June 29, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



1035 



waters for the successful inauguration of this 

 interesting and important pliase of forestry 

 instruction. 



The value of the extensive timber investiga- 

 tions planned and carried on by Dr. Feruow, 

 when Chief of the Division of Forestry, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, is more and more 

 appreciated by practitioners and investigators, 

 as the results become better known. One of 

 the important results was the discovery of the 

 relation between the strength of a beam and of 

 a column of the same material, which was de- 

 duced and mathematically developed by F. E. 

 Neely, C.E., from the many thousand tests 

 made on comparable material during the ex- 

 tended general test series. 



This winter, Professor C. A. Martin and Mr. 

 George Young, Jr., both of the College of 

 Architecture, Cornell "University, have, under 

 the auspices of Professor F. Koth, of the New 

 York State College of Forestry, in connection 

 with the course o"n Timber physics, carried 

 on a series of tests, published in Engineering 

 Neivs, that furnish experimental proof of the 

 correctness of this relation, which is that the 

 strength of a beam at the elastic limit is equal 

 to the strength of the material in endwise com- 

 pression. 



In other words, if we wish to know what load 

 a beam will carry without injury to its elastic 

 properties, we only need to test the material in 

 compression to failure ; the load which accom- 

 plishes the failure is also the extreme load for 

 a beam strained to the elastic limit. 



The practical value of this discovery is readily 

 seen : A simple test in compression gives, with- 

 out the introduction of diflScult formulae, im- 

 mediate answer to the practically important 

 question of the beam 'strength to safe limits. 



The tests also remove any doubt as to whether 

 wood possesses a definite elastic limit, which, 

 although less pronounced than in metals, is, 

 nevertheless, readily recognized. 



THE FOBTffCOilimG MEETING OF THE 

 BUITISH ASSOCIATION. 



The issue of Nature for June 14th contains 

 an article by Mr. Ramsden Bacchus giving an 

 account of the plans for the Bradford meeting 



of the British Association from which we take 

 the following particulars : 



The meeting promises to be an unusually 

 large and important one. Bradford being 

 midway between London and Edinburgh, 

 serves as a common meeting-ground for 

 scientific men from the south of England 

 and from Scotland and Ireland, and it is within 

 easy reach of the Midland and Northern Uni- 

 versity Colleges. Bradford and Leeds are so 

 close together that for such a purpose as this 

 they are almost one city, and the Bradford 

 Committee, therefore, have the advantage of 

 the Yorkshire College being practically on the 

 spot. The last meeting of the British Associ- 

 ation in Bradford was held in 1873, but since 

 that time the city (which, by the way, was then 

 only a town) has practically been rebuilt, and 

 has grown and developed in a manner resem- 

 bling the progress of an American rather than 

 that of an English town. 



It is probable that the number of visitors will 

 be far above the average ; already some sixty 

 or seventy Fellows of the Royal Society have 

 announced their intention of being present, 

 and professors and eminent lecturers from 

 nearly every university in England, Scotland 

 aud Ireland have promised to attend. The 

 Church will be represented by the bishop of 

 Ripon, the legal profession by the Master of the 

 Rolls and Lord McLaren, and the names of 

 over a score of members of both Houses of 

 Parliament have been sent in. 



The meeting will commence on Wednesday, 

 September .5th, when the new President, Profes- 

 sor Sir Wm. Turner, of Edinburgh, will deliver 

 his address in St. George's Hall. On the follow- 

 ing evening the Mayor of Bradford will give a 

 conversazione in St. George's Hall, at which it is 

 hoped there will be exhibits illustrating the 

 most recent scientific work. On Friday even- 

 ing the lecture will be delivered in St. George's 

 Hall by Professor Gotch, F.R.S., on 'Animal 

 Electricity.' The lecture to artisans on Sat- 

 urday will be given by Professor Silvanus 

 Thompson, F.R.S., and it is expected that 

 there will be an audience in St. George's Hall 

 of 4000 to 5000 working men. On Monday 

 afternoon the Mayor and Corporation will give 

 a garden-party in Lister Park, and in the even- 



