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of the necessary ductility and toughness. The cases have to stand a pressure at the moment of firing of as much as twenty-five tons to the square inch—a pressure which exceeds the ordinary elastic limits of the steel of which the gun itself is composed.

There is nothing more wonderful in practical mechanics than the closing of the breech openings of guns, for not only must they be gastight at these tremendous pressures, but the mechanism must be such that one man by a single continuous movement shall be able to open or close the breech of the largest gun in some ten or fifteen seconds.

The perfect knowledge of the recoil of guns has enabled the reaction of the discharge to be utilised in compressing air or springs by which guns can be raised from concealed positions in order to deliver their fire, and then made to disappear again for loading; or the same force has been used to run up the guns automatically immediately after firing, or, as in the case of the Maxim gun, to deliver in the same way a continuous stream of bullets at the rate of ten in one second.

In the manufacture of shot and shell cast iron has been almost superseded by cast and wrought steel, though the hardened Palliser projectiles still hold their place. The forged-steel projectiles are produced by methods very similar to those used in the manufacture of metal cartridge-cases, though the process is carried on at a red heat and by machines much more powerful.

In every department concerned in the production of warlike stores electricity is playing a more and more important part. It has enabled the passage of a shot to be followed from its seat in the gun to its destination.

In the gun, by means of electrical contacts arranged in the bore, a timecurve of the passage of the shot can be determined.

From this the mathematician constructs the velocity-curve, and from this, again, the pressures producing the velocity are estimated, and used to check the same indications obtained by other means. The velocity of the shot after it has left the gun is easily ascertained by the Boulangé apparatus.

Electricity and photography have been laid under contribution for obtaining records of the flight of projectiles and the effects of explosions at the moment of their occurrence. Many of you will recollect Mr. Vernon Boys' marvellous photographs showing the progress of the shot driving before it waves of air in its course.

Electricity and photography also record the properties of metals and their alloys as determined by curves of cooling.

The readiness with which electrical energy can be converted into heat or light has been taken advantage of for the firing of guns, which in their turn can, by the same agency, be laid on the object by means of rangefinders placed at a distance and in advantageous and safe positions; while the electric light is utilised to illumine the sights at night, as well as to search out the objects of attack.

The compact nature of the glow-lamp, the brightness of the light, the circumstance that the light is not due to combustion, and therefore independent of air, facilitates the examination of the bore of guns, the insides of shells, and other similar uses-just as it is used by a doctor to examine the throat of a patient.

INFLUENCE OF INTERCOMMUNICATION AFFORDED BY BRITISH ASSOCIATION ON SCIENCE PROGRESS.

The advances in engineering which have produced the steam-engine, the railway, the telegraph, as well as our engines of war, may be said to be the result of commercial enterprise rendered possible only by the advances which have taken place in the several branches of science since 1831. Having regard to the intimate relations which the several sciences bear to each other, it is abundantly clear that much of this progress could not have taken place in the past, nor could further progress take place in the future, without intercommunication between the students of different branches of science.

The founders of the British Association based its claims to utility upon the power it afforded for this intercommunication. Mr. Vernon Harcourt (the uncle of your present General Secretary), in the address he delivered in 1832, said: 'How feeble is man for any purpose when he stands alone-how strong when united with other men!

'It may be true that the greatest philosophical works have been achieved in privacy, but it is no less true that these works would never have been accomplished had the authors not mingled with men of corresponding pursuits, and from the commerce of ideas often gathered germs of apparently insulated discoveries, and without such material aid would seldom have carried their investigations to a valuable conclusion.'

I claim for the British Association that it has fulfilled the objects of its founders, that it has had a large share in promoting intercommunication and combination.

Our meetings have been successful because they have maintained the true principles of scientific investigation. We have been able to secure the continued presence and concurrence of the master-spirits of science. They have been willing to sacrifice their leisure, and to promote the welfare of the Association, because the meetings have afforded them the means of advancing the sciences to which they are attached.

The Association has, moreover, justified the views of its founders in promoting intercourse between the pursuers of science, both at home and abroad, in a manner which is afforded by no other agency.

The weekly and sessional reunions of the Royal Society, and the annual soirées of other scientific societies, promote this intercourse to some extent, but the British Association presents to the young student during its week of meetings easy and continuous social opportunities for

making the acquaintance of leaders in science, and thereby obtaining their directing influence.

It thus encourages, in the first place, opportunities of combination, but, what is equally important, it gives at the same time material assistance to the investigators whom it thus brings together.

The reports on the state of science at the present time, as they appear in the last volume of our Proceedings, occupy the same important position, as records of science progress, as that occupied by those Reports in our earlier years. We exhibit no symptom of decay.

SCIENCE IN GERMANY FOSTERED BY THE STATE AND MUNICIPALITIES.

Our neighbours and rivals rely largely upon the guidance of the State for the promotion of both science teaching and of research. In Germany the foundations of technical and industrial training are laid in the Realschulen, and supplemented by the Higher Technical Schools. In Berlin that splendid institution, the Royal Technical High School, casts into the shade the facilities for education in the various Polytechnics which we are now establishing in London. Moreover, it assists the practical workman by a branch department, which is available to the public for testing building materials, metals, paper, oil, and other matters. The standards of all weights and measures used in trade can be purchased from or tested by the Government Department for Weights and Measures.

For developing pure scientific research and for promoting new applications of science to industrial purposes the German Government, at the instance of von Helmholtz, and aided by the munificence of Werner von Siemens, created the Physikalische Technische Reichsanstalt at Charlottenburg.

This establishment consists of two divisions. The first is charged with pure research, and is at the present time engaged in various thermal, optical, and electrical and other physical investigations. The second branch is employed in operations of delicate standardising to assist the wants of research students-for instance, dilatation, electrical resistances, electric and other forms of light, pressure gauges, recording instruments, thermometers, pyrometers, tuning forks, glass, oil-testing apparatus, viscosity of glycerine, &c.

Dr. Kohlrausch succeeded Helmholtz as president, and takes charge of the first division. Professor Hagen, the director under him, has charge of the second division. A professor is in charge of each of the several sub-departments. Under these are various subordinate posts, held by younger men, selected for previous valuable work, and usually for a limited time.

The general supervision is under a Council consisting of a president, who is a Privy Councillor, and twenty-four members, including the president and director of the Reichsanstalt; of the other members, about ten are professors or heads of physical and astronomical observatories

connected with the principal universities in Germany. Three are selected from leading firms in Germany representing mechanical, optical, and electric science, and the remainder are principal scientific officials connected with the Departments of War and Marine, the Royal Observatory at Potsdam, and the Royal Commission for Weights and Measures.

This Council meets in the winter, for such time as may be necessary, for examining the research work done in the first division during the previous year, and for laying down the scheme for research for the ensuing year; as well as for suggesting any requisite improvements in the second division. As a consequence of the position which science occupies in connection with the State in Continental countries, the services of those who have distinguished themselves either in the advancement or in the application of science are recognised by the award of honours; and thus the feeling for science is encouraged throughout the nation.

ASSISTANCE TO SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Great Britain maintained for a long time a leading position among the nations of the world by virtue of the excellence and accuracy of its workmanship, the result of individual energy; but the progress of mechanical science has made accuracy of workmanship the common property of all nations of the world. Our records show that hitherto, in its efforts to maintain its position by the application of science and the prosecution of research, England has made marvellous advances by means of voluntary effort, illustrated by the splendid munificence of such men as Gassiot, Joseph Whitworth, James Mason, and Ludwig Mond; and, whilst the increasing field of scientific research compels us occasionally to seek for Government assistance, it would be unfortunate if by any change voluntary effort were fettered by State control.

The following are the principal voluntary agencies which help forward scientific research in this country ---The Donation Fund of the Royal Society, derived from its surplus income. The British Association has contributed 60,000l. to aid research since its formation. The Royal Institution, founded in the last century, by Count Rumford, for the promotion of research, has assisted the investigations of Davy, of Young, of Faraday, of Frankland, of Tyndall, of Dewar, and of Rayleigh. The City Companies assist scientific research and foster scientific education both by direct contributions and through the City and Guilds Institute. The Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851 devote 6,000l. annually to science research scholarships, to enable students who have passed through a college curriculum and have given evidence of capacity for original research to continue the prosecution of science, with a view to its advance or to its application to the industries of the country. Several scientific societies, as, for instance, the Geographical Society and the Mechanical Engineers, have promoted direct research, each in their own branch of science, out of their surplus income; and every scientific society largely assists research by the publication, not only of its own proceedings, but

often of the work going on abroad in the branch of science which it represents.

The growing abundance of matter year by year increases the burden thus thrown on their finances, and the Treasury has recently granted to the Royal Society 1,000l. a year, to be spent in aid of the publication of scientific papers not necessarily limited to those of that Society.

The Royal Society has long felt the importance to scientific research of a catalogue of all papers and publications relating to pure and applied science, arranged systematically both as to authors' names and as to subject treated, and the Society has been engaged for some time upon a catalogue of that nature. But the daily increasing magnitude of these publications, coupled with the necessity of issuing the catalogue with adequate promptitude, and at appropriate intervals, renders it a task which could only be performed under International co-operation. The officers of the Royal Society have therefore appealed to the Government to urge Foreign Governments to send delegates to a Conference to be held next July to discuss the desirability and the scope of such a catalogue, and the possibility of preparing it.

The universities and colleges distributed over the country, besides their function of teaching, are large promoters of research, and their voluntary exertions are aided in some cases by contributions from Parliament in alleviation of their expenses.

Certain executive departments of the Government carry on research for their own purposes, which in that respect may be classed as voluntary. The Admiralty maintains the Greenwich Observatory, the Hydrographical Department, and various experimental services; and the War Office maintains its numerous scientific departments. The Treasury maintains a valuable chemical laboratory for Inland Revenue, Customs, and agricultural purposes. The Science and Art Department maintains the Royal College of Science, for the education of teachers and students from elementary schools. It allows the scientific apparatus in the national museum to be used for research purposes by the professors. The Solar Physics Committee, which has carried on numerous researches in solar physics, was appointed by and is responsible to this Department. The Department also administers the Sir Joseph Whitworth engineering research scholarships. Other scientific departments of the Government are aids to research, as, for instance, the Ordnance and the Geological Surveys, the Royal Mint, the Natural History Museum, Kew Gardens, and other lesser establishments in Scotland and Ireland; to which may be added, to some extent, the Standards Department of the Board of Trade, as well as municipal museums, which are gradually spreading over the country. For direct assistance to voluntary effort the Treasury contributes 4,000%. a year to the Royal Society for the promotion of research, which is administered under a board whose members represent all branches of Science. The Treasury, moreover, contributes to marine biological observatories, and in recent years has defrayed the cost of various expedi1895.

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