316 
NATURE 
of longitude gives the deviation to the west 3° too | numbers shows that the Brinell numbers are not a 
small. South-west of Western Australia it is in error 
by 10° in the same direction. South of Australia it 
agrees with the new observations to within a small 
fraction of a degree. East of New Zealand there are 
a few points where the deviation to the east is given 
in the chart a degree or more greater than it is. In 
the middle of the South Pacific there is a considerable 
region over which the chart gives the deviation to the 
east 2° or 3° too small, while south of Cape Horn it 
is in fair agreement with the new observations. 
In an address recently delivered to the Western Sec- 
tion of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the 
chairman, Dr. D. Robertson, compared the field of 
scientific knowledge to a goldfield. The first-comers 
acquire the surface veins and nuggets with compara- 
tive ease and with the crudest equipment, but their 
successors must expend more and more preliminary 
labour without immediate result, and they must possess 
more and more knowledge if these labours are not to 
prove abortive. In the field of research we are past 
the first stage, and the investigator now must go 
through a long preliminary training and have behind 
him resources sufficiently great to support him during 
the non-productive period. We shall, Dr. Robertson 
said, never get a sufficient number of men of the right 
temperament until we offer them prospects comparable 
with those open to the other learned professions. Dr. 
Robertson insisted also on the necessity of the scien- 
tific man keeping in constant touch with the manu- 
facturing side, if only by weekly visits to the work- 
shops and chats with the managers and foremen. The 
remainder of his address was devoted to a considera- 
tion of new sources of energy for the time when our 
coalfields are exhausted. He estimated that a dam 
eight miles long across the Bristol Channel would 
furnish a million kilowatts of tidal power, and that 
one at a lower part, thirty miles wide, would give 
ten million kw. Another suggestion he put forward 
for consideration was that we should ‘‘ grow our fuel ”’ 
—that is to say, produce a plant of high calorific value 
suitable for use directly as fuel, or indirectly by distil- 
ling alcohol or other spirit from it, or, better still, by 
taking up the energy electrically from the plant so as 
to save the thermodynamic losses of the heat engine. 
Tue Hardness Tests Research Committee of the 
Institution of Mechanical Engineers presented a report 
on November 17 giving particulars of tests made at 
the National Physical Laboratory by Dr. T. E. Stan- 
ton. After some preliminary investigations, it was 
decided to devise a wear test which would apply to 
cases in which the relative movement of the surfaces 
was considerable, and thus enable results to be ob- 
tained which would give information regarding shafts, 
or pins, working at high speeds under heavy loads. 
In the machine used, the specimen (diameter d) was 
revolved, and the load applied by means of an abrading 
ring (internal diameter D); by means of an Oldham 
coupling, both specimen and ring revolved at the same 
speed, hence in each revolution the slip of the ring 
over the specimen was 7(D-—d). Abraded particles 
were removed by a strong air-blast. The wear was 
expressed as thickness of surface layer worn away 
in mils per tooo ft. of slip, and the relative resistance 
to sliding abrasion as the reciprocal of this number. 
The results of the entire investigation show that the 
Brinell hardness number divided by 6 is approximately 
equal to the scleroscope number; the characteristic 
which distinguishes sliding abrasion from rolling 
abrasion is that the former does not cause any per- 
ceptible hardening of the surface under wear as the 
test proceeds. Comparison of the results for the re- 
sistance to sliding abrasion with the Brinell hardness 
NO. 2460, vor. 98] 
safe guide in predicting relative resistances to wear of 
a miscellaneous selection of steel. The report torms a 
valuable contribution to our knowledge of this impor- 
tant practical subject. j : 
On Friday, December 15, the inaugural address to 
the Royal College of Science Chemical Society was 
delivered by Prof. Gilbert T. Morgan, the subject of 
his lecture being ‘‘Synthetic Chemistry and 
Renascence of British Chemical Industry.”’ Prof. Mor- 
gan congratulated the society on having this year 
reached its twenty-first anniversary, and referred to 
the developments which had taken place in the Royal 
College of Science since the foundation of the society 
by Sir William Tilden in 1895. Affiliation with the 
Imperial College of Science and Technology had given 
an increased bias to the college curricula in the direc- 
tion of applied science, and the war had since revolu- 
tionised existing ideas as to the national importance 
of synthetic chemistry. Two chemical crises had 
arisen; first, the industrial dislocation produced by the. 
stoppage of German dyes; and, secondly, the shortage 
of high explosives. These crises pointed the same 
moral, the vital importance to the nation of a well- 
organised coal-tar industry. This essential develop- 
ment can be attained only by the employment of large 
staffs of well-trained chemists. The prizes of the 
chemical profession will be greater, but the competi- 
tion keener, than has hitherto been the case. The 
student can best prepare for this strenuous struggle 
by undergoing a thorough training in analytic and 
synthetic chemistry. On the practical side, he should 
aim at perfection in all the laboratory arts. On the 
theoretical side, he should endeavour to acquire that 
. particularly chemical outlook sometimes termed “ the 
chemical instinct,” which is gained by a careful study 
of molecular theories of constitution, and especially 
of stereochemical relationships. If time permits, some 
knowledge of the industrial applications of chemical 
products will be a valuable addition to his fund of 
knowledge, and an acquaintance with the elements of 
mechanics and machine design will tend to render 
more harmonious his relations with his future works 
colleague, the engineer. The.value of researches in 
synthetic chemistry, both inorganic and organic, was 
emphasised by many instances of recent date. Chem- 
ical synthesis moves forward unceasingly, and progress 
over one difficulty leads to many fresh advances at 
different points along the line. In order to ensure 
the willing co-operation of many trained workers, it 
will be necessary to introduce the collegiate spirit into 
our chemical factories and technical laboratories, so 
that the splendid team work displayed by our new 
armies in the field may be rendered available for indus- 
trial developments. r 
Tue first number of Air—the official organ of the 
Aeronautical Institute of Great Britain—has just 
been issued. It is hoped that this publication may 
stimulate public interest and encourage the study of 
aeronautics. 
by L. Blin Desbleds; on the cost of a pre-war aerial 
misconception, by A. J. Liversedge; and on the steel 
construction of aeroplanes, by G. C. Loening. 
Tue following volumes have been arranged for, for 
appearance in the ‘‘Fauna of British India” Series 
(London: Taylor and Francis) :—‘‘ Butterflies (Lycoe- 
nidz and Hesperiidze),’’ H. H. Druce; the ‘‘ Longicorn 
Beetles," C. J. Gahan; the “‘ Ixodidz and Argaside,”’ C. 
Warburton ; ‘‘ Leeches,”” W. A. Harding; the “‘ Brachy- 
urous Crustacea,” Lieut.-Col. A. Alcock; the “‘ Aptery- 
gota, Termitide and Embiide,’ A. D. Imms; the 
“Diptera Brachycera,’’ E. Brunetti; the ‘‘ Rutelidz,”. 
G. J. Arrow, and the ‘‘ Operculata,” G. K. Gude. ; 
[DECEMBER 21, 1916 
Articles are included on the Air Board, ~ 
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