JuLy 22, 1915] 
NATURE 
573. 

try. This last is undoubtedly one of the greatest 
difficulties, and to meet it he advocated a scheme of 
industrial fellowships on the lines of that introduced 
in America by the late Prof. Kennedy Duncan. A 
discussion on this point would have been illuminating, 
as there is no doubt that in the opinion of the manu- 
facturer much of the product of the modern university 
training is disappointing. The excessive devotion to 
physical and theoretical chemistry, an insufficient 
knowledge of general chemistry, poor manipulative 
power, and lack of ability to tackle even simple 
problems are the common defects in their training, and 
if, as is usually the case, these manifest themselves 
after the newcomer has been taken into the con- 
fidence of the firm, the result is to shale the confi- 
dence of manufacturers in the university chemist. The 
ability of the chemist to take charge of a process is a 
natural rather than an acquired gift, but it is essential 
if the works chemist is to make material progress in 
the scale of promotion, as it is. only the largest firms 
which can afford to maintain a large staff of highly- 
paid research chemists. 
Dr. M. O. Forster also emphasised the chasm be- 
tween the college and the factory as responsible for 
much mischief, and would appear to put the blame 
largely on the factory. It is a pity that a further 
paper on this subject was not secured from a respon- 
sible person in one of our largest chemical works, as 
there is a strong counter-feeling prevalent that the 
college and the scientific societies, by holding aloof 
from the factory, tend to place industrial chemists on 
a lower plane in the profession, and debar the most 
gifted students from entering the factory. 
An address by Prof. H. E. Armstrong dealt 
with the need of organisation within the  in- 
dustry for the purposes of development and_ the 
protection of the interests of industrial chemists. He 
emphasised particularly that chemistry had _ not 
attracted the right stamp of man—one of generous 
mind, good presence, and real ability—in sufficient 
numbers. They looked to the older universities, par- 
ticularly to Oxford, to supply this type, whereas the 
universities, owing to their neglect of the science 
schools, encouraged their graduates to take up law, 
mathematics, or classics. Such material would be worth, 
and would command, good pay when properly trained. 
The desire for a scientific vocation must begin in the 
schools, and schoolmasters must encourage their best 
pupils to this end instead of adyocating classics, be- 
tause the immediate prospect of scholarships at the 
university was greater. The success of German 
chemical industry is due fo two causes; first, the fact 
that their universities are practical insfitutions 
properly supported by the State, and in touch with 
the educated community; and, secondly, the factories 
are in the hands of experts. The development has 
been from within, though it has received great assist- 
ance from public sources. The academic party has 
worked under conditions of freedom, of Lehrfreiheit 
and Lehrnfreiheit, whereas in England the tradition 
that it is necessary to be well-read instead of well- 
practised has prevailed. : 
Dr. Beilby, in a paper on chemical engineering, 
distinguished between the engineer proper and the 
chemical engineer, rather to the detriment of the 
latter, though he does not overlook the fact that, if 
the engineer is not in full sympathy with chemical 
problems, and acquainted with the action of chemical 
substances on his materials, his plant will be a failure. 
The ‘chemical works engineer is called a more adapt- 
able but a rougher type of man, though it is after- 
wards admitted that he is “born, not made.’’ It is the 
possession of large numbers of highly, specially trained 
chemists and engineers which gives the German chem- 
ical works its commanding position. 
NO. 2386, VOL. 95 | 
THE NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY 
; IN 1914-15. 
NY review of the work of the National Physical 
Laboratory during the year 1914-15 should be 
prefaced by a tribute to the ready response with which 
the staff greeted the call to the colours at the outbreak 
of war. In the annual report of the laboratory, pre- 
sented on June 15, at the Royal Society, to the General 
Board, attention is directed to the consequent marked 
reduction in the staff and its effect upon the 
distribution of duties. Many who were prepared to 
volunteer had to be retained by reason of stress of 
war work. Some 25 per cent. of the total staff were 
spared for service. 
_Dealing with matters of finance, a recovery in receipts 
since September and the maintenance of a stringent 
economy throughout contributed to a year’s total 
which was not so unsatisfactory as had been appre- 
hended during the earlier stages of the war. The report 
points out, however, that an enforced economy may 
well, if too long continued, prove disastrous. Special 
mention must be made of the generosity of the Hon. 
Sir C. A. Parsons, in placing a sum of 1oool. at the 
disposal of the committee; this enabled some serious 
gaps in equipment to be filled. Steps were taken in 
July, 1914, to proceed with a recommendation of Lord 
Parker’s Committee on Research in Telegraphy and 
Telephony, on which the director of the laboratory, 
Dr. Glazebrook, was serving. It was proposed to 
establish at Teddington a National Telegraphic Re- 
search Laboratory. Since the outbreak of war, how- 
ever, the matter has been in abeyance. 
With regard to test work it may be said, in brief, 
that the war conduced to a shrinkage in aggregate, 
but, at the same time, to a large increase in some 
directions, notably in the electrotechnics and the optics 
divisions. International worl: of all kinds has prac- 
tically come to a standstill. It should further be 
emphasised, before touching more specifically on the 
progress of the laboratory during the year, that the 
research work had, by force of the abnormal condi- 
tions prevailing, to be diverted in a large measure to 
abnormal channels. ; 
A full list of papers published by, or communicated 
from, the laboratory during the last two years will 
be found in the report. The twelfth volume of ‘‘ Col- 
lected Researches ’’ is shortly to be issued. 
To pass to a few details of the report, mention 
should in the first place be made of a series of 
inter-comparisons made during July last in colla- 
boration with two visitors from the Physilxalisch- 
Technische Reichsanstalt, Dr. Giebe and Dr. Scultze, 
between laboratory standards of resistance and induct- 
ance and some coils the absolute value of which had 
been determined previously at Charlottenburg.  Fur- 
ther international measurements may also be noted. 
In Japan, differences of the order 8 parts in 1,000,000 
were found between five mercury resistance standards, 
which had been constructed at the laboratory, and five 
tubes calibrated at Tokyo; whilst four Weston cells 
brought from Petrograd to Teddington agreed with 
the mean laboratory standard to within r part in 
100,000. Inter alia, an important investigation of the 
irregularities commonly observed in the Weston 
normal cell was brought to a close during the year. 
An interesting series of experiments was also carried 
out in connection with the measurement of high- 
frequency currents. With suitably designed air- or 
iron-cored transformers it was found possible to 
measure, with precision, currents ranging from 1 to 
50 amperes at frequencies from 50,000 to 2,000,000 ~ 
per sec. ; . 
Two valuable photometric papers claim attention. 
} These deal with the unit of candle-power in white 

