20 KEPORT — 1888. 



this year, and remained an apparently perfect and sound projectile until 

 about the middle of August — some five months after delivery — and, of 

 course, a somewhat longer time since manufacture — and between August 

 6th and 8th this piece which I hold in my hand, measuring 3| inches by 

 31 inches, spontaneously flew oiF from the rest of the projectile, and has 

 done so upon a surface of separation which, whether having regard to 

 its beautiful regularity, or to the conclusions to be drawn from it as to 

 the nature of the strains existing, is of the very highest scientific interest. 

 Many other cases of self-rupture of similar projectiles have been recorded. 



Another instance of the effect of the ' next-to-nothing ' in the harden- 

 ing and tempering or annealing of steel. As we know, the iron and 

 the carbon (leaving other matters out of consideration) are there. The 

 carbon is (even in tool-steel) a very small proportion of the whole. The 

 steel may be bent, and will retain the form given to it. You heat it and 

 plunge it in cold water ; you attempt to bend it and it breaks ; but if, after 

 the plunging in cold water, you temper it by carefully reheating it, you 

 may bring it to the condition fit either for the cutting-tool for metal, or 

 for the cutting-tool for wood, or for the watch-spring ; and these important 

 variations of condition which are thus obtained depend upon the ' next-to- 

 nothing ' in the temperature to which it is reheated, and therefore in the 

 nature of the resulting combination of the ingredients of which the steel 

 is composed. 



Some admirable experiments were carried out on this subject by the 

 Institution of ]\Iechanical Engineers, with the assistance of one of our 

 Vice-Presidents, Sir Frederick Abel, and the subject has also been dealt 

 with by an eminent Russian writer. 



There is, to my mind, another and very striking popular instance (if 

 I may use the phrase) of the importance of attention to detail — that is, to 

 the ' next-to-nothing.' Consider the bicycles and tricycles of the present 

 day — -machines which afford the means of healthful exercise to thousands, 

 and which will, probably within a vei'y short time, prove of the very 

 greatest possible use for military purposes. The perfection to which 

 these machines have been brought is almost entirely due to strict atten- 

 tion to detail ; in the selection of the material of which the machines are 

 made ; in the application of pure science (in its strictest sense) to the • 

 form and to the proportioning of the parts, and also in the arrangement of 

 these various parts in relation the one to the other. The result is that the 

 greatest possible strength is aff"orded with only the least possible weight, 

 and that friction in working has been reduced to a minimum. All of ns 

 who remember the hobby-horse of former years, and who contrast that 

 machine with the bicycle or tricycle of the present day, realise how 

 thoroughly satisfactory is the result of this attention to detail — this 

 appreciation of the * next-to-nothing.' 



Let me give you another illustration of the importance of small things, 

 drawn from gunnery practice. 



