92 



SCIENTIFIC NEAVS. 



[June I St, 1 5 



but even to keep directly in the front, not merely the men 

 but also the manufacturers must arm themselves with 

 technical knowledge, to enable them to effect the improve- 

 ments in their machinery and processes which progress 

 demanded of them. 



Looking at the entire work which the City and Guilds of 

 London Institute had carried out during the last eight years, 

 one saw how much larger it was than the work it started to 

 accomplish, but that was not on account of more having 

 been done at the Central Institution than was contemplated 

 in the scheme of organisation, but because the efforts of the 

 Institute in other directions had led to wider developments 

 than were originally anticipated. The very fact that the 

 Institute had alread}' done much more at Finsbury than was 

 originally contemplated, and that it had carried out so large 

 a part of the scheme of organisation at the Central Institu- 

 tion, assured him that the Institute would not only enlarge 

 the buildings at Finsbury, which was much needed, but that 

 it would complete the remainder of the scheme at the 

 Central Institution which also was urgently necessary to 

 make the work a connected whole. 



In his own department, Professor Ayrton said he should 

 like to see the teaching in optics rendered as valuable to the 

 optical instrument makers as was possible, but to do that 

 would require someone with a knowledge of the exact de- 

 vices used in the trade, and a comprehensive knowledge of 

 the theory, to devote himself to making the one help the other. 

 He should further like to see the subject of warming and 

 ventilation made a science. The warming and ventilation of 

 buildings was at present carried out in far too empirical a 

 manner, and consequently the result was often failure. To 

 make that subject a science would require some one to de- 

 vote himself to it, spending all his time teaching what he 

 knew, and v,?ith the students experimentally finding out what 

 probably neither he nor anyone else yet knew. It appeared 

 to him that it would be but little more difficult to obtain 

 accurate practical rules about the flow of heat and of 

 air, than it had been to obtain the accurate practical rules 

 which the electrical engineer made use of daily. And 

 although he should not like even to suggest that the 

 science of electrical engineering was within measurable 

 distance of perfection, still he did not think that in any 

 electric light installation an electric current would be 

 found to flow in the opposite direction to that anticipated by 

 the electrician, whereas, in connection with ventilation, 

 openings put in the wall to act as inlets not unfrequently 

 acted as outlets. The professional constructor of venti- 

 lating and warming appliances was 'certainly at present 

 far behind the electrical engineer. He had been told that 

 the cold draughts or stifling atmosphere in public buildirgs 

 ' arises, in some cases, from the architect having been himself 

 compelled to design the ventilating and warming arrange- 

 ments without possessing sufficient knowledge of the sub- 

 ject, or from his having constrained the person who had 

 done the work, by imposing conditions ol art. But, if this 

 were the case, or even if there were the shadow of plausi- 

 bility in this statement, then he would appeal most earnestly 

 to the architects to join hands with those whose duty and 

 whose aim it was to advance technical education in helping 

 young architects to obtain a far wider technical knowlege 

 than was thought necessary in the past. It was to the 

 interests of the architectural profession that they should 

 gain this knowledge; it was the province of the Central 

 Institution to give it. There was another branch of physics 

 which concerned the architect, and that was acoustics. 

 Books on acoustics usually contained a great deal about the 

 vibration of strings, tuning-forks, and organ pipes, in fact 

 they appropriated the name to the science of music and left 

 out the equally important science, the science of noise. It 



was perhaps not particularly interesting to an architect to 

 know how a string vibrated when emitting different musical 

 notes, he might not care about the fact that the tuning-fork 

 gave a fairly pure note without harmonics, but it was all 

 important to him to keep a sound on that side of a wall on 

 which it was produced. What a mine there was for some 

 architect who would study what Tyndall had done on 

 stoppage of sound, and, by earnest experimenting, work out 

 a method of rendering our walls nearly as impervious to 

 sound as they were now to light. 



The address was concluded by the following quotation 

 from a speech of the Lord Chancellor, at the opening ol the 

 Central Institution in 1884 : — " The Englishman has yet to 

 learn that an extended and systematic education, up to and 

 including the methods of original research, is now a neces- 

 sary preliminary to the fullest development of industry." 



REVIEWS OF BOOKS. 



Minutes of Proceedings of the Instittition of Civil Engineers ; 



with other Selected and Abstracted Papers. Vol. Ixxxviii. 



Edited by James Forrest, Assoc. Inst. C.E. London : 



Published by the Institution. 1887. 

 This volume of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers contains three important papers that were read and 

 discussed during the session to which the issue refers. The 

 first of these is a valuable contribution from Professor A B. W. 

 Kennedy, on " The Use and Equipment of Engineering Labo- 

 ratories." Professor Kennedy, as the head of the engineering 

 laboratory at University College, has taken a leading part in the 

 establishment of such institutions, and no one is better qualified 

 to speak on the subject. The paper describes the method of 

 work, the nature of the experiments made, and the apparatus 

 used. The section treating of testing machines, is especially 

 valuable, and is well illustrated. The discussion on this paper 

 was of that thorough and satisfactory nature which a good 

 subject always ensures at the meetings of the Institution. Two 

 evenings were devoted to it, and a large proportion of the 

 best authorities on the question were heard. The method of 

 dealing with papers followed by the Civil Engineers is an 

 agreeable contrast to that of some other kindred societies. 

 With the latter all papers, good and bad, important or unim- 

 portant, are treated alike, and when four or five contributions 

 are heard at one sitting, it is impossible to do them justice. 

 The Civil Engineers, on the other hand, select a few papers for 

 reading and take the others as read, printing them in the Pro- 

 ceedings. It does not of course follow that the latter are not 

 valuable, but simply that they are not so suitable for discussion. 

 Another excellent feature in the Proceedings of this Institution 

 is the correspondence that is invited and published with the 

 discussion. Very often members or others may have valuable 

 information to give, but are unable to be present in the theatre. 

 The incorporation of correspondence enables such information 

 to be made use of, whereas it would be otherwise lost. It is 

 true that, with other technical societies of a kindred nature, 

 letters are occasionally incorporated with the discussion, but 

 with the Institution of Civil Engineers no pains are spared to 

 bring the question before as many persons competent to speak 

 on the subject as possible, and get their opinions and ideas. It 

 is these facts that render the Proceedings of this Institution so 

 valuable. Too much is never attempted, but whatever is done, 

 is done completely and satisfactorily. The other two papers 

 referred to are on " Sewage Sludge, and its Disposal," by W. J. 

 Dibden, and " Irrigation in Lower Egypt," by W. Willcocks. 

 The selected papers (unread) are on " fiarbour Works in Algoa 

 Bay," W. Shield; "Friction Clutches," W. Bagshaw ; "Iron 

 and Brass Foundries of Point St. Charles. Works, Grand Trunk 

 Railway of Canada," F. L. Wanklyn ; "Utilizing Waste Air 

 in Filter Presses," J. Hethrington ; " Administration of Fish- 

 ing Boat Harbours in France," "Central Station Electric 

 Lighting," K. W. Hedges; "Skeleton of Statue of Liberty, 

 New York,' T. Seyrig ; "Syphon Outlet for a Low Sewer 

 District," G. E. Waring, Junr. The abstracts of papers in 

 foreign transactions and periodicals, which arc so valuable a 

 feature in the published minutes, form a fitting conclusion to the 

 work. 



