

cose 25 ha a) 
_ FEsruary 17, 1923] 
NATURE 
241 

of the series is to illustrate, by the history of 
the work and influence of a few great men of 
various nationalities, the truth that in the study of 
the history of science is to be found a strong appeal 
to the spirit of community among men. It is 
suggested that this line of study will show that all 
nations have borne their share in building up the 
structure of knowledge according to the opportunities 
and civilisation of the times. Succeeding lectures are 
as follows :—February 21, Descartes (1596-1650), 
Prof. H. Wildon Carr; February 28, Newton (1642- 
1727), Prof. A. R. Forsyth; March 7, Pasteur (1822- 
hos), Sir D’Arcy Power; March 14, Helmholtz 
1821-1893), Sir W. M. Bayliss; March 21 (at 
niversity College, Gower Street, W.C.1.), Darwin 
(1809-1882), Prof. Karl Pearson. 
THE annual prize distribution was held at the Sir 
John Cass Technical Institute on Wednesday, January 
I, and the awards were distributed by Sir Thomas 
olland. The chairman of the governing body, the 
_ Rev. J. F. Marr, in giving a summary of the work of 
the Institute during the past session, stated that 
_ during this period a total of 1073 students had been 
in attendance—the highest figure yet attained. The 
_ year had not been an easy one, for financial considera- 
tions were and still are conspicuously in the fore- 
ground. The needs of technical education cannot be 
satisfactorily met without mutual trust and confidence 
between the public authorities and those administer- 
ing the funds placed at their disposal, and without a 
full belief in the national value of technical education. 
Despite the restricted accommodation in the science 
departments, 31 students had been engaged in re- 
search work and five papers had been published, 
bringing the total number of original investigations 
issued from the Institute to 120. For the second year 
in succession a student of the metallurgy department 
had been awarded the first prize (Silver Medal) in the 
City and Guilds of London Institute examination in 
non-ferrous metallurgy. 
Tue Attorney-General, Sir Douglas McGarel Hogg, 
distributed the prizes at the Borough Polytechnic on 
Friday, February 2. Mr. J. Leonard Spicer, chair- 
man of the governors, referred to the fact that Sir 
Douglas Hogg’s father, Mr. Quintin Hogg, was the 
founder of the great Polytechnic in Regent Street, 
- and Sir Douglas himself had throughout his life been 
associated with that Institute. Sir Douglas Hogg, in 
his address, said with regard to the work of the Insti- 
tute, that it was not their desire to turn out a number 
of half-fledged amateurs to compete with the men in 
the workshops, but by technical instruction to enable 
those in the workshops to make themselves more 
efficient and to make greater progress in the industry 
to which they belonged. The policy of the governors 
in supplementing the experience of the workshop by 
trade instruction, and of selecting teachers who them- 
selves had worked in the trades, is undoubtedly sound. 
The women’s side of the Polytechnic is strong, and 
some of the activities of the Borough Polytechnic are 
unique in the south-eastern counties of England ; the 
School of Bakery and Confectionery has no parallel, 
and the Department of Painters’ Oils, Colours and 
Varnishes represents highly specialised and valuable 
technological departments. The Polytechnic has 
received valuable assistance from expert trade com- 
mittees, trades unions, and associations of employers, 
in order to keep its work closely related to the current 
needs of industry. Principal Bispham, in his report, 
stated that both in quality and bulk the work of the 
past session was a record one and altogether a worthy 
tribute to the former principal, Mr. C. T. Millis, who 
has recently retired. 
NO. 2781, VOL. 111 | 
Societies and Academies. 
LonpDon. 
Royal Society, February 8.—L. Bairstow, Miss B. 
M. Cave, and Miss E. D. Lang: The resistance of a 
cylinder moving in a viscous fluid. The equations of 
motion of a viscous fluid in the approximate form 
proposed by Oseen are taken as a basis for calcula- 
tions of the resistance of a circular cylinder and the 
surface friction along a plane. In the case of the 
circular cylinder experimental information obtained 
at the N.P.L. is wholly suitable for the purposes of 
comparison with the present calculations. A resist- 
ance coefficient is found which is about 30 per cent. 
greater than that observed at the limit of the range 
of observation. Calculations for the plane show 
singularities at the edges, but lead to a resistance 
which is in rough agreement with experiment.— 
G. I. Taylor: The motion of ellipsoidal particles in a 
viscous fluid. According to Dr. G. B. Jeffery ellip- 
soidal particles immersed in a moving viscous fluid 
assume certain definite orientations in relation to the 
motion of the fluid. Ellipsoidal particles of alu- 
minium and immersed in water glass take up such 
positions, but they take a long time to get to those 
positions. In the meanwhile they oscillate in the 
way indicated in Dr. Jeffery’s analysis—W. E. 
Dalby: Further researches on the strength of 
materials. In a new apparatus, an alternating load, 
push and pull, can be applied to a test piece in such a 
way that the curves of load and elastic extension are 
recorded photographically. The yield in tension and 
compression is found to be substantially the same, 
and the modulus of elasticity is the same, but alter- 
nating load is met by alternating response. When a 
load of either sign is removed the response is elastic, 
but imperfectly so. Whena load is re-applied, but of 
opposite sign to the load removed, the response is 
mainly plastic. By means of a new instrument an 
alternating torque can be applied to a test piece in 
such a way that the curves of torque and elastic twist 
are recorded photographically. This shows that alter- 
nating torque is met by an alternating response in 
shear. It is possible to predict a practical fatigue 
limit from these diagrams.—Lewis F. Richardson: 
Theory of the measurement of wind by shooting 
spheres upward. A steel sphere, about the size of a 
pea or a cherry, is shot’upwards from a gun, which 
is not rifled. The gun is inclined from the vertical 
towards the advancing air, and the tilt adjusted by 
trial until the returning sphere falls very close to the 
gun. The tilt is then some measure of a weighted 
average of the wind, in the region extending from the 
ground up to the maximum height attained. This 
height is found from the time of absence of the 
sphere. The observation of the tilt and time is re- 
peated for greater and greater heights in succession. 
Mathematically speaking, the problem involves a 
“linear integral equation of the first kind,’’ which is 
solved approximately by transforming it into a 
moderate number of algebraic simultaneous equations. 
In the general part of the theory an approximation 
which fails at the vertex of the trajectory is made. 
A special and sufficiently correct theory or a correc- 
tion to the general theory meets this difficulty.— 
Ernest Wilson: On the susceptibility of feebly 
magnetic bodies as affected by tension. When 
magnetite is subjected to tensile stress of 50-130 
kerm. per sq. cm. as a maximum, the susceptibility 
for a given value of the magnetic force at first in- 
creases and then decreases as the specific load 
continuously increases, and exhibits a reversal point 
as in iron, The magnetic force at which the percent- 
age increase in permeability has a maximum value is 
