1^6 



NATURE 



[June 13, 1907 



lliere have been official investigations on kala-azar, 

 malaria, Malta fever, plague, typhoid, and other 

 diseases, and on veterinary subjects; the Government 

 has lonjr set an example to other countries in the 

 sale of cheap quinine in malarious areas, and some- 

 thing like a third of many municipal budgets is spent 

 un sanitation, mostly water supply, conservancy, and 

 drainage. Outside India we have recently seen very 

 fine official researches on Malta fever and sleeping- 

 sickness, so that matters are improving. But in my 

 own humble opinion even this is not enough, and I 

 think that the expenditure on research should reach 

 5 per cent, of that on all medical and sanitary work. 

 Nimibers of subjects, such, for example, as measles 

 and scarlet fever in this country, remain almost un- 

 touched, greatly to the disadvantage of the public, 

 and in a hundred directions we find action crippled 

 by want of knowledge, and, therefore, correspond- 

 ingly expensive and inefficient. 



But the whole subject of science and the State 

 possesses a most important, and indeed ominous, 

 political significance. The invention of locomotives, 

 by reducing the time required in travelling to about 

 one-third or less, has, so to speak, diminished the 

 world's diameter in the same proportion, and, bv 

 bringing the nations more closelv face to face, has 

 greatly increased the acuteness of international com- 

 petition. In this competition scientific organisation 

 becomes more and more vital to success, and in the 

 wars of the last decade we have actuallv witnessed 

 the complete collapse of two unscientific peoples before 

 (heir more intelligent adversaries. Now no one will 

 deny that the British stand in the front rank of 

 scientific nations, but it is equally evident that this 

 eminence is due entirely to private individuals, and 

 not at all to the Government, that is, to the partv 

 politicians. For years they have allotted only about 

 one three-thousandth part of the national income for 

 scientific work, that is, for obtaining knowledge, 

 equivalent to the annual expenditure for that purpose 

 of six shillings and eightpence by a person possessing 

 a thousand pounds a year; and it may be suggested 

 that the amount of scientific intelligence and know- 

 ledge shown in our party political administration 

 should be calculated at about the same rate. Nor 

 can it be contended that the people at large show a 

 much greater interest in science, a much greater 

 knowledge of scientific facts, or a much greater pro- 

 ficiency in scientific habits of thought. Quite recently 

 the Boer war gave us an explicit warning of what 

 such nescience is likely to lead to, and we can onlv 

 hope that the nation will have the sense to reform its 

 methods in consequence before it is too late. For a 

 full discussion of the subject, however, I must refer 

 the reader to a recent book called "The Problem of 

 National Defence," by my brother. Major Charles 

 Ross, D.S.O. (Hutchinson and Co.), in which he 

 examines from a military standpoint the same defects 

 as I have alluded to above in connection with medical 

 matters. The two cases are really parts of the same 

 problem — how are we to be governed in the future 

 by science rather than by nescience? But whether a 

 nation so wedded to old habits will be able to change 

 in time to save itself is another question which it is 

 imoossible to touch upon here. 



I fear that some of these remarks will appear to 

 many to be too severe, or perhaps too personal ; but 

 I can only state my own opinions, however small their 

 value; and have attempted to do so as franklv as 

 possible,, because otherwise there is little use in writ- 

 ing on the subject at all. I should like to add, in 

 conclusion, that my object is not to find fault, but to 

 suggest lines of improvement for the future; and, un- 

 fortunately, the one cannot be atteninted without the 

 other. Ronald Ross. 



NO. 1963, VOI,. 76] 



INCANDESCENT ELECTRIC LAMPS.- 

 T^ HE closing months of 1906 and the opening 

 ■'• months of 1907 are likely to be long remembered 

 by electrical engineers as a period of a remarkable 

 recrudescence of interest in the subject of incandescent 

 electric lamps. For many years the familiar carbon 

 filament lamp has been the only commercial incan- 

 descent electric lamp, in spite of its threatened e.x- 

 tinction by the invention of the Nernst lamp in 1897- 

 1S98. The feeling of uncertainty caused by this 

 discovery was short-lived ; after a wealth of prophecy 

 on its probable effect on the industry it was soon 

 found out that months, even years, of experiment 

 were necessary to perfect the Nernst l.imps commer- 

 cially, and the drastic changes recommended to 

 supply engineers were postponed for a time in con- 

 sequence. Finally, the lamp, capable though it 

 proved of taking a definite place in the art of electric 

 lighting, was found to be hardly even a serious com- 

 petitor of the carbon filament lamp. 



In spite, therefore, of the predictions of 1898, the 

 electrical world settled down with the conviction that 

 the threatened revolution was not destined to be 

 achieved. But in the meantime inventors were busy — 

 foreign inventors that is to say, the English manu- 

 facturers being always too busy to invent — and from 

 time to time rumours were heard of other approach- 

 ing revolutions. Rendered callous, possibly, bv the 

 history of the Nernst lamp, little attention was paid 

 to these warnings until the introduction of first the 

 osmium lamp of Dr. VVelsbach and then the tantalum 

 lamp of Messrs. Siemens proved the truth of the old 

 saying connecting smoke with fire, t'lnally came the 

 practical realisation of the tungsten lamp almost 

 simultaneously by Kuzel, Just and Hannaman, and 

 \N'elsbach, and this for some unknown psychological 

 reason seems to have suddenly awakened English 

 engineers. Once awake they atoned for their long 

 slumber by a copious use of ink, and the technical 

 Press of the period referred to at the beginning of 

 this article simply teems with matter relating to the 

 new lamp developments. 



AU that is valuable in these articles will be found 

 conveniently crystallised in the papers and discussions 

 in the Journal of the Institution of Electrical 

 Engineers. A paper by Mr. Swinburne on the new 

 lamps opens the Latest volume; it is followed by one 

 on light standards and the present condition of high- 

 voltage carbon filament lamps, bv Mr. C. Paterson, 

 and the series is rounded off by a paper on carbon fila- 

 ment, Nernst and tantalum lamps, by Messrs. 

 Haworth, Matthewman, and Ogley. Combining 

 these papers with M. Rodet's excellent little book on 

 incandescent electric lamps, the reader can obtain a 

 very fair idea of the present position of this subject. 



So far as the carbon filament lamp is concerned, the 

 position is far from satisfactory, as the study of Mr. 

 Paterson 's paper shows. It may justly be argued that 

 the test results shown bv the author are hardly numer- 

 ous enough to justify the title. Six lamps each from 

 ten British makers is a small number on which to 

 base a condemnation of British methods, and a lamp- 

 maker who manufactures four or five million lamps 

 a year may rightly complain on being judged by the 

 performance of a chance six. But making all allow- 

 ance, it must be admitted that there is still much to 

 be desired ; nor does it seem probable that a much 

 nearer approach to perfection is likelv to be attained 

 without cooperation between manufacturers and sup- 

 ply ensfineers. To make a lamp for a given voltage to 

 have a definite candle-power and take a definite cur- 



1 "Lee Lampes .\ Incarde'icence ilerttiques." By J. Rodet. Pp. xi 

 + 2CO. (Paris: Gaulhrer-ViUars, 1907.) P. ice 6 francs. 



"Journal of the Instiiution of Electrical Engineers." Vol. xxxviii. 

 No. 182. rp.2ii— 371. London: E. aid F. N.Spon, Ltd., 1507.) Price 5.1. 



I 



