November 7. 1918] 



NATURE 



195 



ol working," which is equivalent to the ratio of the 



initial il section, or, what comes to the si 



thing, thai ol the final to the original length. ["hi 

 minimum values assigned to this coefficient are 

 rail) three or four, and sometimes higher. 

 ts as i" the necessity of this, however, 



Pi if. 1 lour, in his 1 1 al I ' Metal- 



lurgy of Steel," after weighing the evidence on the 

 go that " cumulativelj the 

 lence raises a presumption in favour of the view 

 that the supposed spei : neading and pres- 



sure, as such, does not exist or is relativel) unim- 

 portant.'' Prof. Tchernoff, the eminent Russian 

 illurgist, has gone even further, and claims to 

 have proved that th< effects of forging can be pro- 

 d by heat treatment .don.-, in view of the 



t the question, it is somewhat 

 surprising that it has not been mad.' the subji 

 lis until quite recently. 

 Much 1 1 work is, ol 'in se, cat i it d out 



in metallurgical works which is nevei published, and 

 from the character of the discussion on M. Charpy's 

 entitled "The Influence of Hot Deformation 

 on the Qualities ol Steel," presented at the autumn 

 ing of the Iron and Steel Institute, it would 

 1 thai a en lain amount ol information on this 

 subject is already available. Nevertheless, M. Chaitp) 

 is entitled to the credit of having been the first in 

 years to attempt to obtain an answer to the 

 question with the view of publishing his results and 

 submitting them to discussion. 

 \l. Charpy's experiments may be classified under two 

 In tie first place, he attempted to trace the actual 

 er ol the deformation when steel ingots are 

 worked eithei bj hot forging or hot rolling. Bv 

 ingenious methods he was able to show conclusively 

 hat in the former the deformation is very far from 

 uniform, that extremely variable local deformations 

 are produced, and that in a given instance, where the 

 mean coefficient of working was 4S, the extreme 

 values w.i. 2-yj and 7-30. This was one of the 

 simplest 1 tses possible, namely, the transformation of 

 i cylinder into one of smaller diameter; and there 

 can he no question that in a more complicated 

 forging the local deformation would be even more 

 diverse. In the latter case the deformations are very 

 much more regular, and tli.\ ma} 1»- considered as 

 practicallv uniform. At an\ rate, lines originally 

 tarallel with the axis of rolling were shown to remain 

 rectilinear and parallel during the course of de- 

 formation 



In the second plate, the author describes certain 

 in. in-, designed with great care, to determine 

 the influence ol hoi working on the properties of 

 the steel. Test pieces prepared from rolled bars, in 

 .vhirh ih.- coefficients of working were 1-7, ;,-'. and 61, 

 subjected to tonsil.- tests, impact-bend tests, and 

 imparl tests on notched bars. The test bars were all 

 cut from the same parts of the ingot, and were 

 situated at one-third of the distance between the sur- 

 is so oid the influence of segre- 



gation and axial porosities. The bars were quenched 

 and at nealed undi 1 u similar conditions. It 



was found thai ih. hot rolling of the steel does not 

 the. irii.ii it) or elongation either 

 longitudinally or transversely, but that it improves the 

 reduction of area and resistance to impact longi- 

 tudinal!) . and considerably diminishes these values 

 transversely. The extent of the variation depends on 

 the qualit) of tin- steel, and is mo:, marked the lower 

 its purity. This is a verj important result to have 

 established, for it shows thai the effects of hoi 

 mechanical work must be considered as the) 

 he properties of the steel both longitudinal!) and 



NO. 2558. VOL. I02] 



transversely. ,The author declares that the favourable 

 influence attributed to hot working rests solely on the 



fart that, in ih.- greal ma 1 ases, onl) the 

 1. suits of longitudinal test - 1 rve been taken int n- 



on, and thai il n, lusions arrived at have 



been unwarrantabl) - ials where the 



main stress is transverse. His conclusion is that for 



working under transverse stresses, such as 

 guns, longitudinal extension by hot working has un- 

 doubtedly an injurious effect, .mil that, -.far from 

 specifying a minimum reduction of cross-section of 

 the original ingot, it would he much better to reduce 

 it as little as possible. H. C. H. CARPENTER. 



EDUCATION AM) LIFE. 



A MOM. the Aits which will make mernorabl 

 ■**• closing session of the present Parliament none will 



I..- hold oi in..,, momentous import than the Educa- 

 tion Ail of iqiS, limited in its scope to England and 

 Wales; or the scarcely loss important measure deal- 

 ing with Scottish .duration, which passed its third 

 reading in the House of Commons on October 17. 

 Both measures will have a potent effect on the future 

 education of the two kingdoms, and be fruitful of 

 great results for the educational and physical well- 

 being of the children of the nation. It is therefore 

 lo I..- regretted that Prof. Robert Wallace, professor 

 of agriculture in the University of Edinburgh, should 

 have thought it well to occupy the attention of his 

 students, on the occasion of the opening of the Uni- 

 versity session on October S, with a denunciation ol 

 tin- polic\ of both measures, and that he has now 

 issued and circulated the lecture as a pamphlet (Edin- 

 burgh : Oliver and Bovd, price 6d.) to Members of 

 Parliament and the Press. Prof. Wallace is apparentlv 

 persuaded that children between the ages of eight and 

 fourteen should, for their practical instruction, par- 

 ticipate actively in agricultural and manufacturing 

 industry on the ground that 85 per cent, of the 

 children of the nation must earn their living by hand- 

 labour, and he would therefore introduce them at a 

 tender and immature age into close intimacy with 

 adults in field, factory, and workshop. 



That is not, in the estimation of most thoughtful 

 persons, parents, teachers, and administrators, a desir- 

 able policy to pursue in the best and permanent in- 

 terests of the children and of the nation. Both 

 measures provide not only for a fairly adequate 

 training in literature and in science, but also for 

 effei live, practical instruction for both eye and hand, 

 .is well as for the physical health and training of the 

 child, and that at jusi the period of his life when he 

 is most susceptible ol treatment and of the per- 

 manent effect of such training. Few Acts have been 

 subjected to so large a measure of public discussion 

 as the Education Act of 19 iS, or have won so 

 general an approval. Its chief purpose, whilst pro- 

 viding for the general well-being of the childhood ..I 

 the nation, so vital a matter in prest nt circum- 

 stances, is io give full opportunity for those who are 

 naturally gifted to share in the highesl educational 

 advantages which the nation can offer. Despite Prof. 

 Wallace's strictures, it is demonstrable thai the 

 Education Art of 1X7.1 has had a marked effect on the 

 moral health of the nation; for whilst in [865 70 



pei to, of the population wen- convicted of crime, 



fewer than 30 per 10,000 were so convicted in 1913. 

 And there is abundant testimony, some of which was 

 Mr. Fisher mi tin- introduction of his measure, 

 I., thi wonderful initiative and intelligent grasp of the 

 young men trained in the elerninl.11 \ schools who, in 

 scores of thousands, joined tin- national forces 



