December 5, 1907] 



NA TURE 



107 



metres the machine fell vertically on the ground, and 

 was damaged. 



An aeroplane constructed on the other side of the 

 Atlantic is described in the Scientific American for 

 November i6 as " a heavier than air flying machine 

 which lacks the faults of former similar devices 

 according to its inventor, J. W. Roshon, of Harris- 

 burg, Pa. ..." This machine, which has not yet 

 been tried, is characterised by its complexity to much 

 the same extent that the monoplane is characterised 

 bv its simplicity. It has three principal supporting 

 planes, the bottom and middle plane measuring 

 24 feet transversely by 8 feet longitudinally, while 

 the top plane has only a transverse measurement of 

 12 feet. Between these three planes, which are placed 

 one above the other, giving a total height of 17 feet, 

 there are 26 narrow flat planes placed transversely at 

 the front and rear of the larger planes. The total 

 w ing surface is 900 square feet, say 80 square metres, 

 and the weight with an operator is estimated at 

 6oolb., say 270 kilograms. To launch this large 

 machine into the air an inclined plane has been 

 speciallv constructed curving up at the bottom in 

 order to start the machine with its rider skyward, 

 but for the first test a bag of sand is to take the place 

 of the latter. 



ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF THE ROYAL 



SOCIETY. 

 '"PHE anniversary meeting of the Royal Society was 



^ held on Saturday, November 30, St. Andrew's 

 Day. Lord Rayleigh, the president, was in the chair. 

 Among the subjects referred to in the report of the 

 council are the publication of the National Antarctic 

 Expedition results, the International Catalogue of 

 Scientific Literature, Royal Society's Catalogue of 

 Scientific Papers, International Association of 

 .Academies, sleeping sickness, and Malta fever. The 

 following statement, drawn up by the council, was 

 presented to the Royal Commission on Vivisection in 

 March last : — 



The Royal Society, from its age and the position 

 accorded to it among scientific institutions, feels its re- 

 sponsibility as a guardian of the general interests of 

 science in this country. Founded as it was for the pro- 

 motion of natural knowledge, whenever from time to time 

 legislative changes have been proposed which might seem 

 likely to affect the advancement of that knowledge, the 

 society has desired to make its voice heard on behalf of 

 scientific progress. The recent appointment of a Royal 

 Commission on the subject of experiments on animals has 

 been deemed by the president and council of the Royal 

 Society to be an occasion when they may ask to be allowed 



.■\ further departure from the present fashion of 

 machine is the gyroplane of Messrs. Breguet, which 

 revives interest in the attempt to overcome gravity by 

 vertical screw propellers. .'\s at present designed, it 

 is supported by four propellers placed at the corners 

 of a square, each propeller having four revolving 

 vanes, and each vane carrying a pair of superposed 

 planes. The machine, which with its operator would 

 weigh 540 kilograms, was found to hover successfully 

 in the air at a height of a few feet for a minute, this 

 representing the limit of the experiment, and the 

 machine being held down to prevent any accident. 

 It is thus claimed that aerial navigation by vertical 

 screws is possible. 



It is interesting to record the fact that the Scientific 

 American estimates Mr. Farman's longest flight on 

 October 26 as 2529'52 feet, and his longest measured 

 flight on November 7 as 2624-66 feet. The French 

 records are 771 and Soo metres respectively. Thus, by 

 the use of English units, the ."American correspondent 

 would appear to claim, if the results are correct, to 

 have estimated these long-distance flights to within 

 an eighth of an inch. But unless the figures repre- 

 sent the results of actual exact measureinents (and of 

 this no evidence is given), their accuracy cannot be 

 admitted. 



NO. 1988, VOL. "/j] 



to lay before that Commission a statement of their views 

 on the broad scientific bearings of the question. 



There can be no doubt that the main cause of the re- 

 markable development of science in modern times has been 

 the adoption of the experimental method of investigating 

 nature. In every department of research this method has 

 led to the most important advances, both in questions of 

 theory and in practical applications to the useful purposes 

 of life. From the beginning of its history the Royal 

 Society has fostered the prosecution of experiment, not 

 only in physical and chemical, but in biological inquiry, 

 and its publications are full of records of the discoveries 

 which have consequently been made. 



In no branches of investigation have the theoretical and 

 practical successes of experimental work been more con- 

 spicuous In recent years than in physiology and Its Prac- 

 tical applications in medicine and surgery. In medicine, 

 the careful and patient testing of the effects of drugs on 

 the lower animals has not only led to an accurate know- 

 ledge, not otherwise attainable, of these effects as pro- 

 duced on the human body, but has greatly increased the 

 number of substances now available to the physician in 

 the treatment of disease. Without this method of investi- 

 gation the progress of pharmacology, in recent years so 

 astonishing and beneficent, would be arrested, and diseases, 

 which may in time be successfully combated, would con- 

 tinue their ravages unchecked. In modern surgery the 

 application of similar experimental work has been attended 



