542 



NA TURE 



[September 27, 1906 



\erse, crushing, bending and torsion tests was installed 

 jointly with the engineering department under Prof. 

 W. Ripper, and whilst this machine formed a solid 

 meeting ground it may also be considered as em- 

 blematic of the relationships existing between these 

 two departments from the beginning, namely, that the 

 >nctallurgical should, so far as possible, make all 

 metallic materials for the engineering department, and 

 in return know of the behaviour of the materials 

 supplied. 



In 1S90 the technical school, apparently finding it 

 too difficult to impress its needs on the college autho- 

 rities, became an independent institution, and was 

 thus free to work out its own ideals until 1896, when 

 the two again joined for the purpose of applying for 



Prof. Arnold, his staff and students since 1889. " The 

 Influence of Aluminium on Occluded Gases in Steel " 

 (Arnold) was the first subject attacked, because of the 

 many conflicting statements as to this influence. The 

 experience gained in this work made possible the 

 manufacture of a series of extraordinarily pure steels, 

 the first research on which resulted in " The Influence 

 of Elements on Iron " (Arnold), which combated 

 Roberts-Austen's atomic volume theory as applied to 

 steel, and Osmond's theory of the hardness of steel 

 being due to a flint hard /3 iron apart from any carbon 

 contained. Incidentally the micro-constituents FeS 

 and MnS were discovered. The almost pugilistic 

 vigour of the tone of this paper and criticisms which 

 had preceded it seemed to turn many listeners, used to 



Prof. J, O. Arnold in the Micro-laboratory. 



a charter to become a university college, which charter 

 was received in May, 1897. That its isolated progress 

 produced a result acceptable, not only to practical, but 

 to university men, was shown when application was 

 made to enter the then Victoria University (an applica- 

 tion to the making of which the present writer was 

 firmly opposed) ; the report of the University Commis- 

 sion as published in the newspapers distinctly stated 

 that the technical department was the only part fit 

 for inclusion in the university. 



It is impossible justly to estimate the influence of the 

 metallurgical department, but the task must be at- 

 tempted, as therein lies its soul. Thirty or so researches 

 worked out in the department have been published by 

 NO. 1926, VOL. 74] 



more gentle ways, into opponents without examin- 

 mtion of the arguments, and it undoubtedly took many 

 years to dispel the feeling, which still remains in the 

 minds of some of the more unthinking or erratic, as 

 seen from the way in which in a recent paper simple 

 quotations from a well-known writer were treated in 

 the discussion as attacks on him. " The Chemical 

 Relations of Carbon and Iron " (.Arnold and Read, 

 1893) was the result of work done to examine the dis- 

 covery of the carbide of iron by Abel and Miiller, and 

 their results were fully confirmed, the carbide being 

 obtained in chemically pure crystalline plates. In 

 189s, in ■' The Influence of Carbon on Iron " (Arnold), 

 the discovery of the saturation point of steel was 



