Abstract
MANCHESTER. Literary and Philosophical Society, January 7.—Mr. Charles Bailey, president, in the chair.—The president announced that the Society was indebted to Dr. Edward Schunck, F.R.S., for a mural tablet, placed in the secretaries' room, bearing the following inscription: “This room was the laboratory of John Dalton; here his great discoveries were made, and here he conceived and worked out his atomic theory.”—Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill exhibited many species of the genus Chrysanthemum, L., and described its affinities and subdivisions. He directed special attention to wild examples of C. sinense from China and C. indicum from both China and Japan, these two species being the origins of all the garden varieties, the former of the long-petalled kinds and the latter of the short-rayed and pom-pom forms.—Mr. R. S. Hutton described experiments which he had carried out at the Owens College on the fusion of quartz by means of the electric arc. He finds that, with suitable arrangement, there is no inconvenience caused by the reducing action of the arc, and that, owing to the much higher temperature, the fusion takes place with greater rapidity than with the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe. Methods were described for making tubes of quartz of any desired length in an electric arc furnace, and specimens of tubes were shown.—Dr. George Wilson read a paper on the failure of certain cast-steel dies used in the manufacture of drawn tubes. During the process of manufacturing tubes, the dies have occasionally fractured, to the danger of those using them, and an attempt has therefore been made to estimate some of the stresses to which such dies may be subjected. The results show that out of six fractured dies of which particulars were obtained, five had a factor of safety too small to cover flaws and dynamic effects. An example of the stress in a die is fully worked out, showing by curve the nature of the stresses and distortions.—Mr. C. E. Stromeyer exhibited some chemical gas washers which he had designed for dealing with relatively large volumes of gas. The largest apparatus was capable of dealing with about 50 litres per hour, and one of the smaller ones, designed to hold only six cubic centimetres of fluid and weighing only 40 grammes, was able to deal with 5 litres per hour.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 65, 263–264 (1902). https://doi.org/10.1038/065263a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/065263a0