May 7, 1896] 



NA TURP. 



19 



black-board. The usual series of normal ckfiections having been 

 recorded, tetanisation was to be prolonged for five minutes, with 

 the result that the succeeding variations would show an increase 

 which would gradually sink back to the normal. In the actual 

 experiment these anticipations were exactly fulfilled. 



Further experiments upon nerve in different conditions (the 

 particulars of which cannot here be described) showed the efifect 

 of carbon dioxide as slill coinciding with that of prolonged 

 tetanisation, such effect consisting primarily in an augmentation 

 of the negative variation ; hence the conclusion is drawn that 

 tetanised nerve evolves carbon dioxide. 



In favourable conditions augmentation of the negative varia- 

 tion may be produced by the series of brief tetani employed in 

 the rhythmic excitation of the nerve, when the effect closely 

 resembles the well-known " staircase" phenomenon occurring in 

 contractile tissue. Dr. Waller leaves it an open question 

 whether or no the phenomenon is of carbon dioxide production 

 in muscular as well as in nervous tissue. 



Of other sub-positive considerations touched upon, one of 

 chief interest is the surmise as to the functional and chemical 

 relations between grey axis and white sheath in a medullated 

 nerve fibre. The stability of nerve is that of perfect compen- 

 sation, not that of slowness or absence of change ; and it is 

 probable that the investing white sheath sujiplies the means of 

 rapid repair to the functional grey matter. 



It is perhaps not too much to hope that an elucidation of the 

 processes of assimilation and dissimilation will be among the 

 gains to our knowledge of living matter brought about by this 

 new method in the immediate future. S. C. M. S. 



THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL 

 ENGINEERS. 

 "T^IIE annual Spring Meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers was held last week on the evenings of Wednes- 

 day, April 29, and Friday, May i. The President, Mr. E. 

 Windsor Richards occupied the chair on both occasions. The 

 meetings were held in the theatre of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, lent by the Council of that body for the purpose. 

 The new buildings, which are now being erected for the 

 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, are fast progressing, and 

 probably the present year will be the last during which the 

 latter Society will be dependent for a meeting-place upon the 

 hospitality, always so freely accorded, of the older Institution. 



The agenda for the meeting contained two papers, as 

 follows :— 



(1) "Steel Steam Pipes and Fittings, and Benardos Arc 

 Welding in connection therewith." By Mr. .Samuel MacCarthy, 

 of London. 



(2) " Research Committee on the Value of the Steam Jacket. 

 Experiment on a Locomotive Engine." By Prof. T. Hudson 

 Beare and Mr. Bryan Donkin. 



The first business of the meeting, the usual formal proceedings 

 having been disposed of, was the reading of his address by the 

 President. Mr. Richards, as is well known, is a prominent 

 steel manufacturer, having held important positions in steel 

 works both in South Wales and in the Cleveland district. As 

 might have lieen expected, therefore, he dealt more with the 

 raw material which engineers use, rather than the methods of 

 working it up : that is, mechanical engineering proper. It 

 wfiuld be ungracious to find fault with the address, which must 

 have involved much labour in its preparation, but the members 

 of the Institution could hardly but feel a little disappointed that 

 the President did not deal more with the machinery used at 

 iron and steel works, rather than with the form of blast 

 furnaces and their prcxiucts. Mr. Richards' wide experience 

 would have made of the greatest value his remarks on rolling- 

 mills, rolling-mill engines, blowing engines, and many other 

 pieces of machinery which are strictly examples of mechanical 

 engineering used in iron and steel works. However, he 

 elected to confine his attention more particularly to blast 

 furnaces, and his remarks on the subject, although perhaps 

 more in keeping with the other technical society, of which he is 

 a yet more prominent member, the Iron and .Steel Institute, were 

 nevertheless of considerable interest. Mr. Richards referred to 

 the delegation organised last year, through the British Iron 

 Trade .Vssociation, to visit Belgium and tlermany, with a view 

 to ascertaining how it was that these countries were able not 

 only to compete with us in neutral markets, but were also able to 



NO. 1384, VOL. 54] 



sell their products even in our own markets. As the address 

 said, the inquiry undertaken by the delegation involved great 

 labour, and some of our readers may perhaps remember that at 

 the time it stirred up some very angry feelings ; the (Germans 

 specially resenting what they considered an intrusion into their 

 country. We have not space to follow the President in his dis- 

 cussion upon blast furnace practice in various countries, though 

 it may be generally stated that the Americans .show an amount 

 of intelligence and energy in their iron and steel works, which 

 is not surpassed and hardly equalled in any other country. 

 Indeed in blast furnace practice the United States may justly 

 claim to take the leading position in the world, not even except- 

 ing ourselves. At the present time near Pittsburgh there is 

 being erected an addition to the Duquesne Works, which 

 will cost about ^600,000. Four blast furnaces of a height of 

 100 feet are being erected, together with the necessary blast 

 engines and other plant. A production of 500 tons of pig-iron 

 every twenty-four hours is expected from each furnace, thus 

 bringing the total product for the year up to the enormous 

 amount of 180,000 tons. Quick working generally means short 

 life in a blast furnace, as in so many other things, and it has 

 been often contended by English iron-makers that the slower 

 working followed in this country is more profitable. If, how- 

 ever, it be allowed that the lining of the new American furnaces 

 only lasts for four years, no less than 700,000 tons of pig-iron 

 will be obtained in that time ; a quantity which, as the address 

 pointed out, an English furnace would require fourteen years to pro- 

 duce. Putting aside the question of furnace lining and renewing, 

 it will be easily seen the large advantage a system of quick working 

 gives in respect of labour, establishment charges, and, in fact, all 

 the items that go to make up the cost of producing pig-iron, 

 excepting the raw material. Under these circumstances it is 

 hardly to be wondered at that the .American output in the iron 

 trade is advancing with such gigantic strides. Mr. Richards 

 stated that generally in America the whole labour cost per ton 

 of Bessemer pig-iron, is from 80 cents to I dol. , and it is 

 expected that the new Duquesne plant will reduce that cost by 

 nearly one-half English manufacturers have, however, perhaps 

 less to fear from competition across the Atlantic, than from that 

 of continental States, and from this point of view the details 

 given of the production of the German and Luxemburg iron 

 districts are of great interest. We do not find the same gigantic 

 output as in America, but " in Germany there is a readiness to 

 adopt new methods, and to take advantage of every point in the 

 game of international competition, which cannot but go far to 

 ensure success." A good example of this is given in the readi- 

 ness with which German steel makers have adopted the basic 

 process. This process had its origin in England, and though 

 taken up by a few enterprising firms of steel makers, it may be 

 said to have been received with but cold welcome by the trade in 

 general. English makers preferred to import the hematite ores 

 suitable for the acid process, neglecting our own vast resources 

 of ore not suitable for acid steel. The Germans having some- 

 what similar iron ores, eagerly took up basic steel making, so as 

 to utilise native deposits, and did not rest until they had over- 

 come those defects and difficulties in manufacture, which always 

 attend a new process, and which were, perhaps, exceptionally 

 formidable in this case. They have received their reward, for 

 at the present time an enormous trade is done in Germany in 

 basic steel which can be produced at a cheap rate, whilst the 

 quality is sufficiently good for ordinary engineering purposes. 

 In Belgium; too, we see the result of an intelligent appreciation 

 of modern improvements — both by masters and men — combined 

 with a perseverance and industry which enables advantage to be 

 taken of the smaller details that, in the bulk, go to make 

 success. One thing the English manufacturer has against him is 

 railway rates, and this is very strikingly brought out in a com- 

 jiarison made between the facilities which English manufacturers 

 possess, as against those of the Belgium and German producer. As 

 regards labour cost, Mr. Richards tells us there is not much to 

 our disadvantage, but he says that our labour has become " far 

 more difficult to manage, is much more ready to stop work in 

 order to obtain an increase of wages, and is constantly agitating 

 for fewer hours of work. Every concession made renders it 

 more and more difficult to compete with the continent in the 

 markets of the world, but our workmen cannot yet be brought 

 to see this, neither can they be persuaded to cease opposition to 

 machinery devices for saving labour and reducing cost ; indeed 

 all such appliances are jealously watched, and, if possible, their 

 success is prevented." There is much truth in these remarks of 



