NATURE 



[September 5, 1918 



I ivy and Verdun, which are necessary lor 

 their defence; the possession of the vast quanti- 

 ■ coal, and specially of the bituminous coal, 

 which abounds in the North of France is no less 

 important than the acquisition of the iron-ore 

 mines." 



Not long after the outbreak of war the German 

 steel industry was beset by serious difficulties 

 owing' to the fact that the imports of manganese 

 ore, one of the essential accessories, were cut oil, 

 and it was predicted by more than one authority 

 in this country that the shortage of this ore would 

 <■ a crisis in, and the eventual stoppage of, the 

 German steel industry. Confident predictions 

 w ere made as to the date beyond which, for this 

 reason, the war could not be continued by Ger- 

 many. These predictions entirely failed to take 

 into account the very considerable deposits of 

 manganiferous iron ore contained in the German 

 Empire. In 191 1 2§ million tons of such ore con- 

 taining less than 12 per cent, of manganese, and 

 288,000 tons containing between 12 and 30 per 

 cent., were mined. These constituted, therefore, 

 important sources of production when the pinch 

 came. There is good reason for thinking that 

 about ten months' stocks of high-grade ore were 

 present in the country at the outbreak of war, and 

 these were greatly augmented by the confiscation 

 of supplies found in Belgium and North-east 

 Fiance. The mines producing high-grade ore 

 were stimulated to the utmost activity ; means are 

 said to have been devised for recovering the slag 

 produced at the ferro-manganese blast furnaces, 

 and also from basic-steel slag. By the desulphur- 

 isation of blast-furnace coke certain economies 

 in manganese are considered to have been 

 effected. There is to-day no evidence that Ger- 

 many is in serious difficulties with regard to steel 

 production owing to the cutting off of external 

 sources of manganese ore. 



In pre-war times Russia produced more ' man- 

 ganese ore than any other country. In 1913 the 

 output was 1,175,000 tons; most of this was ex- 

 ported and went through the Dardanelles. How 

 heavily this industry was hit by the war is shown 

 by the fact that in 1915 the production is stated 

 to have been only 9750 tons. India, much the 

 largest source of supply within the Empire, was 

 a close competitor of Russia, and, apart 

 from a drop of output in 1915, production 

 has been well maintained. Much of the Rus- 

 sian export went to the United States of America, 

 and the iron and steel industry in that country has 

 been placed in considerable difficulties in conse- 

 quence. For a time the deficiency was made good 

 by imports of the high-grade ores mined in Brazil. 

 With the acute shortage of ship tonnage which 

 now exists, however, a most urgent appeal has 

 been made to the iron and steel manufacturers in 

 the United States to utilise home sources of ferru- 

 ginous manganese and manganiferous iron ores. 



The Department of Scientific and Industrial 

 Research is to be warmly congratulated on the 

 publication of a report which gives in a well- 

 :549, vol. 102] 



arranged and lucid form just the information it set 

 out to collect and systematise. It is to be hoped 

 that it will become one of its standing publica- 

 tions, and that from time to time new editions 

 with the most up-to-date information will be 

 issued. H. C. H. Carpenter. 



PROF. BERTRAM HOPK1NSON, F.R.S. 



THE death, in a Hying accident on August 26, 

 of Col. Bertram Hupkinson, C.M.G., 

 F.R.S., professor of mechanism and applied 

 mechanics in the University of Cambridge, is a 

 grievous loss to science and the nation. Born in 

 LS74, the eldest son of Dr. John Hopkinson, 

 F.R.S., he inherited not a little of his father's 

 scientific insight and genius for bringing science 

 to bear on practical matters. This hereditary 

 aptitude was fostered by close contact with his 

 father's mind in early life; he was his father's 

 frequent companion in work as well as in play. 

 Bertram lived at home, attending St. Paul's 

 School until lie went to Trinity, where he took the 

 Mathematical Tripos. An unlucky illness com- 

 pelled him to take an aegrotat degree in the First 

 Pari ; but he show-ed his quality in the Second 

 Part, when he was placed in the First Division of 

 the First Class. He then read for the Bar, devilling 

 in a well-known counsel's chambers, and had 

 been "called " when the tragic death of his father, 

 along with a younger brother and two sisters, 

 while climbing near Arolla in 1898, changed the 

 current of his life. He boldly took up his father's 

 business as a consulting electrical engineer, in 

 association with his uncle, Mr. Charles Hopkin- 

 son, and Mr. Talbot, a former assistant. With 

 them lie carried out various tramway undertakings 

 during the next four or five years. 



In 1903 Hopkinson was elected professor of 

 mechanism and applied mechanics at Cambridge, 

 in succession to the present w-riter. To many the 

 appointment of so young and comparatively un- 

 known a man must have seemed surprising, but 

 those who knew Hopkinson were confident that the 

 electors had made a wise choice. It was entirely 

 justified by the result. In Hopkinson's hands the 

 Cambridge School of Engineering prospered ex- 

 ceedingly, going from strength to strength in 

 numbers, in academic and professional repute, and, 

 above all, in activity as a centre of research. Hop- 

 kinson was himself devoted to research, and could 

 inspire his pupils with a like ardour. In some 

 instances a pupil's name appears as joint author 

 of the published paper; in others the pupil was 

 himself left to complete and publish the work. 



No one, I think, can read Hopkinson's papers 

 without being reminded of those of his father. 

 There is something of the same freshness of out- 

 look, the same penetration and grasp, the same 

 personal detachment, the same directness in attack, 

 the same unconventionality in method, the same 

 avoidance of side issues and concentration on the 

 essence of the problem. It is impossible to do 

 more here than give the briefest indication of 



