Scientific Research and Industrial Developmentdoi: 10.1038/161699a0pmid: N/A
IN opening a discussion, over which Sir John Anderson presided, at the centenary meeting in 1931 of the British Association, Sir Arthur Fleming urged the establishment of a national organisation to provide means of analysing the possibilities which new ideas afford of developing new lines of manufacture. Since that time, there has been frequent consideration of the means of bridging the gap between the birth of an idea and its industrial application. Reporting back to the Economic Advisory Council in 1932, the Committee of New Industrial Development rejected the proposal for a national organisation, on the ground that there was no evidence of an important gap in the existing arrangements for industrial research. Various reports during the last decade, however, have emphasized the difficulties and expensiveness of pilot-plant development, and it has been a main objective of a sub-committee of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee since 1943 to secure some modification of taxation policy in this connexion, and to promote a national organisation for the purpose.
Village Life in the Eighteenth CenturyRUSSELL, E. JOHN
doi: 10.1038/161701a0pmid: N/A
AFTER an active official life, Mr. G. E. Fussell set himself to continue and develop the historical studies which had long made him known to all interested in English country life, and in this little book he has brought together in compact but very readable form a connected account of the English village as it was in the eighteenth century. It was an important period for our agriculture ; during the first half Jethro Tull, by the introduction of the seed drill and the horse hoe, and Lord Townshend, by developing the method of crop rotation, were laying the foundations for the change from the old to the new agriculture which was brought about in the latter part of the century by Coke of Norfolk, Bakewell of Dishley and others. The author begins by describing the lay-out of the village, the three classes of people—landlord, tenant and labourer—the mode of government, how the people lived and what work they had to do in the various seasons of the year, their social life, the village trade and commerce.
Reviews of Petroleum TechnologyMILNER, H. B.
doi: 10.1038/161703a0pmid: N/A
THE last volume in this series (for 1940) appeared in 1941, since when the exigencies of war prevented publication as hitherto. The present volume covers the quinquennial period 1941–45—critical war years—and its contents thus reflect the trend of petroleum technology over a wide field during the most abnormal times the industry has ever passed through.
Theoretical AerodynamicsDUNCAN, W. J.
doi: 10.1038/161703b0pmid: N/A
AERODYNAMICS is the science of the motion of gases and is of great intrinsic interest ; but the present importance of the science lies largely in its applications, for it provides the rational basis for the design of aircraft. The subject is growing rapidly and is already so large that it cannot be adequately covered, even at an elementary level, in a single text-book. Some of the major branches are : theory of aerofoils and of control surfaces, the boundary layer, turbulent flow, flow at speeds near and above the speed of sound, flow at extremely low pressures, heat transfer, theory of aircraft performance, theory of the stability, control and flutter of aircraft, aerodynamics of propulsion including the internal aerodynamics of propelling machinery. However, the theory of the irrotational or ‘potential' flow of fluids about aerofoils holds a central position in applied aerodynamics, and it is based on classical hydrodynamics. The book now under review is almost wholly concerned with the theory of aerofoils and with the hydrodynamic basis. The subjects of viscosity and turbulence are not seriously discussed.
Achievements in OpticsWEINTROUB, S.
doi: 10.1038/161704b0pmid: N/A
THIS is the first of a series of monographs, under A the general editorship of Drs. R. Houwink and J. A. A. Katelaar, to be published on the progress of research in Holland during the five years of German occupation. Most of the material was, for obvious reasons, kept secret during the War. Though prepared in secret, the text of "Achievements in Optics", which gives a survey of optical work in the Netherlands immediately prior to and during the War, was actually ready for printing before the liberation. Technical difficulties delayed its appearance until a year later. As a result, no consideration is given, or reference made, to similar work in Allied countries, and it is difficult to appreciate how much of the work described in the monograph predates similar work which has appeared in scientific periodicals during the last few years. For example, both in the U.S.S.R. (notably by Maksutov) and in Great Britain, optical systems consisting of spherical mirrors and meniscus lenses have been investigated and developed. It speaks highly for the Dutch, however, that they, in spite of their isolation from other scientific workers, should have, simultaneously, made advances in both geometrical and physical optics of such fundamental importance. The descriptions of their new optical systems and instruments given in the monograph are, therefore, worthy of the closest study.
The Geography of the Flowering PlantsSALISBURY, E. J.
doi: 10.1038/161704a0pmid: N/A
THIS book, as the author himself states, "is devoted to plant geography in the narrower sense", plant ecology being outside its scope. As a consequence, the treatment is essentially factual in character rather than causal, and static rather than dynamic. The difficulties of any attempt at such restriction are at once apparent, despite the inclusion of chapters on geological history and plant distribution and a section devoted to the factors of distribution. However, within these limits the author has collected together many of the facts concerning the distribution of taxonomic aggregates over the earth‘s surface which will be a welcome addition to the botanist‘s library, the more so that much of the literature of the subject is widely scattered. More than a third of the text is devoted to salient facts of the distribution of families, genera and species, where many of the striking features of extended range, discontinuity and endemism are assembled and illustrated with more than forty maps portraying various types of occurrence, from the extended tropical range of the Palmae and the cosmopolitan genus Drosero, to the discontinuity of the Magnoliacese or that of Saxifraga geum and Dabœcia polifolium.
An Introduction to Analytical GeometryPIAGGIO, H. T. H.
doi: 10.1038/161705a0pmid: N/A
THIS is a continuation of an earlier volume published in 1940. The most original part of Vol. 2 is Chapter 19, on general geometry. This, with its references to G6, G6 and G7, is at first sight difficult to understand, but becomes clear and very interesting if we refer back to Chapter 8 of Vol. 1. The leading idea, expanded from a suggestion of the late Prof. G. H. Hardy, is that what is usually called analytical geometry of two dimensions is not one subject, but several. The simplest kind, called G2 corresponds closely to Euclidean geometry G1. G3 is similar to G2, but regards a ‘point' as merely a term for an ordered pair of real numbers x and y. In G4 these numbers are no longer real, but complex. In G5 we keep the pair real, and supplement them by a third real number z, introduced to make the equations homogeneous. Points at which z = 0 are called points of infinity. G6 has triplets of complex numbers, thus combining the advantages of G4 and G5. In both G5 and G6 the points of infinity and the line on which they lie are exceptional. In G7 all points and lines are on an equal footing. Theorems which are true in one kind of geometry may be untrue or even absurd in another. This discussion clears up the paradoxes which used to puzzle us concerning lines at right angles to themselves and separate points the distance apart of which is zero. However, the schoolboy, for whom the author professes to write, may not find this part of the book easy.
A Bibliographic ClassificationB., R.
doi: 10.1038/161705b0pmid: N/A
THIS volume sets forth the specifications and schedules in Bliss‘s classification for anthropology and the medical sciences, psychology (including psychiatry), education and sociology, including ethnology, folk-lore, ethnography and human geography. The expansions for the medical sciences have been compiled with the assistance of Mr. C. C. Barnard, and those for physiology, medicine and surgery have more recently been revised by Dr. R. B. Singer. The classification for psychology has been compiled in collaboration with Dr. C. M. Louttit, while the schedules for sociology, social ethnology and folk-lore have been revised by Miss Beverly Stamm. Although Bliss‘s classification is little known outside the ranks of librarians and bibliographers, the scholarly introduction to this volume will be read with appreciation by many who are interested in the more comprehensive human sciences. Its interest is not so much in the explanation of the principles of the classification itself as in the discussion of the various complications involved, including questions of terminology, where an admirable and forceful plea for greater precision is advanced. Particularly in what he has to say on sociology, Dr. Bliss makes a valuable contribution to greater precision in the use of terms and in the relation of concepts and ideas which should be welcomed by all serious students in this field, independent of whether or not they adopt his classification as a convenient working tool.
Industrial Research, 1947BRIGHTMAN, R.
doi: 10.1038/161705d0pmid: N/A
THE second edition of this book represents a considerable advance on the first. The extraneous and redundant material has been largely eliminated, and a readable and adequate survey of progress in industrial research in Britain during 1946–47 by Dr. B. J. A. Bard replaces the hotch-potch of essays included in the first edition. The statements from Government and public bodies and from private organisations are properly classified, as is the information on university laboratories and the research laboratories of private firms. The sections on officially appointed committees and reports and on books, periodicals and films have also been improved, and the latter list, limited to books published in 1946 or in preparation in 1947, is much more useful than the earlier list. The report from the Industrial Research Committee of the Federation of British Industries on industrial research in technical colleges is given in full, and there are brief summaries of some of the reports from the Working Parties of the Board of Trade in so far as they touch research.