September 27, 1906] 



NA TURE 



541 



Aquatic-dwelling Weevils 



Is Natuui! of Seplembur there is a note (p. 472) on 

 Dr. Nelson Annundale's papers on the fresh-water fauna 

 of India, ending with the words " an aquatic weevil, 

 which, so far at any rate as habits are concerned, is 

 altogether unique." If this sentence is intended to mean 

 that water-dwelling weevils were previously unknown it 

 is incorrect. 



Mr. J. H. Keys and myself took specimens of the weevil 

 liithrychius velatus, Beck, from a pond near Plymouth in 

 September, 1905, which were as thoroughly aquatic as any 

 of the typical water-beetles (e.g. Dyliscida;), most of their 

 time being spent in crawling under water on the leaves 

 and stems of Myriophyllum. Fowler has an interesting 

 note on this species, to the same effect, in his " Coleoptera 

 of the Hritish Islands," vol. v., p. 373. 



Mr. Keys also states that Tanysphyrus leinnae, F., and 

 the various species of Bagous are all more or less aquatic. 



E. E. Lowe. 



Museum and Art Gallery, Beaumont Park, Plymouth, 

 September 11. 



Remarkable Rainbow Phenomena. 



Tiui letter of Mr. M. Spence in Nature of September 20, 

 describing a bifurcated rainbow, reminds me of a similar 

 phenomenon which I saw some time during the winter 

 of 1897-8. On that occasion the phenomenon was not so 

 complete as that described by Mr. Spence, only the left- 

 hand portion of the bow being visible. The arch rose 

 from the horizon as a single column to a height of about 

 ten degrees, and then bifurcated into two distinct branches, 

 which, however, did not extend far from the join. 



.As I was playing in a football match at the time it was 

 impossible to study the etTect at all closely ; but, so far 

 as I remember, the lower branch sprang out of the main 

 regular bow, making with it an angle larger than that 

 described by Mr. .Spence. My incomplete observations were 

 not alone of much value, but in confirmation of Mr. 

 Spence's fuller description they may be worth recording 

 now. George C. Simpson. 



Manchester University. 



Is it not the case that the second rainbow seen by your 

 correspondent (p. 516) was caused by the reflection of the 

 sun in the sea? If this were so, naturally persons some 

 miles west of Deerness, or inland, would not have seen it. 

 I once saw the appearance of double rainbows beautifully 

 manifested in Ranenfjord, on the coast of Norway, and 

 the explanation which I have given is that which found 

 most favour with the passengers on our steamer. 



C. S. Tavlor. 



Banwell Vicarage, September 21. 



SOME SCIENTIFIC CENTRES. 

 IX. — The Metallurgical Department of the 

 Sheffield University. 

 ■v: EARLY fifty years ago Sir John Brown, the 

 ■'■^ famous enghieer and steel manufacturer, with 

 Dr. H. C. Sorby, the father of the introduction of 

 the microscope for the examination of thin sections 

 I if rocks and of polished or poHshed and etched sur- 

 f.ices of iron and steel, attempted to establish in 

 Sheffield a school of practical science ; but as yet 

 Britain held undisputed sway in the world of en- 

 i;ineering and of metals; and the help of science, 

 proffered by these far-seeing men, although just as 

 desirable then as now, was rejected by such easy 

 victors in the wars of commerce. The sum of 200I. 

 was spent in advertising, with the result that only one 

 student entered. Several years' perseverance never pro- 

 duced more than five students, so far as Dr. Sorby's 

 memory serves him. Sixteen years later the added 

 personal influence of such men as Mr. Mark Firth, 

 Sir Frederick Mappin. Sir Henry Stephenson, and Mr. 

 J. i'". Moss failed to find a response, and although in 



xn. 1926, VOL. 74] 



iSyc) Mr. Mark Firth founded Firlh College to facili- 

 tate university extension work, it was not until 1883 

 that another special meeting was held, at which Dr. 

 Sorby used the following pregnant words : " I do not 

 see why we should not make the teaching of metal- 

 lurgy a speciality of the town, nor why we should not 

 make Sheffield the centre of metallurgical instruction." 



In 1885 the ShctTield Technical School was fairly 

 launched in a separate building, but as a department 

 of Firth College, with chairs of engineering and of 

 metallurgy both held by the late Prof. VV. H. Green- 

 wood. Until 1889 the department of metallurgy was 

 in connection with the Science and .\rt Department, 

 and its work consisted of courses of lectures on fuel, 

 refractory materials, iron, steel, and general metals, 

 with assaying and experiments in a laboratory fitted 

 with analytical benches, wind and muffle furnaces 

 similar to those in the Royal School of Mines of that 

 date. In 1889, Prof. Greenwood having resigned his 

 chairs to undertake the management of the Binning- 

 ham Small Arms Factory, John Oliver Arnold was 

 appointed to the chair of metallurgy which he holds 

 to-day. He began at once to inaugurate revolutionary- 

 changes, the fundamental aims of which seemed to be : 

 (i) to increase the science of the metals theinselves, the 

 art being then in great preponderance ; (2) as the in- 

 dustries of the district were mainly of iron and steel, 

 to pay special attention to these, assured that science 

 could be as truly served and minds as fruitfully trained 

 on metals of immediate interest to the district as on 

 the wider range; and (3) to keep the ideal ahead of 

 having available on a small scale, but by a manufac- 

 turing method as distinct from a laboratory method, 

 e.xainples of as many types of metallurgical processes 

 as possible, so that the students might examine the 

 whole course of each process from beginning to end 

 in the comparative calm of an educational establish- 

 ment. A start was made by erecting a two-hole 

 crucible steel-melting furnace fully equipped as a small 

 works, and differing only from the large works in the 

 city in that theirs would consist of so many dozens or 

 hundreds of holes of the same size. The effect on 

 the attendance was electrical, and the available labora- 

 tory accommodation was at once completely filled. A 

 difficulty here arose in that the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment objected to the course, but a very simple solution 

 was found in cutting the laboratory adrift frotii 

 Government control, the public men supporting^ it 

 guaranteeing against any resulting financial diffi- 

 culty. It ought in justice to be said that in those 

 days the departinent did sounder work for pure science 

 than it seems to be the present fashion to acknow- 

 ledge, although its influence on metallurgy in Sheffield 

 was not good. 



The complete success of this first part enabled Prof. 

 .\rnold to induce the members of thegoverning coni- 

 mittee to commence the more ambitious part of his 

 scheme, though with some misgivings, and during- 

 the session 1890-91 the students had the rare privilege 

 of following the erection of, as well as working, plant 

 consisting of a 25 cwt. acid Siemens furnace, with gas 

 producers and all necessary hydraulic power for lifts, 

 a No. I Stewart rapid cupola, foundry with drying 

 stove for sand and " conipo " moulds, and a falling 

 weight test apoaratus. .As showing the curious fea- 

 tures which sometimes govern a problem, although the 

 No. J cupola worked well it had soon to be replaced 

 by a No. i, as when the lining began to wear it was 

 only with the utmost difficulty that even a temporary 

 assistant of the staff could be obtained sufficiently 

 attenuated to be able to effect the necessary repairs, 

 and at any time inspection of the lining was some- 

 what of an acrobatic performance. A 50-ton Wick- 

 steed mechanical testing machine for tensile, trans- 



