Z70 



NA TURE 



[February 20, 1902 



A DOUBTFUL DEVF.LOP.MENT OF LOCO- 

 MOTIVE ENGINEERING. 

 LjNDER the heading of "A New Development of 

 ' Economical Railway Haulage," the Thiics of 

 February 13 tells us that "we are on the eve of a 

 mechanical revolution such as has never been seen since 

 the introduction of steam," and enters in a general way 

 into a statement of results said to have been oljtained 

 from an old (ireat Northern locomotive fitted with a new 

 type of valve-gear, the use of which is said to reduce the 

 consumption of coal nearly 50 per cent, and increase the 

 hauling capacity of the engine considerably, when com- 

 pared with a sister engine fitted with the ordinary gear 

 and doing similar work. 



Locomotive engineers are becoming accustomed to the 

 rapid advances of electrical science, and seldom doubt 

 what the electrical engineer may claim to have achieved ; 

 but with the locomotive things are different ; the machine 

 is not new, neither is the valve-gear ; the coal consump- 

 tion has been thoroughly tested and the various gears 

 examined from every point of view, there being no par- 

 ticular variation of opinion as to the most beneficial 

 <listribution of steam in the cylinders. 



For this reason it is extremely startling to be told that 

 a modified valve-gear will reduce the fuel bill nearly 

 50 per rent, with an increased load, the boiler pressure 

 being only 140 lbs. per square inch, considerably below 

 the average working pressure of to-day. 



The locomotive experimented upon was built in 1882, 

 and was, therefore, of the late Mr. P. Stirling's design, a 

 type of locomotive famous for having a very small boiler 

 in proportion to the cylinder dimensions, and, therefore, 

 one requiring to be forced to keep up the steam, the 

 forcing being done by a very keen draught induced by a 

 small blast-pipe ; such engines are famous for throwing 

 fire from the chimney-tops. Yet, besides claiming this 

 abnormal economy, we are told that the exhaust is so soft 

 that the question of fire-throwing is entirely got over and 

 that spark arrestors may be considered things of the past 

 — surely a wonderful result. 



The article referred to fills a whole column of the 

 Times, but we may be allowed to doubt the results given, 

 for although the name of Mr. H. .A.. Ivatt, the locomotive 

 engineer of the Great Northern Railway, is quoted more 

 than once, the statements do not appear over his name, 

 and until they do, locomotive engineers may be excused 

 if they continue to hold adverse opinions. The economical 

 working of the locomotive is no new study ; it is in the 

 hands of able men who, no doubt, would be highly de- 

 lighted if they could clearly demonstrate a saving of 5 per 

 cent, even over previous practice. N. J. L. 



NOTES. 

 Sir Wit.t.i.\m Roberts-Au.sten, K.C.B., F.R.S., will 

 deliver the tenth "James Forrest" lecture, on " Metallurgy in 

 Relation to Engineering," at the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 on Wednesd.iy, April 23, the date having been unavoidably 

 altered from that originally proposed. 



-Arrangements have now been made for M.ijor Ronald 

 Ross, Walter Myers lecturer in the Liverpool School of Tropical 

 Medicine, to proceed for the third time to Freetown, Sierra 

 Leone, on the work of the School. The expedition which he 

 will rejoin is the fifth organised by the School, and went out 

 early last year under Major Ross himself with Dr. Logan Taylor. 



The International Congress on the Methods of Testing Ma- 

 terials, held in 1900, decided to offer a prize of 3500 francs to 

 the author who has made the most important contributions to 

 the subjects for the advance of which the Congress was 

 organised. The adjudication of the award of this prize has just 

 NO. 1686, VOL. 65] 



been placed in the hands of the Comite des Arts mi-caniques of 

 the Paris Societe d'Encouragement. 



Arch.eoi.ogists and other students of antiquities will be 

 glad to learn that it is proposed to obtain for Magdalene 

 College, Cambridge, a copy of the head of Mr. F. C. Penrose, 

 F. R.S., honorary fellow of the College, from the portrait 

 painted by Mr. Sargent, R.A., for the F'toyal Institute of British 

 Architects. The portrait will be presented to the College in 

 recognition of Mr. Penrose's valuable services both to science 

 and art. .Among the supporters of the proposal are Dr. 

 J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., Sir R. C. Jebb, Prof. Liveing, 

 F.R.S., Sir J. Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S,, Mr. A. G. 

 Peskett and Lord Thring, K.C.B. Subscriptions are invited 

 and should be sent (crossed Barclay and Co. , Cambridge) to 

 Prof. A. Newton, F.R.S., Magdalene College, Cambridge. 



The preiiident of the Royal Geographical Society has made a 

 special appeal to the fellows of the Society on behalf of the 

 relief .ship which must start not later than July next to obtain 

 news of the Disc<yvery and render assistance if necessary. It 

 appears from the circular issued by the president that only 1 50 

 of the 4000 fellows of the Society have yet contributed to the 

 funds for the relief ship. The [council has, however, made 

 it.self responsible for the ship, which is now lying in the Thames 

 and will shortly require to be furnished with stores and equipped 

 with officers and crew. A spirit of loyalty should induce 

 fellows of the Royal Geographical S ociety to provide the funds 

 which will relieve the council of anxiety and ensure that essential 

 precautions are taken for the safety of the members of the 

 National Antarctic Expedition. 



The annual meeting of the Society for the Protection of 

 Birds will be held on Wednesday, February 26, at the West- 

 minster Palace Hotel, Victoria Street, London, S.W. The 

 chair will be taken at 3 p.m. by Sir George W. Kekewich, j 

 K.C.B., secretary to the Board of Education. .\ proposal to | 

 establish a Bird and Arbor Day throughout the British Isles 

 will be considered. j 



On Tuesday next, February 25, Mr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S., { 

 will begin a course of two lectures at the Royal Institution on 

 " The Temperature of the Atmosphere, its Changes and their 

 Causes." The Friday evening discourse on February 28 will 

 be delivered by Prof. H. A. Miers, F. R. S. , his subject being 

 "Gold Mining in Klondyke," and on March 7 Prof. II. 

 Becquerel, Membre de I'lnstitut, Paris, will deliver a discourse 

 (in French) on "Radioactive Bodies." 



A DISASTROUS earthquake occurred in Transcaucasia on Feb- 

 ruary 13. Shemakha, the principal town in the area atfected, 

 has been completely laid in ruins, more than 20,000 people 

 having been rendered homeless and 2000 lives lost. The first 

 shock was felt about midday on February 13, and in a few 

 seconds the Orthodox church, the mosques, the public buildings 

 and hundreds of houses had fallen. The shocks were felt over 

 a very wide area, and continued to recur during several days. 

 A writer in the Evening Standard points out that in such a 

 region as that affected the shocks may continue for a long time. 

 To the north rises the great chain of the Caucasus, a region of 

 crystalline and sedimentary rocks bent into great folds, not less 

 remarkable than those in the Alps. In such a locality earth- 

 tremors are at any time possible. In the latter chain no trace can 

 be found of an extinct volcano, but Elbruz, the highest summit 

 in the Caucasus, and Kasbek, which easily overtops Mont 

 Blanc, are both ruined volcanic cones. .Many more, though on 

 a much smaller scale, are scattered over the region south of 

 the Caucasus. In fact, signs of volcanic action are abund.ant 

 over a very large part of the great upland plateau south of the 

 Caucasus — the region where Turkey, Russia and Persia meet. 



