744 



NA TURE 



[December 2, 1922 



Napoleonic wars the prices of wheat rose enormously ; 

 in 1S00 it was 113s. lod. per Imperial quarter. 

 Under this stimulus farmers made great efforts to 

 increase production, and in spite of depleted supplies 

 of labour they kept the country provided with food. 

 Soon after the peace, however, there set in a severe 

 break in prices due to the general financial dislocation. 

 Unemployment was rife in all parts of the country 

 and Poor Law methods added to, rather than miti- 

 gated, the difficulties. To make the resemblance 

 between 1822 and 1922 even closer, there was a 

 remarkable similarity in the seasons. The history 

 of the years following 1822 affords hope for the 

 future. Agriculture improved with the gradual 

 readjustment in the financial and commercial position, 

 while the introduction of railways proved of enormous 

 benefit. From 1836 onwards progress was un- 

 mistakable, while the founding of Rothamsted in 

 1843 and of the Royal Agricultural College, Ciren- 

 cester, in 1845 marked the introduction of scientific 

 methods which completely revolutionised British 

 agriculture and opened up an era of prosperity that 

 closed only when the new countries of the West 

 flooded our markets with produce at prices with 

 which the British farmer could not compete. It is 

 a hopeful augury for the future that the scientific 

 organisation is already well developed. Colleges and 

 new research stations have been opened, Rothamsted 

 has been reorganised and greatly extended during 

 the last few vears, while Cirencester was reopened a 

 few weeks ago. 



It is difficult for any one who has received a scientific 

 training to believe that anything can be said in favour 

 of our cumbersome and complicated system of weights 

 and measures, or to understand the difficulties which are 

 advanced against the adoption of the metric system, 

 which has become the international language of 

 quantity. In his presidential address to the Decimal 

 Association on November 23, Sir Richard Gregory 

 pointed out that in forty-six countries of the world 

 the system is now obligatory, the latest addition 

 being Japan, which adopted metric measures in April 

 last. The United States and the British Empire are 

 the only two civilised nations which remain outside 

 this circle, and they must come within it eventually, 

 as there is no possibility of the Imperial system being 

 adopted internationally. With every development of 

 electrical science metric measures come into increasing 

 use ; for all the units employed are based upon the 

 metric system. In wireless communication, and for 

 broadcasting, wave-lengths are expressed in metres, 

 and in aviation international regulations are similarly 

 described. Even among English-speaking peoples 

 there is much diversity in the weights and measures 

 employed. The standard gallon in the United States 

 is the old wine gallon of 231 cubic inches instead of 

 the Imperial gallon of 277-274 cubic inches ; the 

 hundredweight there and in Canada is the cental of 

 100 lb. instead of the Imperial cwt. of 112 lb. ; and 

 the ton is the short ton of 20 centals or 2000 lt>. 

 instead of the ton of 2240 lb. The simplest way to 

 avoid the confusion consequent upon these and other 



NO. 2770, VOL. I io] 



diversities would be to adopt the metric system, 

 and the Decimal Association and American Metric 

 Association working for this end may be assured 

 that their efforts must finally achieve success. 



In order to demonstrate some of the minor uses 

 of home-grown timber a special exhibit is on view 

 in Museum iv, in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 

 of requisites commonly used in kitchen, laundry, and 

 dairy. Among them are bread boards, rolling-pins, 

 towel rollers, measures, scoops, bowls for milk and 

 pastry, butter knives and pats, butter prints, dishes 

 for skimming milk, potato mashers, steak beaters, 

 brushes and brush backs, spoons, mangle rollers, a 

 washing dolly, egg-cups, a plant-tub, and some wood 

 wool. The last-named is a most useful substance for 

 packing fruit, glass, and crockery. The principal 

 woods used for these articles are beech, lime, syca- 

 more, birch, elm, poplar, and willow. A number of 

 articles are shown in various stages of manufacture, 

 thereby demonstrating the immense amount of work 

 that is required to produce a common utensil that 

 may be purchased for a few pence, and at the same 

 time indicating what an important part is played by 

 the manufacture of home-grown timber, even into 

 minor articles, in the provision of employment for 

 large numbers of men and women. 



Some interesting figures are given in the issue of 

 the Engineer for November 17, which show the relative 

 costs of transport by different agencies working at 

 their normal speeds. The list opens with the barge, 

 with a speed of 1 mile per hour at an estimated cost 

 of 0-0004/. or tV^- per ton-mile, and at the other ex- 

 treme is the maximum expenditure per ton-mile of 

 the R.A.F. in England, with the cost for a speed of 

 100 miles per hour of 9-3/. or 2232^. Between these 

 extremes are some surprising results, some of which 

 are based on official figures while others are estimates. 

 The London motor omnibus at 10 miles per hour 

 costs 0-016/. or $d. per ton-mile. An electric passenger 

 train (3rd class) at 25 miles per hour costs 0-018/. or 

 \d. per ton-mile, while the corresponding steam train 

 at 40 miles per hour costs 0-024/. or (>d. With these 

 figures can be considered the cost per ton-mile at 12 

 miles per hour of a liner (1st class), which is 0-22/. 

 or 53^., though for the liner (3rd class), itis only o-i/. or 

 24^. The London-Paris passenger aeroplane service, 

 assumed to travel at 100 miles per hour, at present 

 rates costs 0-33/. or 80^. per ton-mile, though the 

 estimate of the Advisory Board for Civil Aviation is 

 0-7/. or i68d. The cost of running a Rolls-Royce car, 

 assuming a speed of 22 miles per hour, is estimated, 

 at the maximum, to be i-ol. or 240^. per ton-mile. 

 Turning now to carrying services, it is interesting to 

 find that parcel post, for a speed of 12 miles per hour, 

 costs 0-07/. or ijd. per ton-mile, while letters, at 17 

 miles per hour, cost 0-55/. or 132^. per ton-mile, and 

 the postman himself, travelling at 3 miles per hour, is 

 estimated to cost 4-85/. or 1164^. per ton-mile. Esti- 

 mates for the rigid airship vary from 0-016/. or ^d. per 

 ton-mile at 80 miles per hour to i-8/. or 432^. per ton- 

 mile at 40 miles per hour, the latter figures referring 

 to a machine assumed to carry a load of 10 tons. 



