| 
| 
SEPTEMBER 18, 1913] 
extensive scale. The two main criticisms brought 
against them are the initial capital outlay and the 
increased cost of upkeep, and these the author sought 
to combat and to point out some of the principal 
advantages which in his opinion accrued from the 
use of tilting furnaces as compared with those of the 
fixed type. With a view to settling this question in 
a practical fashion, one of the largest continental steel- 
making firms is running in the same shop furnaces 
of both types under exactly similar conditions of shop 
practice, and it was clear from the discussion that until 
the results of this test are known most manufacturers 
prefer to adhere to the fixed furnaces the particular 
advantages of which are well known by this time. 
It is characteristic of the rapid development of elec- 
tric steel processes that scarcely a meeting of the 
institute is held without one or more papers on this 
subject. The paper by Otto Frick on the electric 
refining of steel in an induction furnace of special 
type marks a distinct development in the applicability | 
of this type of furnace the use of which has hitherto 
been confined to the melting of high-class steels in 
which no refining took place. The results are based 
on the data obtained in the Frick furnaces at Krupp’s 
works in Essen, which have been in operation for the 
last five years. With regard to the lining, the induc- 
tion furnace offers certain intrinsic difficulties owing 
to the ring-shaped form of the crucible. On one 
hand greater difficulties arise in making the lining | 
stand high temperatures without cracking, and on 
the other the ring-shaped form makes it impossible 
to give the furnace walls sufficient slope to enable 
repairs to be made in the same manner as in the 
open-hearth furnace. The difficulties with regard to 
cracking are due to the fact that the outer wall is 
ring-shaped, and has its highest temperature on the 
inside, whereas the equally ring-shaped inner wall 
is hottest outside. The only way of overcoming these 
difficulties is to use a material which neither contracts 
nor expands appreciably at very high temperatures. 
The lining used is made of very pure magnesite with- | 
out any binding agent, and treated in a particular 
way. It possesses remarkable compactness, mechan- 
ical strength, and resistance to the action of slags. 
But even the best linings will not stand more than a 
few weeks if they are not further protected against 
the cutting action of ordinary slags. This difficulty 
the author claims to have solved by adding crushed 
magnesite in such a way that the slag can become 
saturated before it is able to attack the lining, an 
action which is much facilitated by the inclination and 
rotation of the bath. In this way it has even proved 
possible to make the inner wall grow by adding too 
much magnesia, and the lining of the furnace now 
has a life of from two to three months, a result which 
represents a considerable 
tice hitherto. The foregoing account does not do 
more than bring out the chief points of importance 
discussed at the meeting. In all nineteen papers were 
Presented, several of them of distinct scientific value 
and interest, but time did not permit of their dis- 
cussion. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Dr. M. Barrvzzi, president of the Italian Society 
for the Critical History of the Medical arid Natural 
Sciences, has been appointed to the newly established 
chair of medical history in the University of Siena. 
Dr. Currron F. Hopce, professor of biology at 
Clark University, Massachusetts, since Ig02, has re- 
signed that post, having accepted the offer of a chair 
in the same subject at the University of Oregon. In 
NO. 2290, VOL. 92] 
advance on industrial aes 
re Prac | well, London, 
NATURE 
| University of Sheffield 
89 
a 
his new sphere Prof. Hodge will have special respon- 
sibilities in connection with a scheme of university 
extension lectures. 
Str Rickman J. Gopter, Bart., president of the 
Royal College of Surgeons, London, has accepted an 
invitation to confer the fellowships of the American 
College of Surgeons at the first Convocation of that 
institution, which is to be held at Chicago on Novem- 
ber 13 next. About 1400 prominent surgeons of the 
United States and Canada are to be created fellows. 
Dr. W. F. G. Swann has resigned his position as 
assistant-lecturer and demonstrator of physics at the 
in order to take up, on 
October 1, the post of physicist in charge of ex- 
perimental work in the new laboratory at Washington 
of the department of terrestrial magnetism of the 
Carnegie Institution of Washington. 
A course of three lectures dealing with the early 
history of medicine has been arranged for delivery by 
the historical section of the Royal Society of Medicine. 
The first lecture will be given on October 10, by Prof. 
Jastrow, of the University of Pennsylvania, and will 
treat of Babylonian Medicine; the subsequent dis- 
courses will be delivered by Prof. Elliot Smith, F.R.S., 
on Egyptian medicine, and by Prof. R. Caton, on 
Greek medicine. 
THE widow of Principal Caird has bequeathed to 
the University of Glasgow, in memory of her late 
husband’s long connection with the University, the 
sum of goool. for the founding of two scholarships, to 
be known as “The Principal Caird Scholarships,”’ to 
be awarded annually by examination to the student 
in the University who is most distinguished in either 
classics or mental philosophy, or both. The sum of 
Ioool, is also left to the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, 
and soo]. to the professor of moral philosophy of 
Glasgow University for books or prizes. 
WE learn from Science that Dr. H. G. Leach, secre- 
tary of the American-Scandinavian Foundation (en- 
dowed by the late Mr. Niels Poulson with a gift of 
600,000 dollars to maintain an interchange of students, 
teachers, and lecturers, and to promote in other ways 
intellectual relations between the United States and 
Scandinavia), has returned from an official tour in 
Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Fellowships have 
been awarded to two representatives from each of the 
three countries referred to, and those selected will 
enter American universities in the autumn. Plans 
also have been discussed for an exchange of professors 
between the University of Copenhagen, the University 
of Christiania, the University of Upsala, and several 
American institutions. 
Tue Northampton Polytechnic Institute, Clerken- 
E.C., has now issued its ‘‘ Announce- 
ments ’’ for the session 1913-14. The educational aim 
| of the polytechnic is to provide classes in technological 
and trade subjects, special attention being directed to 
the immediate requirements of Clerkenwell. There 
are day and evening courses in mechanical and elec- 
trical engineering, in technical optics, and in horology. 
The engineering courses include sub-sections in auto- 
mobile work, aéronautics, and radio-telegraphy. In 
addition, there are evening courses in electrochemistry, 
metallurey, and domestic economy. We notice that 
during the past year the equipment has been extended. 
Amongst the more important items may be mentioned 
in the mechanical engineering department a Linde 
| refrigerating plant, available for carbonic acid or for 
ammonia, and an outfit for the microphotographic 
examination of engineering materials. In the elec- 
trical engineering department the laboratory equip- 
ment for radio-telegraphy has been increased, and 
