The Mechanics of Solidity

Abstract

THE letters under this title from Mr. R. G. Durrant, Mr. V. T. Saunders, and Dr. H. S. Allen (NATURE, December 2 and 23 and January 6) are very interesting and suggestive, but melting points are of little value in discriminating between the hard and soft varieties of the same steel, and molecular weights, volumes, and frequencies have not yet any very definite significance in relation to solid metallic mixtures. My initial proposal that certain simple measurements might with advantage be substituted for the complicated tests now used by engineers and metallurgists was a “practical,” if myopic, one; it has evidently been misunderstood, so perhaps I may be allowed to state the case in greater detail.