December 30, 1922J 



NA TURE 



account of a single problem which is fundamental 

 not only to colloid chemistry but to molecular physics 

 as well. The variety of the subjects here indicated 

 should strengthen the appeal which the report makes to 

 readers possessing widely different individual interests. 

 Finally, it may not be out of place to direct attention 

 to the valuable assistance which the committee has 

 received from the Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research, without which the report could 

 not have been published. To any one appreciating 

 the value of these publications for the advancement 

 of chemical science and industry, it will be apparent 

 that the assistance thus rendered has been wisely 

 as well as generously given. 



• Early History of the Sussex Iron Industry. 



MR. RHYS JENKINS, vice-president of the 

 Newcomen Society, formed recently for the 

 study of the history of engineering and technology, 

 who has contributed two papers on the early history 

 of the iron industry in Sussex, has followed this up 

 by some notes on the early history of steel-making 

 in England. His paper deals with the history of 

 the production of steel before Huntsman's invention 

 of cast steel. 



That steel was produced in the time of Queen 

 Elizabeth is well known, but very little, if any, 

 research has been done on the history of the industry 

 between that period and about 1750. The earliest 

 mention of a works for the production of steel found 

 by the author is in 1573. He finds that John Glande 

 held a tenement called " A forge of steel " in Ashdown 

 Forest, Sussex. This forge came into the hands of 

 John Bowley in 1525, who still held it in 1548. It 

 appears that Sir Henry Sidney of Penshurst, Kent, 

 the father of Sir Philip Sidney, was a steel maker of 

 that period. Steel was manufactured at Roberts- 

 bridge in Sussex with the aid of Dutch labour obtained 

 from the neighbourhood of Cologne. The method 

 used was the so-called " finery " process, in which the 

 iron from the blast-furnaces, instead of being cast 

 into sows or pigs, was cast into thin flat bars. Another 

 site of steel forges in Sussex was Warbleton. 



An important landmark in the development of 

 the industry was the invention of the cementation 

 process. The earliest mention of this is in 1614, 

 when William Ellyott and Mathias Meysey obtained 

 a patent for converting iron into steel " by means 

 of a reverberatorie furnace with potts louted or 

 closed to be put therein containing in them certain 

 quantities of iron with other substances, mixtures 

 and ingredients, which being in the said furnace 

 brought to a proportion of heate doth make and 

 convert the same iron into steel, which steel with 

 other heate temperatures and hammerings to be 

 afterwards given to the same doth make good and 

 fitt for the use before mentioned." Ellyott and 

 Meysey were both natives of this country, and there 

 is no suggestion that they employed foreign workmen. 

 The author thinks that this invention may have 

 been a development of the case-hardening process, 

 possibly in the light of knowledge acquired from the 

 manufacture of brass. The works of Ellyott and 

 Meysey were probably situated in London, and in 

 1616 they obtained another patent for carrying out 

 the main invention with pit coal instead of wood. 



Later developments of the industry appear to 

 have taken place to some extent in the Forest of 

 Dean, and also in Yorkshire. Prince Rupert was 

 an inventor of the period, about 1650. On the whole, 

 the best steel seems to have been made in the Forest 

 of Dean. The records of that period indicate that it 

 made good edge-tools, files, and punches. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Cambridge. — Dr. A. P. Maudslay has been elected 

 an honorary fellow of Trinity Hall. 



Glasgow. — The University Court has accepted the 

 generous offer, already referred to in this column, of 

 a gift of 25,000/. from Mr. Henry Mechan for the 

 establishment of a Henry Mechan chair of public 

 health. In making the gift, in recognition of " the 

 great and important work which is being done by the 

 University of Glasgow," Mr. Mechan made no con- 

 ditions, preferring that " the accomplishment of my 

 purpose should be left to the University authorities." 

 The department of public health to which the new 

 chair is given has hitherto been joined with that of 

 medical jurisprudence under Prof. Glaister. 



Leeds. — At the meeting of the Court of the Uni- 

 versity on December 20, the Pro-Chancellor stated 

 that there are now 1535 full-time students as com- 

 pared with 1646 in the year 1921-22. The local 

 education authorities of Yorkshire are increasing their 

 help to the University. In addition to subsidies from 

 the City of Leeds, the West Riding and the East 

 Riding County Councils and the City of Wakefield, the 

 University now receives financial aid from the North 

 Riding County Council and from the City of York. 



The laboratory of the British Silk Research Associa- 

 tion has been established in temporary quarters, and 

 the National Bensole Association has instituted re- 

 searches in the department of fuel and metallurgy. 

 The premises used as a Marine Biological Laboratory 

 at Robin Hood's Bay have been purchased by the 

 University. With the help of a grant from the 

 Government the funds required for the new building 

 of the department of agriculture (the headquarters 

 of agricultural education in Yorkshire) have been 

 secured, and an early start will be made with the work. 



The Clothworkers' Company has recently made to 

 the University a gift of 2250/. in addition to its 

 earlier munificent endowments. 



The Court, on hearing of Prof. Smithells' decision 

 to resign the professorship of chemistry in order to 

 devote himself to scientific investigation in London, 

 " records its profound gratitude to him for service 

 of immeasurable value to the University during the 

 thirty-seven years in which he has held his Professor- 

 ship. He is one of the founders of the University, 

 which owes more than it can ever express to his 

 unselfish devotion to the public interest, to his untiring 

 labours in the application of science to industry, to his 

 strenuous and at last victorious defence of the re- 

 cognition of scientific technology as an element in the 

 highest type of university education, and to his un- 

 deviating adherence to a high and exacting standard 

 in university studies. The Court rejoices to think 

 that he now hopes to escape from some of the ad- 

 ministrative cares which have eaten into the leisure 

 which otherwise he would have devoted to scientific 

 research, and assures him that his name and work 

 will be inseparably connected in future with the his- 

 tory of the rise of the University of Leeds." 



The title of Emeritus Professor was conferred upon 

 the following : Percy Fry Kendall, professor of 

 geology, 1904-1922, who retired after reaching the 

 age limit in September ; John Goodman, professor 

 of civil and mechanical engineering, 1890-1922, who 

 resigned his chair in September. 



Dr. W. H. Pearsall, lecturer in the department of 

 botany, was appointed reader in botany in recognition 

 of his contributions to learning and research, especially 

 in ecology. 



A course of eight lectures on " Changing Geo- 

 graphical Values " will be delivered by Sir Halford 



NO. 2774, VOL. I IO] 



