October 10, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



337 



taining additional safety in case of damage. 

 Scott Eussell was the builder of this great 

 pioneer vessel, the forerunner of the At- 

 lantic liners, and the British Association 

 may rightly feel satisfaction in having 

 aided him when a young man by pecuniary 

 grants to develop his researches into the 

 design and construction of ships and the 

 wave-line form of hull which he originated, 

 a form of special importance in paddle- 

 wheel vessels. 



So much discussion has taken place in 

 the last four years as to the best construc- 

 tion of ship to resist torpedo attacks that it 

 is interesting to recall briefly at the present 

 time what was said by Wliite in his Cantor 

 lectures to the Eoyal Society of Arts in 

 1906: 



Great attention has been bestowed upon means 

 of defence against underwater torpedo attacks. 

 From tlie first introduction of torpedoes it was rec- 

 ognized that extreme watertight subdivision in the 

 interior of warships would be the most important 

 means of defence. Experiments have been made 

 with triple watertight skins forming double cellular 

 sides, the compartments nearest the outer bottom 

 being filled, in some cases, with water, coal, cellu- 

 lose, or other materials. Armor-plating has been 

 used both on the outer bottom and on inner skins. 



He also alludes to several Russian ships 

 which were torpedoed by the Japanese, 

 and he concludes by saying: 



"Up to date the balance of opinion has favored 

 minute watertight subdivisions and comparatively 

 thin water-tight compartments, rather than the 

 use of internal armor, the use of which, of course, 

 involves large expenditure of weight and cost. ' ' 



The present war has most amply con- 

 firmed his views and conclusions, then so 

 lucidly and concisely expressed. 



While on the subject of steamships, it 

 may perhaps be opportune to say one word 

 as to their further development. The size 

 of ships had been steadily increasing up to 

 the time of the war, resulting in a re- 

 duction of power required to propel them 

 per ton of displacement. On the other 



hand, thanks to their greater size and more 

 economical macliinery, speeds have been 

 increased when the traffic has justified the 

 greater cost. The limiting factor to fur- 

 ther increase in size is the depth of water 

 in the harbors. With tins restriction re- 

 moved there is no obstacle to building ships 

 up to 1,000 feet in length or more, pro- 

 vided the volume and character of the 

 traffic are such as to justify the capital 

 outlay. 



Tungsten Steel. — Among other impor- 

 tant pre-war developments that have had a 

 direct bearing upon the war, mention 

 should be made of the discovery and ex- 

 tensive use of alloys of steel. The wonder- 

 ful properties conferred upon steel by the 

 addition of tungsten were discovered b.y 

 Muschet in 1868, who has not been suffi- 

 ciently credited with his share in making 

 the Bessemer process a practical success, 

 and later this alloy was investigated and 

 improved by Maunsel Wliite and Taylor, 

 of Philadelphia. The later showed that 

 the addition of tungsten to steel has the 

 following effect: That after the steel has 

 been quenched at a very high temperature 

 near its melting point, it can be raised to 

 a much higher temperature than is possible 

 with ordinary carbon tool-steel without 

 losing its hardness and power of cutting 

 metal. In other words, it holds the carbon 

 more tenaciously in the hardened state, and 

 hence timgsten-steel tools, even when red- 

 hot, can cut ordinary mild steel. It has 

 revolutionized the design of machine tools, 

 and has increased the output on heavy 

 munition work toy 100 per cent., and in 

 ordinary engineering by 50 per cent. 



The alloys of steel and manganese with 

 which Sir Robert Hadfield's name is asso- 

 ciated have proved of utility in immensely 

 increasing the durability of railway and 

 tramway points and crossings, and for the 

 hard teeth of machinery for the crushing of 

 stone and other materials, and, in fact, for 



