22 
OcTOBER 23, 
1902 | 
raised the question as to whether it was advisable to adopt what 
has been called the half-time course, that is to say, the system 
under which students attend the university or technical college 
classes during the winter and work in the shops or drawing 
offices during the summer. We may mention that this plan has 
been carried out in several towns, but as a rule employers are 
somewhat opposed to it. Sir William Preece declared—and it 
is a statement which cannot be too often made—that it is at the 
top and not at the bottom that we require radical changes in our 
technical education for engineers. 
On Tuesday, September 16, a number of general papers were 
dealt with. The first paper, by Mr. W. H. Booth, treated of 
the smokeless combustion of bituminous fuel, and the author 
contended that as a rule boiler furnaces were badly designed in 
respect of the prevention of smoke. Furnaces must be arranged 
in such a way that all the gaseous products of the furnace are 
swept together with the admitted air, and are not cooled down 
until sufficiently burnt to admit of their being used for heating 
purposes ; and he was of opinion that there was nothing in 
smoke prevention to justify the assertion that it was economically 
impossible. Mr. J. S. Raworth, in connection with this subject, 
described a system for the prevention of smoke known as the 
“Wilson smokeless process.” 
soda in solution is injected into the furnace with sufficient air to 
give perfect combustion, the cost being about 3¢. to 4d. per 
ton of coal burnt ; this system has been installed in a tobacco 
factory in Belfast, smoke has been abolished, and the output and 
efficiency of the boilers improved. 
Prof. G. Forbes then gave an interesting account of his ex- 
periences in the late South African war with the infantry range- 
finder, which he described at the Glasgow meeting last Sep- 
tember. Both officers and men who had served at the front 
were unanimous in their opinion that the great want which had 
so often nullified the strategy of our leaders and endurance of 
our men was a quick, handy, trustworthy one-man range-finder. 
Tn actual service this range-finder had proved that its accuracy 
was all that could be desired, and it was much quicker in action 
than the mekometer. During a trek of 300 miles in eleven days, 
he had been constantly called upon to give distances, and it 
never took longer than one minute to dismount from his horse, 
set up the range-finder and give the first range, other ranges 
being given in a few seconds. He was inaction for two days, 
and was able to give the ranges quickly and accurately without 
any unnecessary exposure. With his own eyesight, which was 
not particularly good, he was able to get an accuracy of 2 per 
cent. in 3000 yards, but many of the men had been able to get 
a very much greater degree of accuracy than this. 
A small quantity of nitrate of | 
| 
NATURE 
Several other short communications were read, but we have | 
not space to deal with them. iE. B. 
SCIENCE AND LITERATURE. 
ON what subject ought one to speak at the beginning of the 
session of a College of Science which is also a School of 
Applied Science, speaking, not only to one’s colleagues, but to 
new and old students who differ from one another in character, 
training, social position and attainments more than the students | L =a é 
| tions; yet itis quite true. 
of any other college probably in the world? This college has 
three functions. It gives the highest possible instruction in 
mathematics and natural philosophy and in all the natural 
sciences. It gives technical instruction to mining, metallurgical 
and mechanical engineers. It gives pedagogic training to 
teachers of all subjects taught at the college. The presence of 
Sir Arthur Riicker, Principal of London University, reminds me 
of a fourth function which has recently been added—namely, 
the preparation of students to pass university examinations. 
I am strongly of opinion that every engineer—that is, every 
man whose business it is to apply any of the physical sciences— 
ought to have a more or less thorough training as a mechanical 
and electrical engineer. In the address which I had the 
honour to deliver three weeks ago as president of the Engineer- 
ing Section of the British Association, I tried to show that only 
a very exceptional student can obtain such training unless he 
spends much time in mechanical or electrical engineering labo- 
1 Abridged from the inaugural address delivered at the Royal College of 
Science (with which is incorporated the Royal School of Mines), London, 
by Prof. John Perry, M.E., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of Mechanics 
and Mathematics, on October 2. 
NO. 1721, VOL. 66] 
645 
ratories such as I there described. For many years, from long 
before I came to Kensington, the mechanics course here has 
been one in mechanical engineering as well as in mechanical 
philosophy. My anxiety to own a laboratory has met with the 
utmost sympathy from the higher authorities and the council of 
the college. I may say that we are all as anxious that students 
should work with electric generators and motors and other elec- 
tric-power plant as with steam and gas engines, with water tur- 
bines and-pumps. I know that some of you blame me because 
I can give none of this necessary instruction, and sometimes, 
perhaps, I blame others for not affording me facilities. The 
curriculum at this college was arranged a great many years ago, 
when people aimed only at the training of the exceptionally 
clever student, and, indeed, before any electrical appliance was 
used by miners or metallurgists; before the time when a mine 
became filled with mechanical contrivances. Every mining or 
metallurgical or other technical school now established in any 
part of the world gives this sort of training to the students which 
we are unable to give. The authorities of this College are in sym- 
pathy with you and with me, and would help us to this neces- 
sary laboratory work and greater space and other facilities for 
instruction in my division if they possibly could. Parenthet- 
ically, I may observe that, in so far as applied mechanics and 
engineering theory are concerned, the courses of study here 
will enable any willing student to obtain the highest engineering 
degree of the University of London. 
Some of youare extremely well read in scientific text-books, hav- 
ing passed most severe examinations in pure and applied science. 
And not mere text-books, but real scientific books have been. 
studied by many of you ; for I know that some of you have 
dipped into Larmor’s book on the ether, and have read Thomson 
and Tait and Maxwell and Rayleigh. Not only have you this 
wonderful knowledge in science, but you have been earning 
your own living and you have developed an instinct for taking 
advantage of chances, of fending for yourselves, of making other 
people do what you ask, that is perfectly marvellous. Some of 
you remind me of great fir-trees that I saw in Norway this sum- 
mer, spreading their roots over a rocky soil, gaining sustenance 
wherenootherkind of tree couldexist. One power more developed 
than another is that of passing examinations. Nobody who is 
without the experience of an examiner of candidates from the 
evening science classes can comprehend your power of getting 
marks from a careless examiner for answers to questions on sub- 
jects about which your knowledge is limited. There is hardly 
any town in the British Islands from which our scholars—I sup- 
pose that quite a hundred scholars are here—have not come, 
each picked from many hundreds or thousands, each the re- 
cipient of great honour and a valuable scholarship, and your 
townspeople and your old companionsare keeping their eyes on 
you, wondering whether or not it is a great man of the future that 
has been sent up to us. And now for the other side. You 
know much of what has been done, but have you the power to. 
discover, to add to the world’s knowledge? Your knowledge 
has been derived from books and lectures; you have now to 
learn that a week in the laboratory, during which you seem to 
crawl, during which for examination purposes you do less than in 
reading ten lines of a text-book, is really of more value to your 
scientific education than a month’s hard reading. This is almost 
unbelievable to you who are such adepts in passing examina- 
Lectures and lessons have spoon-fed 
| you until now ; lectures and lessons will in future teach you to 
feed yourselves. 
Again, many of you think it is not only a waste of time, 
but a positive sin, to read novels and poetry and general 
literature, to cultivate in any way the imagination, to take an 
interest in painting or sculpture or music. You have yet to 
learn that although parrots and other imitative animals can get 
on without imagination, there is no such thing in existence as 
an unimaginative scientific man, That you have some imagin- 
ation and individuality is evidenced by your differentiation from 
| all other students of science classes; but have you these well 
developed, and have you those other qualities which are abso- 
lutely necessary for the success of a scientific worker? Imagin- 
ation is far and away the most important ; but there are also 
judgment and common sense, and the love of truth and the power 
of self-sacrifice, which seem always to accompany the pursuit of 
science. Are you fond of reading? Do you know how to use 
books? Can you explain with decent sketches what you observe 
and know? Mere learning is a poor thing, but fondness for 
reading leads to the greatest possible development of all one’s 
