146 



NA TLRE 



[April i, 1909 



heating surface due to high speed, and its correspondingly 

 reduced area, renders it possible economically to line that 

 part of the surface nearest to the furnace with refractory 

 material, and so to secure a non-water-cooled or reverbcra- 

 tory chamber in which the combustion processes may be 

 perfectly completed, any special need for skilful firing is 

 dispensed with, and, by providing plenty of air and an 

 ample mixing space behind the bridge, excellent results, 

 and an entire absence of smoke, may be obtained without 

 special care. 



Such brick-lined combustion chambers cannot now be 

 afforded next the furnace in ordinary boilers, for the heat- 

 ing surface at this point is almost all that the boiler has 

 of even moderately good evaporative power, and it cannot 

 be sacrificed, as convective heating surface, to be lined 

 with a protective coating for the purposes of a combustion 

 chamber. 



Nor is this all. Any lack of high furnace temperature 

 accompanying such air excess can so easily be made up 

 for by the additional gas speed that nearly the whole 

 heat-value of the coal can still be passed into the water, 

 even when the flue gases are relatively cool, without any 

 undue extension of the heating surface being found neces- 

 sary. We see also that the extra quantities of air just 

 mentioned may be admitted to the furnace without 

 encountering the evil results which usually follow such a 

 course. For, as practically all the heat is extracted from 

 the gaseous products before thev reach the chimney when 

 this high-speed counter-current method of working is 

 adopted, it matters but little to what extent they are 

 diluted. 



Thus the proposed new method of working, using both 

 high-speed and counter-current gas and water flow, appears 

 to be capable of introducing several features of radical 

 improvement into the present practice of steam-boiler con- 

 struction and working. 



The author believes that some such features must shortly 

 he incorporated in boiler design if the steam engine is to 

 retain the preeminence it has so long enjoyed in the 

 economical production of power. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



.Among the courses of lectures announced by the Uni 

 versify of Gottingen in the Bulletin of the American 

 Mathematical Society, we notice the entry : — " By Prof. 

 L. Prandtl : Theory of aeronautics, four hours." 



Science announces that the passage of the Legislative 

 -Appropriation Bill carrying 196,400/. for the University of 

 Kansas, gives the University all it asked, except an 

 appropriation for a dormitory. From the same source we 

 learn that by the will of Ellen A. Kendall, her residuary 

 estate is given to Wellesley College to found a professorship 

 bearing her name. It is provided that if the fund exceeds 

 i2,oooZ. the income of the excr-ii shall be used to aid 

 worthy students. 



The Lancet states that one friend of McGill University 

 has recently promised to give 20,000/. to the University 

 as soon as 100,000/. has been raised elsewhere, and another 

 has presented the governors of llie institution with an 

 unconditional gift of 5000/. The above announcements 

 Avere made at a recent meeting of the corporation of the 

 University, and as the authorities have now in hand about 

 20,000/., it was decided for the present to leave in abeyance 

 the plans for obtaining the 400,000/. which the institution 

 needs, and to concentrate all possible efforts towards 

 securing the other 80,000/. neces'^ary before the new 20,000/. 

 donation can be accepted. 



We have received a copy of the March issue of The 

 Record, the magazine of the South-Westcrn Polytechnic 

 Institute, Chelsea. In addition to the interesting chronicle 

 of the doings of the various societies in connection with 

 the institute, the magazine contains several articles by old 

 students and others on aspects of the engineering pro- 

 fession. An illustrated account is given of a recently 

 acquired 50-ton testing machine in the mechanical ongineer- 



No. 2057, ^'o^.. 80] 



ing laboratory, and a compound steam engine provided by 

 the London County Council is included.- These additions 

 are good instances of the satisfactory equipment with' which 

 technical institutions of London are now able to instruct 

 their students in the practical requirements of industrial 

 enterprise. 



The annual meeting of the Swanley Horticultural 

 College (lor Women) was held on March 24. The chair- 

 man, Sir John Cockburn, in moving the adoption of the 

 report and balance-sheet, laid stress on the admirable work 

 done by the college in meeting the two great requirements 

 of the day, viz. rural education and the higher education 

 of women. Mr. C. Bathurst, in seconding the resolution, 

 directed attention to the growing demand on the part of 

 local educational authorities for teachers qualified to give 

 instruction in nature-study and school gardening in both 

 elementary and secondary schools, and the increasing use- 

 fulness of Swanley in meeting this demand. Short courses 

 of instruction upon gardening and other country occupa- 

 tions Will be given at the college from May 6 to June 15' 

 and from June 18 to July 27. There will also be a nature- 

 study course from July 31 to August 14. 



.As technical education in India is about to receive serious 

 consideration, attention is directed in an article in Indian 

 Engineering for February 20 to certain causes of failure 

 in the past. The original scheme of education in India 

 seems to have been instituted for the principaT purpose of 

 providing a supply of Indian clerks having a knowledge 

 of English. As the result of fifty years of this policy 'it ■ 

 is now found that higher education is pursued with too; ', 

 exclusive a view to entering Government service, and-its'-TS: 

 scope is thus unduly limited. Again, difficult work requires' ■ 

 expert workers, and it is to be hoped that these will be 

 forthcoming, and that they will have a freer hand in deal- 

 ing with technical education problems than has hitherto 

 been the case in the Indian educational administration. 

 Steps should be taken to secure that expert educationists 

 will be in a majority, and that their reports will not require 

 to be made through alien departments. The example of 

 Japan shows what is possible in Eastern countries, but 

 Japan was initially guided by men of educational experi- 

 ence and^ scientific knowledge. ■ 



The issue of the Oxford and Cambridge Review for the 

 Lent term provides a varied table of contents. In an article 

 on some defects in the curriculum of the public schools 

 and a suggested remedy, Mr. A. R. Gidney directs atten- 

 tion to certain resolutions adopted at last year's confer- 

 ence of headmasters, and the decision to appoint a com- 

 mittee to consider a scheme of studies for boys from the 

 ages of nine to sixteen or thereabout. Against the present 

 scheme of studies, says Mr. Gidney, three indictments may 

 be brought : — it is surcharged with languages ; it recognises 

 inadequately the bent of individual boys ; and it fails to 

 arouse an intellectual interest in the m.aiority of boys. 

 Having dealt with the congested state of the present curri- 

 culum, the writer wisely insists that a selection of subjects 

 must be made, and that in making it it must be remem- 

 bered that the majority of boys have a greater ability for 

 one class of studies than another, and that this ability, 

 though innate, does not manifest itself usually with any 

 clearness until a particular epoch in the boy's life. Most 

 authorities will agree with these conclusions, but many will 

 consider that Mr. Gidney gives too little prominence to 

 the need for practical studies of several kinds in the scheme 

 of education he outlines. Mr. Leonard Hill, F.R.S., con- 

 tributes an article on oxygen for athletes, and after ex- 

 plaining and summarising some of the researches of Dr. 

 John Haldane, Dr. Pembrey, Prof. Zuntz, Mr. Flack, 

 himself, and other workers in connection with the inhala- 

 tion of oxygen, he concludes his essay by remarking that 

 he is " indifferent whether oxygen is used by athletes or 

 not ; if thev choose to try they will soon find out whether 

 the advant.-ige gained is worth the trouble and expense." 

 Mr. Hill " is content with the knowledge he has gained, 

 that oxygen inhalation combined with exercise is a potent 

 method of treatment in various pathological states." Mr. 

 M. M. Paltison Muir writes on the abuse of the word 

 " scientific." 



