
May 26, 1923] 
NATURE 
715 

house works in Manchester have conducted and are 
i carrying out valuable researches, and great things are 
looked for from the new laboratories of the General 
Electric Company at Wembley. The ideals which 
Mr. C, C. Paterson enunciated at the opening of the 
G.E.C. laboratory are high, and should lead to the 
advancement of scientific knowledge in many direc- 
tions. 
' Ar a meeting of the Royal Society of Arts on 
May 16, a paper on “ Industrial Lighting and the 
Prevention of Accidents ’’ was read by Mr. L. Gaster. 
The early part of the lecture was devoted to a summary 
of progress in illuminants, after which statistics were 
quoted showing that inadequate lighting is a con- 
tributory cause of many industrial accidents, those 
arising from “ persons falling’’ being a specially 
striking example of this relation. Apart from possible 
ill effects on the eye, great importance should be 
attached to the effect of unsatisfactory lighting 
conditions in causing industrial fatigue, and con- 
sequently ill-health, spoiled work, and diminished 
output. In the cotton, fine linen and silk industries 
it had been found that output was 5-12 per cent. 
less by artificial light than by daylight. A recent 
investigation of the National Institute of Industrial 
Psychology showed that by using a lamp giving four 
times the light of an ordinary miner’s lamp the 
amount of coal produced was increased by more than 
14 per cent. The paper, which was fully illustrated 
by lantern slides, including some striking views of 
the L.G.O. repair works taken by daylight and 
artificial light respectively, was largely devoted to 
an exposition of the various reports issued by the 
Departmental Committee on Lighting in Factories 
and Workshops. It was mentioned that a similar 
Committee has been appointed by the Ministry of 
Labour in France to deal with the subject, and that 
seven American States now possess codes of industrial 
lighting. Mr. Gaster expressed the hope that the 
new Factory Act will endorse the recommendations 
of the Departmental Committee, and that illumination 
will be ranked with heating and ventilation as an 
essential item in the interests of health, safety, and 
efficiency of work. 
WE have on several occasions referred with regret 
to the fact that no provision is made for a composite 
display of scientific discovery and achievement at 
the British Empire Exhibition to be held next year. 
In this connexion the following extract from the 
fourth annual report of the governors of the Imperial 
Mineral Resources Bureau is of interest: ‘‘ The 
British Empire Exhibition authorities requested the 
Bureau to undertake the organisation of an exhibit 
illustrative of the mineral resources of the Empire, 
and the Governors set up a Committee which drew 
up a scheme for such an exhibit. Numerous meetings 
were held and the details of the exhibit worked out. 
We were subsequently informed that funds were not 
forthcoming from exhibition sources, and the Bureau 
then had to abandon the comprehensive scheme 
which they had elaborated for the illustration of the 
whole mineral wealth of the Empire.” 
NO. 2795, VOL. 111] 
A NoveEL feature of the meeting of the British 
Association at Liverpool, on September 12-19, will be 
a scientific exhibition at which there will be exhibits 
of apparatus in connexion with each section of the 
Association, and others showing recent advances -in 
applied science. The exhibition will be held in the 
buildings of the Central Technical Schools, Byrom 
Street, Liverpool, which have been allocated for this 
purpose by the Technical Education Committee of 
the Liverpool Corporation. The buildings are ex- 
tensive and centrally situated, and the electrical and 
other facilities are admirably adapted for the purpose. 
It is anticipated that all the leading manufacturers 
of scientific apparatus in the country will be repre- 
sented. The exhibition will be open to members of 
the Association during the period of the meeting; but 
in view of the fact that it is the first of its kind, and 
will without doubt appeal to public interest in 
scientific achievement, it is intended to open the 
exhibition on September ro and to keep it open until 
September 22, the public being admitted at a small 
charge. 
THE constitution and by-laws of the new Engineer- 
ing Joint Council have just been published. This 
Council is defined as ‘‘an advisory body without 
executive powers,’’ It was founded by the Institutions 
of Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineers and 
Naval Architects, but it is anticipated also that other 
institutions will desire representation on the Joint 
Council. These are divided into Constituent Institu- 
tions and Affiliated Institutions. The latter may be 
transferred to the former group when the standard of 
their entrance examinations is sufficiently high and 
the number of their corporate members is sufficiently 
large. The Council will not initiate proposals, but 
will consider matters referred to it by the Council of 
any one of the constituent institutions. As the wel- 
fare and safety of the whole nation are largely de- 
pendent on the prosperity of the engineering in- 
dustries, it was felt that they should have a larger 
share in the national councils. The Joint Council, 
therefore, has been founded to foster engineering 
interests and to be ready always to take immediate 
action in any national emergency, and it has started 
auspiciously. The various institutions have worked 
very harmoniously together, and further important 
developments may be expected. 
’ Tue arrangements for the visit of Their Majesties 
the King and Queen to University College Hospital 
and University College, London, on May 31, are now 
approaching completion. As already announced, the 
ceremony is in connection with the great gift made 
in 1921 by the Rockefeller Foundation of New York 
for Medical Education. It will have two features, 
the laying of the foundation-stones of the new Obstetric 
Hospital and new Nurses’ Home now being erected 
on sites adjacent to University College Hospital, and 
the opening of the new Anatomy Building which 
has already been erected in Gower Street. Their 
Majesties will arrive at 3.15 P.M., and the ceremony 
of laying the foundation-stones will take place in a 
pavilion to be erected in University Street. After 
