November 22, 1918. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 1083 A circular letter issued by the Coal Controller intimates that steps are being taken for the prompt demobilisation of miners in the Home forces. Sir Lionel Phillips, late Controller of the Depart- ment for the Development of Mineral Resources in the United Kingdom, in a report to the Minister of Munitions, favours the setting up of a Mines Department. In fulfilment of, an obligation incurred some months ago, the authorities are prepared to consider applications for licences to export Northumberland and Durham coal and Welsh anthracite to Holland. A special meeting of coal owners and miners’ representatives appointed a sub-committee to prepare a draft of the terms for a reconstitution of the Coal Conciliation Board. The draft will be submitted at another meeting. It is reported that an agreement has been made relative to surfacemen’s hours, which will be eight and a-half hours per day, commencing in January. A conference of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain will be held in Southport next Tuesday. The first meeting of the session of the Coke Oven Managers’ Association (Midlands Section) will be held in the Grand Hotel, Sheffield, to-morrow (Saturday), commencing at 3.30 p.m: Mr. J. A. Wilson, chairman, will deliver his inaugural address. A little book recently published The by Messrs. Methuen and Company, Psychology entitled “Present-Day Applications Of Efficiency of Psychology,” * deserves to be and widely studied in these days of Fatigue. intensive nervous strain. The author, Dr. Charles S. Myers, has kept specially in view the relation of psychology to industry, education and nervous breakdown. The views of so distinguished a specialist as the Director of the Psychological Laboratory at Cambridge University, who has also acted as consulting psychologist to the British Expeditionary Force, are particularly welcome at the present time, when the tendency exists to place upon a scientific basis the regulation of those human activities which are comprised in the general routine of industrial life Psychology, or the scientific study of the human mind, in its modern sense, is something more than the old science of mental philosophy, inasmuch as it has become experimental in its methods, and has thus been placed upon a level with other so-called exact sciences. It has, in short, become a concrete instead of an abstract study. The author illustrates this change by a consideration of the effect of certain tests upon different persons, with a view to the discovery of the relative sensitiveness under various conditions of the organs of sight and hearing. The interest of this study is at once apparent if we recall the recently expressed claim that, on Monday mornings, there is a notable deterioration in the efficiency of work performed, as well as a diminution in visual and auditory activity among workers. Of late years much attention has been given to the analysis of the factors governing industrial efficiency, as measured by muscular and mental work. By means of the ergograph, a muscular work-curve can be obtained, and certain principles regarding fatigue and recovery have thus been established. The author illustrates the application of these principles by examining the case of 500 shovellers, employed in moving coal. Experiment soon proved that efficiency depended upon the use of a shovel weighing, with its load, about 21 lb. Thus, by adjusting the weight of the shovel to the material shovelled, the following astonishing results were obtained: — (1) the average amount shovelled per day rose by nearly 270 per cent.—viz., from 16 to 59 tons per man; (2) 150 men could now perform what 500 men had previously accomplished; (3) the average earnings of the shovellers increased by 60 per cent.; (4) the cost to the management was reduced by 50 per cent.; (5) there was no evidence of increased fatigue of the men. Dr. Myers here discusses the influence of certain factors upon the work curve —such as the relative importance of fatigue and practice, incitement, spurts, and what he terms settlement, or freedom from distraction. He then proceeds to examine the relation between the work curve and the curve of frequency of accidents. This question has often arisen in connection with the discussion of colliery accidents, and no very marked periodicity has in this case been established. Dr. Myers, however, states that in certain accident curves the number of accidents increases inversely as the output; but he admits that there are other causes of accidents besides fatigue. The influence of rest periods, also, is somewhat complex, and experiment seems to point to the fact that for every kind of work there is a most favour- able rest period—i.e., a pause in which the various factors so operate as to produce a maximal amount of work after the pause. The inference is that long unbroken spells of work are economically unsound, and that systematic rest pauses lead to a great improvement in the quantity and quality of the work produced. Dr. Myers * “ Present-Day Applications of Psychology.” By Charles S. Myers. London: Methuen and Co., 1918. Pricels.net. mentions certain facts which support this view, and the principle is the same in both manual and mental work. There is also the question of individual mental differences which possess special interest in the education of the young. The London County Council has appointed a psychologist to their educa- tional staff, but Dr. Myers advocates a further and more practical step— viz., keeping a dossier for each child, in order to establish a vocational advice office, and to secure competent expert advice as to what kind of work each is best fitted to perform. He proceeds to give examples of such an investiga- tion applied to various industrial vocations. Perhaps the best practical instance of such a method of selection may be found in the examination of candi- dates for the Royal Air Force. The tests applied for this purpose include the determination of the visual, auditory and tactual times of the candidates. A pilot slow to react to the sense of sight, sound or touch is certain to fall short in efficiency. In the United States particular attention has been given to psychological methods of selecting men for special tasks, and it seems to be beyond question that this procedure makes both for economy and efficiency. A very large question is here suggested, and. one that has special importance in connection with the selection of colliery officials. The granting of certificates of competency as a result of proficiency in certain selected subjects of examination does not sufficiently take into account the psychological factors concerned. Employers, also, have not paid enough attention to the problems of industrial psychology, either in the selection of men or in the organisation of work. It has to be recognised that men differ enormously both in physical and mental qualities. In the last part of his book, Dr. Myers considers various aspects of nervous disorders, many of which are extremely common, and at the same time are highly prejudicial to efficiency in certain kinds of employment. Various kinds of nervous disorder are particularly likely to occur amongst men returned from the army. Four years of intense strain at the front are a real trial, which, perhaps, few can undergo without more or less nervous exhaustion. Dr. Myers states that neurasthenia has always been especially common in the mining districts of England and Wales, and that a surprisingly large number of cases of shell- shock in the war has arisen among soldiers who were previously miners. Such cases are generally amenable to proper treatment, but the disorder may easily be aggravated by neglect. It is essential, therefore, that colliery officials should bear in mind the possi- bility that inefficiency may arise from temporary functional disorder quite beyond control. To deal sympathetically with such cases will demand an unusual amount of careful discrimination and no little restraint. It is right, however, that the possi- bility of an increased number of such cases should be recognised, and the warning which Dr. Myers has given should not be neglected by those who have at heart the promotion of the industrial efficiency of the workers under their charge. In the current number of the Edin- Wind Power burgh Review, Mr. James Carlill and raises the question of fuel economy, the Coal if not in a new form, in a new aspect Problem. of an old problem. Every such proposition seriously advanced is entitled to consideration, if only to reveal its hidden fallacies. In the present case it is the apparently well-worn topic of the utilisation of wind power that claims attention. Undoubtedly we have here an abundant source of energy. The common windmill is perhaps the most economical of all prime movers, both as regards its prime cost and its absolutely free supply of motive power, and Mr. Carlill asks why more advantage is not taken of such favourable conditions. He is not satisfied with the general statement that the age of steam has superseded the age of wind; he implies that there is a tendency to revert to the use of windmills for pumping water, and states that there are more windmills working in England now than there were 60 years ago. The fact that they are not utilised to a greater extent for public waterworks he explains as the result of a regulation of the Local Government Board, which practically forbids district councils to use them unless accompanied by auxiliary steam power. As an example of the efficiency of pumping engines worked by wind power, Mr. Carlill mentions one erected by a private firm in Yorkshire, which, with a wind- mill 40 ft. in diameter, raises 3,000,000 gallons of water through a height of 10 ft. in 24 hours, with a steady breeze. Another mill, erected by a district council to supplement a steam pumping plant, is claimed to have saved 200 tons of coal per annum, without any appreciable cost in upkeep. Unquestionably it may be claimed that what has been done in this case could also be accomplished in hundreds of similar circumstances, and that a very respectable economy in coal consumption could be effected by this means. At the same time, therefore, when fuel economy is so pressing, Mr. Carlile’s question, Why are there not more windmills ? is not only natural but pertinent. The chief disadvantages of wind power have always been considered to be the uncertainty of the wind, the comparative inefficiency of the windmill, and the high circumferential speed of the sails. The first of these can be overcome by storing the power in secondary batteries. But Mr. Carlill does not enlighten us upon the question of the cost involved. In 1881, the late Lord Kelvin referred to this subject before a meeting of the British Association, and he was so convinced of its practicability that Prof. Blyth devoted a great deal of attention to the perfection of a wind motor, not upon the ordinary windmill principle, but upon that of the cup anemometer, which had been shown theoretically by Bernouilli and Maclaurin to be the most efficient form of such an engine. One great advantage of this method lies in the fact that whatever may be the velocity of the wind the speed of the cups cannot exceed a certain limit, which in the ordinary form of anemometer is about one-third that of the wind. This overcomes at once the great objection to windmill sails, whose circumferential speed is always greater than the wind velocity, and in a storm may easily reach the point of disruption unless great care is taken to counteract this tendency, either by reefing or by adjusting the inclination of the vanes. Prof. Blyth, by modifying the Robertson type of anemo-. meter, designed a wind motor which actually developed more power than the old form of sails, and was so successful for electric lighting purposes that he anticipated the general adoption of this method for supplying light and power over a large part of Great Britain. There certainly seems to be a mystery with regard to the complete oblivion into which Prof. Blyth’s invention has lapsed. Mr. Carlill attributes it to the pre-occupation of the nation arising from the rapid development of steam as a source of power. There may be some truth in this, for 30 years ago coal was far cheaper than it is to-day. But other considerations must not be neglected. However perfect the wind motor may become, there can be no really efficient system of wind power which does not provide for power storage. Prof. A. H. Gibson, in his little work on “ Natural Sources of Energy,” calcu- lates that in a plant of moderate size, say 1,000 horse- power, the cost of storage in secondary batteries, providing for a fortnight’s supply, would be some- where in the neighbourhood of £140 per horse- power, with an addition of about £26 per horse- power per annum for annual charges and deprecia- tion—an amount which is enormously in excess of the cost of steam, gas, or water-power. Mr. Carlill also mentions the possibility of storing energy by using wind power to pump water into a reservoir. His precise proposition is to utilise for this purpose some of the narrow fjords on the west coast of Scotland by closing up the inlets. But again he does not calculate the cost. Only a few years ago Prof. Fessenden suggested to the British Association another method,, involving the sinking of a shaft about 1,000 ft. deep, and the excavation at the bottom of a turbine chamber and reservoir, which could be used as a storage system in the place of an elevated reservoir. Prof. Gibson has calculated that the cost of such a system, with a capacity of 1,000 horse power, would cost £76 per horse-power for excavation alone, and that the total capital cost would not be much less than £100 per horse-power. So far as experience has yet gone, the only possible economy in the use of wind motors would appear to lie in the use of small units with an auxiliary steam plant. The large wind-power station that Mr. Carlill imagines has yet to prove its practic- ability upon a commercial basis. He states that such an experiment is about to be made in Denmark, where a wind-power plant, of a capacity of 200 horse-power is in contemplation, and the develop- ment of this scheme will be highly interesting. Mr. Carlill finally considers a reversion to wind- power, aided.by an auxiliary oil engine, for merchant shipping. He argues that there is scope for much enterprise in this direction, without necessarily challenging competition with steam ships. Even the transport of coal to coaling stations abroad he considers could be largely carried out by sailing ships. This question, however, we can leave alone for the present. From an immediately practical point of view the only prospect of full advantage being derived from wind power seems to be in its application to pumping, and in this respect the reciprocating pump must always be inefficient, since its power only increases a little more rapidly than the speed of rotation, instead of being in proportion to the cube of the speed, as the full use of wind pressure demands. Mr. Carlill, however, makes out an interesting case, and we think that he at least proves that more use could be made of this wasted energy than has yet been attempted. A Criticism of Electrical Heating.—In a letter to the Press, Mr. W. M.. Mason, secretary of the British Com- mercial Gas Association, specifies certain tests in cook- ing, and maintains that results prove that if electricity is used for cooking it entails the destruction of at least four tons of coal (and the loss of all by-products) to cook the same amount of food as can be cooked by gas with the net destruction of only one ton of coal (that is, after allowance for the coke residuum available for sale) and the conservation of all the valuable other by-products. He holds that this condemns the use of electricity as a heating agent from the national point of view—as its cost condemns it from the consumer’s point of view.