THE CAUSE OF SCIENCE

Evening Star, Issue 19443, 29 December 1926, Page 12

THE CAUSE OF SCIENCE

WHAT JAPAN IS DOING IMPRESSIONS OF DR COLERIDGE FARR As a delegate from the New Zealand Institute, Dr C. Coleridge Farr, D.Sc., visited Japan on the occasion of the third Tan-Pacific Scientific Congress, which was held during last month. Dr Farr returned to New Zealand last Tuesday. Following are some of his impressions of tho tour, and his comments on the congress and the present position of scientific work in Japan. “ As a physical and from a scientific point of view,” he says, “I confined my attention solely to physics, geophysics and cognal branches of knowledge. . . , a The organisation of tho meeting was remarkable for its completeness and thoroughness, and was a great credit to those who had to do with its development. “This journey to Japan presented exceptional opportunities for visiting and obtaining information about the activities of any particular scientific institution there in whose work one might he interested. In most cases visits of a large body of delegates to these institutions was a part of the programme of the congress, hut at such visits the greatness of the numbers present prevented many questions being asked or much individual attention being given to any particular visitor. They were, however, most valuable, as they showed all who took part in them how much Japan is doing in tho cause of science.” RESULTS OF GREAT VALUE.

Alluding to the Aeronautical Research Institute at Tokio, a branch of the Imperial University, Dr Farr said: “The subjects under investigation at present are some nineteen in number, in the physical department, nine in chemistry, five in metallurgy, two in materials, seven in wind funnel department, thirty-three in the aero engine department, eleven in aircraft department, five -in the instrument department, and seven in the aeronautical psychology department, making in all about 100 different subjects which are under investigation in this one Institute of Aeronautical Research alone. ■‘lUanv researches have been completed, and have led to result? of great value, and one finds amongst these such subjects as (1) the transverse «’'bratio” e of elliptic and rectangular plates; (2) the content of helium and ,aier constituents m the natural gasas of Japan, and many others. “The hearing of the first of the subjects mentioned is, of course, in connection with the vibrations of aeronlane wings, and that of the second is for the inflation of dirigible balloons. “.One must visit Japan to realise what is being; clone in institutions like this one—institutions whose whole ,ob-

ject is research, and I think that one should spend a longer time there than I was able to do to appreciate fully what is going on. It is here and at similar places that every advance in scientific method is examined, and if possible some application of it is made to the practical problems under consideration.

“The remotely, or seemingly remotely, connected subject of Piezo electricity finds a most valuable use in the investigation of the pressure of piston rings and the wearing of cylinder walls. Electric valves find an application here to the examination of the rate of dissemination of the gaseous charge to different parts of the cylinder, and it seems quite possible that some alteration in the design of the form of the cylinder from the old cylindrical shape to some other in which the charge is spread more quickly and more uniformly throughout it may result from this work. PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL RESEARCH. Describing a visit to the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Dr Farr says that glancing through a list of the investigations one would hardly realise that this institute is, like the Aeronautical Research Institute, utilitarian in its work. But the Japanese have realised that for the industries to attain a sound development it is an absolute essential that they should be based upon the fundamental science of physics and chemistry, and that any advance in these means a hundredfold corresponding advance in the industries and in agriculture. The institute was founded only nine years ago, and its income is derived from an endowment of over £600.000, about one-sixth of which was an Imperial gift, a third was a Government subsidy, and the remainder consists of contributions from official sources as well as from individuals. The income is now, no doubt, being augmented by its interest in the rights of some 140 'patients which have been obtained as the result of investigations carried out at the establishment.