Marcu 19, 1914] 
NATURE 75 
the difficulty in determining its true influence. The 
fact that all the fibres take up moisture, and that this 
influences them in different ways, is one of the most 
perplexing problems met with in this industry. It 
will probably be many years before this matter is 
properly understood. or explained scientifically; but 
when this is achieved, light will undoubtedly be 
thrown on many phenomena which are so obscure 
to-day; and which, under present conditions, can only 
be dealt with on empirical lines. 
The relative position of the chemist and engineer in 
the works has given rise to discussion in the past, and 
still sho. vs signs of not being altogether: understood. 
The opposition to the chemist which is said to exist 
in some quarters has probably been much _ over- 
estimated. In the majority of cases the chemist ob- 
tains all the necessary aid he may require from the 
engineering department. As a matter of fact, the 
engineer always seems interested in the chemist’s 
work. This is due, no doubt, to the different method 
of attack adopted by the latter, which, in itself, fully 
justifies the presence of the chemist in any works. 
Under normal conditions the engineer frankly helps 
the chemist in his experimental work, and this aid is 
of real service in many ways. Quite apart from his 
previous training, the chemist: will pick up a fair 
knowledge on the engineering side in the works, 
which will be particularly useful in cases where he 
subsequently acts as manager of a department, or even 
of the works itself. 
The chemist should be just as anxious to make 
friends with the engineer as with the heads of other 
departments; and the best way to gain experience and 
knowledge in this direction is to keep in touch with 
any new experimental plant which may be in course 
of erection. 
In some cases, work will develop in directions 
which are not naturally covered by any existing de- 
partment. If the operations involved are complicated, 
it may be better for the process to remain under his 
direct management or control. In this case, one or 
more experimental departments may, in time, be asso- 
ciated with the laboratory. | 
It is then necessary to borrow men from the 
engineering department, and to direct their operations. 
When this happens, the work of the chemist becomes 
still more general in its nature, and additional experi- 
ence is gained in the management of men and pro- 
cesses. 
Where experimental work is rapidly translated into 
full-scale operations under normal conditions, the con- 
trol will pass to one of the works departments. This 
should be encouraged, for the chemist is then more 
free to continue research in any other directions which 
may present themselves. But he must always be 
ready, and able, to resume temporary control if things 
go wrong, or where further developments are in pro- 
gress. 
The evidence that a merely chemical training is 
insufficient is fast accumulating, and may be empha- 
sised. The chemist may, for weeks, be working in 
directions which are physical or even mechanical in 
their nature rather than chemical. The important point is 
that his method of attack is based on a past training 
in chemistry; and that, because of this, it will be 
different from that adopted by the engineer. In this 
its value rests. This is the point I have tried to 
emphasise in these lectures. Also that success in 
almost every case depends upon attention to detail. 
Thus, an inferior mind may sometimes succeed when 
once a main idea has been grasped. These are the 
points I would especially bring to the notice of the 
young chemist who is entering the textile industry on 
the research side. 
NOS2grG, Vor. 921! 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
BrrMinGHAM.—The council of the University has 
appointed Prof. Charles Lapworth emeritus professor 
of geology in recognition of his services during’ his 
occupation of the chair of geology. The Senate re- 
cently signalised his retirement by the presentation of 
an address and a gift of plate, and on March 11 
another presentation was made to him by a large 
number of his old students. Prof. Boulton was in 
the chair, and Dr. Walcot Gibson, who spoke on 
‘behalf of the old students, gave happy expression to 
the affectionate esteem in which Prof. Lapworth is 
held-by all who have had the good fortune to come 
under his influence. 
CamBripGE.—The Observatory Syndicate has ap- 
pointed Prof. A. S. Eddington, Plumian Professor 
of Astronomy, to be director of the observatory. 
Mr. A. V. Hill has been appointed to the Humphrey 
Owen Jones Lectureship in Physical Chemistry. 
Dr. PRaFULLA CHANDRA RAy has been appointed to 
the Sir Taraknath Palit professorship of chemistry in 
the Presidency College, Calcutta, and: .Mr. C. VY. 
Raman to the Sir Taraknath Palit professorship of 
physics in the same institution, 
Ir is announced in the London University Gazette 
that a course of eight lectures on the rate of the 
blood-flow in man in health and disease will be given 
in the physiological laboratory of the University, South 
Kensington, by Prof. G. N. Stewart, professor of 
experimental medicine, Western Reserve University, 
Cleveland, U.S.A., at 5 p.m., on Tuesdays, from May 
5 to June 23 next. The lectures are addressed to 
advanced students of the University and to others 
interested in the subject. Admission is free, without 
ticket. 
AN article on careers for university men, by Mr. 
H A. Roberts, the secretary of the Appointments 
Board in connection with the University of Cambridge, 
contributed to the Cambridge Magazine in 1912, has 
been issued in pamphlet form by Messrs. Bowes and 
Bowes, of Cambridge, at the price of 6d. net. The 
account given of the work of the Appointments Board 
at Cambridge shows the usefulness of such an agency 
in bringing together employers of labour and univer- 
sity men who desire appointments. Graduates will 
find invaluable the information here brought together 
as to public posts open to suitable university men, and 
the facts as to the salaries to be expected at the 
beginning of a career should save much disillusion- 
ment later. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Royal Society, March 12.—Sir William Crookes, presi- 
dent, in the chair.—Sir James Stirling: Note on a 
functional equation employed by Sir George Stokes. 
—Prof. J. C. McLennan and A. R. McLeod: The mer- 
cury green line A=5461 as resolved by glass and 
quartz Lummer plates and on its Zeeman components. 
—H. Hartley: The electrical condition of a gold sur- 
face during the absorption of gases and their catalytic 
combustion. At the suggestion of Prof. W. A. Bone, 
the author has carried out experiments on the elec- 
trical conditions of a gold surface during its absorp- 
tion of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and oxygen, re- 
spectively, at temperatures between 300° and 400°, in 
order to establish certain data relative to surface 
combustion phenomena. The results have proved (1) 
