December 14, 1905] 



NATURE 



157 



Fisheries held last Friday, a central committee was 

 nominated, consisting of Sir John Murray, K.C.B., the 

 honorary president, Captain D. Wilson-Barker, Mr. W. E. 

 Archer, Dr. H. O. Forbes, Mr. E. \V. L. Holt, Dr. H. R. 

 Mill, Dr. P. C. Mitchell, Prof. D'Arcy W. Thompson, 

 C.B., Mr. J. W. row—', and Dr. G. 11. Fowler as honoran 

 sei retary. 



A CONFERENCE on smoke abatement and an exhibition of 

 smoke-preventive appliances, arranged by the Royal Sani- 

 tary Institute and the Coal-Smoke Abatement Society, 



opened al the Luge hall of the Horticultural Society 



on Tuesday. At the conference parts of an address by 

 Sir Oliver Lodge, who was prevented by illness from being 

 present, were read by Sir William Richmond; and at the 

 conclusion of the reading a paper entitled " Is London Fog 

 Inevitable?" was contributed by Dr. W. N. Shaw. 



The dinner of the Institute of Chemistry was held on 

 Monday at the Hotel Metropole, the president, Mr. David 

 lb. ward, being in the chair. Responding to the toast of 

 the institute, the president said that they had a very high 

 ideal when they founded the institute ; they wished to 

 raise the standard of the chemist to something like the 

 same level as that of the other learned professions. The 

 position of the professional chemist was higher in England 

 than it was anywhere else, and whv? Because there was 

 that independence of thought, that individual excellence and 

 individual devotion to duty which was required in a true 

 professional spirit. 



The seventeenth annual dinner of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers took place on December 8 at the 

 Hotel Cecil. A distinguished gathering assembled. Short 

 speeches, in proposing and responding to the various toasts, 

 were delivered by Mr. Babington Smith, the president 

 (Mr. John Gavey), Sir Alexander Kennedy, F.R.S., Mr. 

 E. Cunliffe Owen, Mr. Alexander Siemens, Mr. John G. 

 Maydon, Mr. W. M. Mordey, Sir Alexander Binnie, and 

 Dr. Budde, president of the Verband Deutscher Elektro- 

 techniker of Berlin. Dr. Budde remarked that, speaking 

 on behalf of his fellow electricians in Germany, he grate- 

 fully acknowledged the thought and the spirit expressed in 

 the invitation to himself to be their representative as gucsl 

 C the institution. Contact, he said, between the scientific 

 and technical me:', of all countries cannot be too close. 

 There are matters enough tending to separate nations, and 

 therefore it cannot be too strongly pressed that research 

 and intellectual labour form a tie which will always draw 

 together the best spirits of the world, and must tend to 

 promote international solidarity. 



On Saturday, December 9, a very interesting ceremony 

 took place at the Royal Forest Hotel, Chingford, when a 

 presentation was made to Mr. Wm. Cole, the founder of 

 the Essex Field Club, in honour of the completion of his 

 twenty-five years of service as hon. secretary, editor of the 

 publications, and curator of the two museums founded by 

 the club. At the instigation of the president, Mr. Miller 

 Christy, a " recognition fund " was started a few months 

 ago with Prof. Meldola as chairman, Mr. David Howard 

 as treasurer, Mr. Christy as secretary, and a committee. 

 The invitations issued on behalf of the movement were 

 most cordially responded to, and the fund asked for was 

 exceeded long before the subscription list was closed. At 

 the dinner at Chin-lord Prof. Meldola presided and made 

 the presentation on behalf of the subs, ribers, Mr. Cole and 

 his brothers and sisters, all of whom had cooperated with 

 him in carrying out the work of the club during the whole 

 period of its existence, being present as the guests of the 



evening. The presentation took the form of an illuminated 

 address and a purse. Among these who were present to 

 support the chairman, and wdio bore testimony to the value 

 ol the work of the club and of tin services of the hon. 

 secretary and his family, were Mr. Victor Buxton, the High 

 Sheriff of Essex, Mr. Christy and Mr. David Howard, 

 the president and treasurer of the club, Mr. T. V. Holmes 

 and Prof. Boulger, past-presidents, Mr. Gellatly, represent- 

 ing the verderers of Epping Forest, Messrs. W. Whitaker 

 and Horace B. Woodward, lion, members 1 I 

 W. M. Webb, representing the Selborne Society, and others. 

 A verj large number of appreciatory letters had also been 

 sent, and were read from the chair, among the writers 

 being the Countess of Warwick, Lord Rayleigh, Sir John 

 Evans', Mr. E. N. Buxton, Profs. Ray Lai 

 Marshall Ward, E. B. Poulton, and J. B. Farmer, 

 Dr. Horace Brown, Mr. F. W: Rudler, Dr. J. C. 

 ["hresh, the chairman of the Essex Count) 1 ouncil- 

 'be , hairman of the Epping Forest committee, and all 

 the past-presidents of the club other than thi 

 were present. After the reading and presentation of 

 the address b\ the chairman, and the handing of the 

 purse 1>\ tlie treasurer, Mr. Cole returned thanks on 

 behalf of himself and family. In the course ol his re- 

 marks he laid emphasis on the services which the chair- 

 man of the evening had specially rendered to the club as 

 their first and eighth president, and who had ever taken 

 •t interest in their work. He produced a copy of 

 the original inaugural address delivered by Prof. Meldola 

 in 1880, and pointed out that the general policy el thi 

 club had been sketched out therein, and that it, with sub- 

 sequent addresses, had been to them as models laying down 

 the lines on which the work of their own and of all kindred 

 societies ought to be conducted. In concluding, Mr. Cole 

 also directed attention to several bran, lies ,,| work which 

 he hoped to see the club take tip in the future, among these 

 being the establishment of a marine biological station, and 

 the preservation, in connection with the photographic 

 survey, of Essex folklore and dialects by means of phono- 

 graphic records. 



At a meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 

 December 5, the Hon. Charles A. Parsons, C.B., F.R.S., 

 and Mr. G. G. Stoney, in a paper read before the institu- 

 tion, traced the evolution of the steam-turbine from the 

 time of Hero of Alexandria, following the chief steps in 

 development that have led to the types in present use. 

 After describing and discussing the chief characteristics of 

 the three types of steam-turbine, which practically cover 

 the whole field of useful turbine inventions, viz. the Parsons 

 turbine, introduced in 1884, the De Laval turbine in 1888, 

 and the Curtis turbine in 1902, the development of the 

 Parsons turbine was dealt with. A good vacuum is re- 

 quired for the economical working of steam-turbines, and 

 certain special conditions and arrangements must be 

 observed in order to obtain a vacuum of 272 inches to 

 28 inches. An apparatus called a vacuum-augmenter has 

 been designed by the authors, and consists of a steam jet 

 placed in a contracted pipe between the condenser and the 

 air-pump. With this apparatus, a total net reduction of 

 steam-consumption of about 8 per cent, at full load has 

 been obtained. Experience gained from cross-Channel 

 steamers and yachts shows that the propellers of turbine 

 vessels do not race in a heavy seaway, that the vessel- 

 maintain their smooth-water speed to a remarkable extent 

 in heavy seaway, and that they start, stop, and manoeuvre 

 promptly. 



In a recent issue of Scientific Investigations (Irish 

 Fisheries), 1904, Prof. (,. II. Carpenter describes the 



NO. I885, VOL. J$] 



