Abstract
ON the evenings of Thursday and Friday last week, April 20 and 21, an ordinary general meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers was held in the theatre of the Institution of Civil Engineers, by permission of the Council of the latter body. There were three papers on the Agenda, but only two were read, namely, Mr. Dean's paper on copper plates for locomotives, and the second report of the Alloys Research Committee, the author of which was Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen, C.B., F.R.S. Our readers will remember that the first report of the Alloys Research Committee was read, and discussed at the October meeting of 1891, and an abstract of it appeared on page 22 of our 45th volume. A large part of the first report was taken up by the consideration of the effect of various alloys on gold, and it will be remembered that the author was somewhat sharply criticised for the course he had taken in framing his report, gold being a metal not used by engineers, at least for constructive purposes. This second report carries the matter further, and it is possible now to appreciate Prof. Roberts-Austen's reasons for taking the course he did. Tn opening the subject he referred again to the “periodic law” of Newland and Mendeleeff, and upon it he based a large part of his reasoning in the first report. The researches of Raoult Van't Hoff, and Arrhenius, led to the view that the molecules of small quantities of elements, distributed through a mass of a solvent, retain their individuality. The work of Heycock and Neville (and also the experiments described in the author's previous report) point to the conclusion that the added elements may retain their freedom when they are present in much larger quantities than O˙2 per cent., which is the amount of added matter the Committee usually dealt with in their researches. The point raised was whether the added element does; or does not, remain free in the mass of the solvent, and as the author pointed out, it is a vital one in limiting the scope of the inquiry.
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Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Nature 47, 617–619 (1893). https://doi.org/10.1038/047617b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/047617b0