March 25. 1909] 



NATURE 



lamps. Life-test (ramus, designed for dealing with large 

 numbers of lamps, have been constructed in the laboratory ; 

 the racks can be tilted, so that the lamps may be burnt 

 at any angle, and resistances are provided for each lamp 

 to bring the voltage on the terminals to the value at which 

 the lamp will run initially at the standard watts per candle. 

 .\ new specially designed photometer bench, by Ale.x. 

 V\'right and Co., is employed for rapid candle-power 

 measurements of lamps under life test. 



Following upon a suggestion made by Dr. Glazebrook 

 at the British Association meeting in Dublin, agreement 

 has been arrived at with the standardising laboratories of 

 some other countries in regard to the adoption of an inter- 

 national light unit, and it is hoped that from an early 

 date it may be possible to express light measurements in 

 terms of the international candle. The matter is engaging 

 the attention of the International Electrotechnical Com- 

 mission. 



The metrology division has been much occupied during 

 the year in transferring apparatus to the new building 

 completed in 1907. A special feature of the building is 

 the long gallery, in which 50-metre surveying tapes can be 

 verified, whether on the flat or in catenary. Special 

 apparatus for the measuren\ents has been constructed by 

 the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Co., and the installa- 

 tion is now nearly complete. 



One of the rooms in the metrology building will be 

 devoted to the apparatus for ruling diffraction gratings 

 which belonged to the late Lord Blythswood, and which 

 has been placed on loan at the laboratory by Lady Blyths- 

 wood. After some alterations which were contemplated 

 by Lord Blythswood, the apparatus will be capable of 

 ruling gratings up to a length of 8 inches. 



.\s in previous years, the division has undertaken a con- 

 siderable amount of work in connection with the Engineer- 

 ing Standards Committee, and in particular diring 1908 

 important work has been done on the measurement of 

 screws and screw gauges. 



In the engineering department Dr. Stanton is still con- 

 tinuing his very valuable and interesting researches with 

 regard to wind pressure. His paper relating to the wind 

 pressure on structures in the open, and discussing the 

 difference in the resultant pressure on large and small 

 plates, is included in vol. v. of the " Collected Researches." 

 The question considered during 1908 has been the possi- 

 bility of inferring the ma.xiinum pressure on a large area 

 during a gale from the maximum pressure registered at 

 a single point of the area. ITic attempt to measure the 

 mean pressure over a large area of 1000 square feet was 

 made by means of pressure tubes distributed over the area, 

 and some interesting theoretical results were obtained when 

 a self-recording apparatus was set up to register the mean 

 pressure from more than two such tubes. At present con- 

 tinuous records are being taken of the mean pressure at 

 two points 40 feet apart, and will no doubt furnish in- 

 formation of value. Dr. Stanton has also been investi- 

 gating the resistance of plates and models in a uniform 

 current of water. Some of the results obtained are in- 

 cluded in a communication to be made to the Institution 

 of Naval Architects. A research on the heat transmission 

 and resistance of air currents in pipes is also in progress. 



The important work on the behaviour of materials under 

 repeated stresses has been very considerably advanced. An 

 ingenious machine has been devised to make a combined 

 abrasion and bending test under conditions approximating 

 to those of a steel rail in practice ; the conditions may be 

 varied from pure abrasion to pure bending. A paper on 

 the resistance of materials to impact was read before the 

 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and Mr. Bairstow 

 has completed a research on the elastic limits of material_ 

 under alternating stress. 



The work on superheated steam has been continued, and 

 in connection with this a research has been carried out on 

 the loss of heat from steam-pipe flanges. 



In both branches of the work of the department of 

 metallurgy and metallurgical chemistry material progress 

 has been made. A paper on cooling curves was read 

 by Mr. Rosenhain before the Physical Society ; a paper 

 entitled " Eutectic Research. No. i, the .Alloys of I-ead and 

 Tin," was presented to the Royal Society and printed in the 



NO. 2056, VOL. So] 



Philosophical Transactions, and the research on the copper- 

 aluminium-manganese alloys for the Alloys Research Com- 

 mittee of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers was 

 carried on continuously throughout the year. A report on 

 the first section of this work will shortly be communicated 

 to the institution. In addition, a considerable number of 

 important cases of failure were investigated in coopera- 

 tion with the engineering department, and some account of 

 this work was given in a paper on the study of breakages,- 

 read before Section G of the British Association at Dublin. 



In the section of this department devoted to metallurgical 

 chemistry, special attention has been given to the improve- 

 ment of the equipment and to the organisation of the work. 

 The methods of steel analysis and the apparatus employed 

 were described in a paper read by Mr. Rosenhain before 

 the Iron and Steel Institute, which is reprinted as an 

 appendix to the laboratory report. Of special interest are 

 the silica-tube combustion furnaces for the estimation of 

 carbon, a new type of electric muffle furnace, and the 

 apparatus for electrolytic deposition. New methods of 

 analysis have been investigated, and an improved proce- 

 dure for the estimation of phosphorus, especially in 

 phosphor-tin, has been described by Messrs. Gemmell and 

 Archbutt. 



The work done at the observatory department under Dr. 

 Chree, and the allied work at Eskdalemuir under Mr. 

 Walker, are of special character, and cannot properly be 

 dealt with here. Dr. Chree has completed a monumental 

 piece of work in the reduction and analysis of the mag- 

 netic records obtained by the Discovery Antarctic Expedi- 

 tion, while in addition he has discussed the magnetic 

 observations of the Scotia and the temperature and pen- 

 dulum observations of the Discovery. His work on the 

 Kew records has been continued in a paper, " Magnetic 

 Declination at Kew Observatory, iSqo to 1900," Phil. 

 Trans., A, vol. ccviii., 190S, reprinted in vol. v. of the 

 "Collected Researches"; a similar discussion of the hori- 

 zontal force curves is in progress. Much attention is also- 

 being given to the improvement of methods of meteor- 

 ological observation. 



The new observatory at Eskdalemuir was occupied in 

 May, 1908. and the worJ< of installing apparatus was at 

 once commenced. Regular meteorological observations are 

 now proceeding, and the seismographs have been running 

 since September, but the magnetographs have not yet been 

 erected. The delav has been due chiefly to difficulties 

 with damp in the magnetograph houses, which, however, 

 it is hoped are now finally overcome. Absolute magnetic 

 observations have been made three times weekly since 

 October. 



The past year bas been marked by steady and con- 

 tinuous progress in all branches of the work of the labora- 

 tory rather than by any new development of first-rate 

 imnortance. The construction of the experimental tank 

 will add to the laboratory a new department of special 

 interest, and it is to be hoped that in the near future means 

 m.iy be found of providing the much-needed extensions of 

 existing departments. 



THE AERO AND MOTOR-BOAT EXHIBITION. 

 •yniS exhibition, which opened at Olympia on March 19- 

 -*■ and will close on March 27, is the first of its kind to 

 be held in this country. The exhibition has been organised 

 by the Societv of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Ltd., 

 o'f which Mr! E. Manville is president, and is under the 

 management of Mr. H. A. Blackie. The society has had' 

 the cooperation of the Aero Club, and has succeeded in 

 presenting a valuable collection of models of aeroplanes, 

 several full-sized complete machines, together with ordinary 

 and dirigible balloons, and motor-boats. 



Proba'blv the most striking object in the hall is the 

 inflated Wellman dirigible America. This airship, in which 

 Mr. Wellman proposes again to attempt to reach the North 

 Pole this vear, is about 184 feet long, 52 feet in diameter, 

 and about'70 feet from the top of the envelope to the bottom 

 of the basket. The ship is suspended from_ the roof of 

 the hall, and has a capacity of 300,000 c-abic feet. The 

 car is 12!; feet long, the base forming a petrol tank of 



