114 



NA TURE 



[November 26, 1908 



moved about a quarter of a century ago by the creation 

 of a professorship of naval architecture in the University 

 of Glasg-ow, thanks to the generosity of Mrs. John Elder. 

 About the same time a professorship of engineering was 

 established in connection with the University of Durham 

 at the College of Science (now the Armstrong College), 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, and instruction in naval architecture 

 is included in the curriculum of studies in this depart- 

 ment. It was always desired to have an independent pro- 

 fessorship of naval architecture in this great centre of ship- 

 building, and by persistent effort this desire was fulfilled 

 about a year ago. The country now possesses three schools 

 of naval architecture, two of which are independent of the 

 Admiralty, and sustained by the private shipbuilding 

 industry. 



It has been suggested that the multiplication of schools 

 of naval architecture in Great Britain may be overdone, 

 but when compared with the provision now made for the 

 education of naval architects in Germany, France, and 

 the United States, and taking into account the overwhelm- 

 ing preponderance of British shipowning and shipbuilding, 

 there need be no fear that four schools of naval archi- 

 tecture, each with a considerable number of students, would 

 constitute an excessive provision for this country. In the 

 Technical High School of Charlottenburg, near Berlin, 

 there were not long ago about 400 students of naval archi- 

 tecture and marine engineering, all of whom had received 

 adequate preparatory training before entering the high 

 school and specialising in these studies. Even at the pre- 

 sent time the total number of equally qualified students 

 of naval architecture and marine engineering attending the 

 classes in British schools is only about 170, or less than 

 one-half the number of men studying at Charlottenburg. 

 In the United States excellent schools of naval architec- 

 ture exist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

 and as departments in several universities. These are well 

 equipped, and attended by considerable numbers of students. 

 When it is borne in mind that the aggregate tonnage 

 of steamships belonging to the British Empire is seven- 

 teen millions of Ions, as against 3,705,000 tons owned by 

 Germany and 1,542,000 (exclusive of the shipping on the 

 great lakes) owned by the United States, and that in 

 1907 the gross tonnage of ships launched in the United 

 Kingdom aggregated 1,608,000 tons, as against 291,000 

 tons for Germany and 486,300 tons for the United States, 

 it will hardly be maintained that the provision made or 

 contemplated for the higher education of British naval 

 architects is lil^cly to prove excessive. 



Possibly it may be thought that the German provision 

 for such education is extravagantly large, and that the 

 number of highly trained men who annually pass out from 

 the High School at Charlottenburg is in excess of the 

 real requirements of the shipbuilding industry of that 

 country. This is not the opinion entertained in Germany 

 itself, for another school of naval architecture has been 

 creafed at Dantzic recently. 



The^ last half-century has witnessed unprecedented pro- 

 gress in British shipping and shipbuilding. It is apt to 

 be forgotten that when the Civil \\"ar broke out the 

 tonnage of .Aniericani shipping was rapidly overtaking 

 that of this country, and threatened to surpass it before 

 long. It is true, no doubt, that the lead which we took 

 in the use of iron instead of wood as the chief material 

 of construction, and in the development of steam naviga- 

 tion, helped forward the remarkable progress that has 

 been made. It is equally true that great assistance to 

 progress has been given by the application of scientific 

 methods to ship construction and propulsion. It would be 

 ridiculous to suppose that the contemporaneous develop- 

 ment of technical and scientific training amongst naval 

 architects and marine engineers had only been a coinci- 

 dence, and had not played a great part. Manv circum- 

 .stances, as -well as manv persons, have assisted in bring- 

 ing British shipping and shipbuilding into its present un- 

 rivalled condition, but the underlying and predominant 

 cause must be found in the genera! recognition of the 

 necessity for scientific as well as practical training on 

 the part of those engaged in the design and construction 

 of ships and their machinery. 

 ^ Ship-designing can never be dealt with on purely scien- 

 tific methods. Exact estimates cannot be made' of the 

 NO. 2039, VOL. yg] 



most trying conditions to which ships at sea may bu 

 subjected. Accumulated experience, based on careful 

 observation and experiment, must always be the founda- 

 tion of successful work. Direct experiments on models of 

 ships and propellers are of incalculable value ; but the 

 arrangement and conduct of these experiments, the carry- 

 ing out of observations on the behaviour of ships, tht- 

 grouping and analysis of results, and the deduction there- 

 from of facts and principles for future guidance, all 

 demand scientific knowledge and scientific procedure. Ot 

 course, this is not peculiar to shipbuilding, and I have 

 no desire to magnify the importance of that branch uf 

 engineering to which my life has been devoted. It i- 

 equally true of engineering as a whole, and of the applica- 

 tions of science to industrial processes generally. My chief 

 object in describing to-night what has been done in th' 

 technical education of naval architects has been to present 

 an object-lesson to those interested in technical educatioi"! 

 as a whole. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — Prof. Adam Sedgwick, president of the 

 Philosophical Society, has been appointed to represent the 

 society at the Darwin centenary celebrations in June, 1909. 



In a letter to the Vice-Chancellor, the secretaries of the 

 Royal Society announce that, as Sir William Huggins 

 desires now to relinquish the care of the stellar spectro- 

 scopic equipment placed in his hands by the Royal Society 

 in 1871, the president and council of the society are 

 prepared to present these instruments as a gift towards 

 the equipment of the astrophysical department of the Cam- 

 bridge Observatory, subject to an assurance of their per- 

 manent profitable employment being obtained. This 

 assurance having been given by the observatory syndicate, 

 the installation will be transferred permanently to thr 

 University as it now stands in full worliing order in Sir 

 William Huggins's observatory. In view of the historical 

 importance of this equipment, and its intimate connection 

 with the foundation and development of the science of 

 astrophysics, it is desired that the name of Sir William 

 Huggins be permanently connected with the instruments. 



The electors to the Isaac Newton studentships givr- 

 notice that, in accordance with the regulations, an election 

 10 a studentship will be held in the Lent term, 1909. 

 These studentships are for the encouragement of study 

 and research in astronomy and physical optics. The per- 

 sons eligible are members of the University who have 

 been admitted to the degree of Bachelor of .'Vrts, and 

 who will be under the age of twenty-five years on the 

 first day of January, 1909. It will be the duty of thr- 

 student to devote himself during the tenure of his student- 

 ship to study or research in .some branch of astronomy 

 or physical optics. The student's course of study or re- 

 search must be, as a rule, pursued at Cambridge. The 

 studentship will be tenable for the term of three year^i 

 from April 15, 1909. The emolument of the student will 

 be 200Z. per annum, provided that the income of the fund 

 is capable of bearing such charge. 



London.- — The new deans of faculties are ;■ — for medicine. 

 Prof. S. H. C. Martin, F.R.S. ; for science. Prof. J. M. 

 Thomson, F.R.S. ; for engineering. Prof. W. E. Dalby. 



Prof. T. G. Brodie has resigned his post as professor- 

 superintendent of the Brown Animal Sanatory Institution 

 on his appointment as professor of physiology in the Uni- 

 versity of Toronto. 



The degree of D.Sc. in physiology has been granted to 

 Dr. F. H. Scott, an internal student, of University College, 

 who submitted a thesis entitled " On the Relative Parts 

 played bv Nervous and Chemical Factors in the Regula- 

 tion of Respiration," and other papers: also to Dr. H. W. 

 Bywaters, an internal student; of the physiological labor.i- 

 torv of the University, who submitted a thesis entitkd 

 " An Inquiry into the Chemical Mechanism concerning tlin 

 -Absorption of Protein and Carbohydrate Food," and oth^r 

 papers. 



A separate board of studies is to be constituted fo' 

 ethnologv. 



