cost not exceeding 

 5000/., and decreed "that the gift of Mrs. Hopkinson 

 and her family be applied to this purpose, and that the 

 wing be called the Hopkinson Memorial Wing." It was 

 at the same time agreed that 500/. should be provided 

 by the University to cover the cost of certain structural 

 alterations to the existing laboratory and other subsidiary 

 works. It is understood that the whole of the work now 

 completed has, if at all, only slightly exceeded the 

 estimate of 5500/. 



The Hopkinson wing is a block about 92 feet long and 

 40 feet wide. On the ground floor is a large laboratory, 

 which has been assigned to elasticity and hydraulics, and 

 a smaller room, which will be used as a dynamo room. 

 On the first floor is the new lecture theatre, with pre- 

 paration room adjoining, and a large room, which at 

 present is occupied partly as an additional lecture room 

 and partly as a supplementary drawing office. On the 

 third floor, three smaller rooms, adapted to purposes of 

 research, have been provided. A wedge-shaped space 

 between the old building and the new has been roofed 

 over with glass, and forms a very useful addition to the 

 large elasticity laboratory. 



The opening ceremony on Friday last was presided 

 over by the Vice-Chancellor (the Master of Emmanuel), 

 and was attended by a large number of residents, by a 

 considerable gathering of well-known engineers, and 

 other friends of the late Dr. Hopkinson, and by many 

 present and former students of the department. The 

 \'ice-Chancellor, in opening the proceedings, referred to 

 Dr. Hopkinson's distinguished career at Cambridge, and 

 conveyed to Mrs. Hopkinson, on behalf of the Univer- 

 sity, " the assurance of their sympathy and of their 

 gratitude to her and to her children for the noble bene- 

 faction with which they have enriched the Univer^ty in 

 the name of husband and father." 



Lord Kelvin, in his address, spoke of Dr. Hopkinson's 

 rare power of grasping a scientific truth and of applying 

 it practically to mechanical art for the use of mankind. 

 He illustrated this power by reference to his work on 

 dynamo-electric machines and on methods of distribution 

 of electric light and power, to his discoveries in nickel 

 and steel alloys, and to his group-flashing light, " a 

 splendid application of scientific optics now in use in 

 lighthouses and light-ships all over the world." Touch- 

 ing on the growth, at Cambridge, of the study of physical 

 science, both on its theoretical and its practical side, he 

 mentioned that when Dr. Hopkinson was an under- 

 graduate, less than thirty years ago, the only experiments 

 he had an opportunity of seeing were those with which 

 Sir Vj. Stokes illustrated his lectures. Since then matters 

 had progressed, and we had seen, on the one hand, the 

 development of the Cavendish laboratory, founded by 

 the late Duke of Devonshire, and conducted by Clerk 

 Maxwell, by Lord Rayleigh, and now by Prof. J. J. 

 Thomson ; and, on the other hand, the establishment of 

 the engineering workshops by Prof. James Stuart, and 

 their development under Prof. Ewing into an organised 

 school for the study of scientific engineering and of 

 engineering laboratory practice. 



Lord Kelvin further made reference to the great value 

 of Prof. Ewing's work, to his researches in magnetism 

 and electricity, and in many other branches of science, 



NO. 1580, VOL. 61] 



to his admirable text-books pn steam, on strength of 

 materials and on magnetism, to his untiring energy ir* 

 developing the work and resources of the engineering 

 department, and to the excellent research work now bping 

 done in it under his direction. In conclusion, Lord 

 Kelvin announced that he was commissioned by the 

 directors of the Linotype Company to offer, for the 

 acceptance of the University, a bust of Dr. Hopkinson. 



In proposing a vote of thanks to Lord Kelvin, Pfof. 

 Ewing expressed his sense of obligation to the many 

 friends, both in the University and without, who, by gifts 

 of money, had made it possible for a laboratory to exists 

 and by gifts of apparatus that assisted so much in jts 

 development and growth. He announced that he h»d 

 received by telegram the promise of a valuable set of 

 polyphase plant from the British Westinghouse Company. 

 The vote of thanks was seconded by Principal Hopkinson, 

 of Owens College, Manchester. 



The Master of Trinity then unveiled an excellent por- 

 trait of Dr. Hopkinson, painted by Mr. T. B. Kenningto|i,. 

 and presented to the laboratory by subscribers. Th|s 

 has been hung in the principal room of the new wing,, 

 and a replica has been presented to Mrs. Hopkinson. 

 For this, thanks were returned to the subscribers by 

 Mr. Bertram Hopkinson. A vote of thanks to the 

 Master of Trinity, proposed by Sir Douglas Fox, Presi- 

 dent of the Institution of Civil Engineers, closed the 

 formal proceedings. Prof, and Mrs. Ewing afterwards 

 held a reception in the laboratory, and the guests were 

 enabled to examine at leisure the large collection qf 

 apparatus with which both the old and the new parts of 

 the building are furnished. 



A short account of the growth of the Engineering 

 School in Cambridge may not be out of place. A pro- 

 fessorship of mechanism and applied mechanics was 

 founded in 1875, ^"d the first holder of the chair, Prof 

 James Stuart, established workshops, which afterwards 

 became the property of the University. In these, prac- 

 tical instruction was given in pattern-making, forging, 

 turning and fitting. About the same time an examina- 

 tion in mechanism and applied science was established 

 as one of the special avenues to the ordinary B.A. degree.^ 



Prof Ewing was appointed to succeed Prof Stuart irw 

 1890, and at once took up the task of forming an engineer- 

 ing laboratory, and of organising a more complete school 

 of applied science. A site was granted by the University ; 

 a sum of 5000/. was raised, largely by the efforts of a 

 strong committee of prominent engineers ; and this, with- 

 an additional loooA granted by the University, was ap- 

 plied to adapting and extending the buildings of the old 

 Perse School. At the same time a great impetus was 

 given to the work of the department when the University 

 sanctioned the granting of honour degrees by the estab- 

 lishment of the Mechanical Sciences Tripos. The new 

 laboratory, which was opened by Lord Kelvin in 1894, 

 though sufficient for the seventy students then in at- 

 tendance, soon became overcrowded, until, during the 

 last few years, a considerable proportion of the lectures 

 have been delivered in rooms borrowed from other 

 departments. The growth of the department may be 

 seen at a glance at the following table : — 



The work of the department has been carried oi> 

 mainly on the lines of the syllabus for the Mechanical 



