March 19, 1908] 



NATURE 



475 



no uses to which the electric motor does not lend itself 

 in factories. 



The objection which is often raised, however, to the re- 

 placing of steam-driven machinery by electricity, especially 

 in chemical works, breweries, soap works, S:c., is that 

 the steam is required for heating and boiling ; but here, 

 again, it is a question of price only ;. the chief chemist of 

 one of the most important soap makers in the east of 

 London recently stated that it was purely a question of 

 price for him to use electricity for boiling purposes instead 

 of steam, and he estimated that it would pay him to do 

 this if he could obtain it at not more than \d. per unit. 



Now a certain number of London factories are already 

 supplied from the existing lighting stations. So great are 

 the benefits of electricity that it has paid people to adopt 

 it even although electric energy is so expensive, for so 

 long as electricity is provided from electric lighting 

 stations as an adjunct, so long must it necessarily be 

 expensive ; but the wholesale adoption of electricity in 

 factories on the scale that it has taken place on Tyneside 

 can only take place when electricity is produced on an 

 enormous scale, and is used for all purposes in the district. 

 Hitherto, power has been supplied as a bye-product of 

 electric lighting, and this accounts for the fact that out 

 of 555,000 horse-power required to drive the factories in 

 the industrial districts of London, only some 26,000 or 

 27,000 horse-power of electric power is obtained from the 

 present stations. 



This great field that remains can only be tapped by 

 putting down a system for the e.xpress purpose of supply- 

 ing the power needs of East London ; while such a scheme 

 must, in order to produce cheaply, have as great a variety 

 of consumers as possible, it cannot hope to be completely 

 successful if it is made an adjunct of electric lighting or 

 electric traction. Power supply must be the first aim of 

 the undertaking, even although in the process of getting 

 a power supply an even greater load may be obtained 

 from the supply to railways. 



The consumption of coal in domestic fires accounts for 

 4,570,000 tons a year, or 25 per cent, of the total con- 

 sumption. Electric heating has hitherto been very little 

 used, and even in .America is confined to the heating of 

 tramcars and workshops in places where it is only a ques- 

 tion of the cost of electric energy is undoubted, and that 

 electricity forms a most convenient agent in heating and 

 cooking, and can replace all other forms, is now generally 

 admitted. The reason is this, that whereas the ordinary 

 gas fire only, as a rule, gives out from one-half to one- 

 third of its heat usefully, while the best stove probably 

 does not give out more than about 75 per cent, of its 

 heat, the efficiency of the electric radiator is practically 

 100 per cent. It can be shown that if the cost of elec- 

 tricity be IS. 3d., it is as cheap for cooking as gas at 

 3.5. per 1000 feet ; but to compete with coal at 25s. a 

 ton for heating, electricity must be supplied about Jd. per 

 unit. In a number of houses already electric radiators 

 are being adopted on account of their convenience, even 

 though they cost somewhat more than gas fires ; with 

 cheap electricity they would be adopted universally. 



Thus, although electricity for heating and cooking has 

 been looked upon as a purely Utopian proposal, as a 

 matter of fact the time is not far distant when it will be 

 found quite as cheap as any other form of heating. It 

 is true that an electric radiator in its present form, 

 although efficient in itself, converts but a very small por- 

 tion of the energy of the coal into heat ; but this is, of 

 course, due to the inefficiency of the present methods of 

 producing electricity, and there can be little doubt that we 

 shall before very long witness a very considerable improve- 

 ment in this respect. Whereas the best modern turbines 

 and boilers convert only 15 per cent, of the energy of the 

 coal into electricity, the internal combustion engine con- 

 verts 35 per cent. ; but even at the present time such are 

 the advantages of electricity for heating and cooking, such 

 is its applicability, such is the cost of re-decorating and 

 cleansing in London, that at prices considerably higher 

 than those above stated electricity would be as cheap to 

 adopt as coal or gas. The question again resolves itself 

 into one of price. 



NO. 2003, VOL. ']']'\ 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Goldsmiths' Company has resolved to 

 make a grant of io,oooi. for the purpose of founding and 

 endowing a readership in metallurgy, such readership to 

 be associated with the name of the company. It is hoped 

 that research and other work in the precious metals, and 

 the theory and practice of assaying, will be kept somewhat 

 prominently in view in connection with the proposed reader- 

 ship. 



Mr. R. H. Biffen has been elected to the recently estab- 

 lished chair of agricultural botany. Mr. Biffen is the 

 author of numerous papers, the earlier of which dealt 

 with the preparation of india-rubber and the coagulation 

 of latex, and he has devoted a great deal of attention to 

 fungi. His researches on the hybridisation of wheat and 

 barley have attracted the attention of civilised Governments 

 throughout the world, and attempts have been made to 

 induce him to leave England and place his services at the 

 disposal of at least one foreign Government. It is satis- 

 factory that largely owing to the generosity of the Drapers' 

 Company Mr. Biffen will be able to continue to carry on 

 his researches in Cambridge. 



Mr. C. L. Boulenger has been appointed assistant to 

 the superintendent of the museum of zoology from 

 March 25 to September 30, 1908. 



On Friday evening, March 13, Lord Alverstone dis- 

 tributed the certificates and prizes at the South-Western 

 Polytechnic Institute, Chelsea. The report of the prin- 

 cipal to the governing body showed that the session k)o6-7 

 had been a very successful one, the highest honour 

 obtained being the.D.Sc. degree of Mr. Crocker, who had 

 done all the necessary chemical research in the institute. 

 In the course of a short address, Lord Alverstone laid 

 great stress on the necessity for concentration in study. 

 The development of any one subject is so great at the 

 present time that the utmost concentration of thought is 

 required to advance knowledge. He took as illustration 

 the discoveries of Lord Kelvin in regard to the mariner's 

 compass. 



The reports for the vear ending June 30, 1907, of the 

 librarian of the U.S. Congress and of the superintendent 

 of the library building and grounds have been received 

 from Washington. As indicative of the generous scale on 

 which this great American library is subsidised, it may 

 be stated that the appropriations made for the present 

 year reach 123,000/., and that the salaries to be paid 

 cluring the year for the various officers reach 69,570/. 

 In 1907 the number of books in the library reached 

 1,433,848, representing a gain of 54.604 over the previous 

 year. In addition there were nearly 100,000 maps and 

 charts and a quarter of a million prints. The most 

 important accessions to the library were the Yudin library, 

 consisting of 80,000 works relating to Siberia and Russia, 

 and a notable collection of the literature of Japan, consist- 

 ing of some 9000 works. 



A Bill to promote agricultural education and nature- 

 study in public elementary schools, introduced in the 

 House of Commons bv Mr. Jesse CoUings, was read a 

 second time on March 11. The object of the Bill is to 

 provide for the teaching in all public elementary schools 

 of agricultural and horticultural subjects : to give facilities 

 for nature-study, and generally by means of object-lessons 

 to cultivate habits of observation and inquiry on the part 

 of the pupils. To this end the Bill provides for school 

 gardens and such collection of objects as may be necessary 

 for the practical illustration of the instruction given. The 

 education specified in the Bill, while optional in urban 

 schools, is to be compulsory in all schools situate in rural 

 and semi-rural districts. A special grant, not exceeding 

 75 per cent, of the cost, is provided for in the Bill towards 

 the expenses of local education authorities in carrying out 

 the provisions of the Bill. 



In his capacity of Chancellor of the Bombay University, 

 Sir George Clarke presided at the recent annual Convoca- 

 tion of the University and delivered an address. From 

 a report of his speech in the Pioneer Mail we learn that 



