MARVELS OF BIG BERTHA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 276, 18 August 1919, Page 7

MARVELS OF BIG BERTHA

LORD MOULTON ON SCIENCE 7 AND , 'THE WAR. ■ '•

The Redo Lecture at Cambridge was delivered in tho Senate House by Lord Moulton, whose subject was "Scionco and the War." Tie yice-chnncellor presided. Lord Moulton said that, even with all Germany's advantages, her long pre-. paration, and our uuprcparedness, she had but little to teach us; and so soon as time had been given us to organise our powers we wero industrially and intellectually lior equal, if not her master. ' / In the early part of last year the world, was thrown into amazement by the report fhat Paris was being bombarded by tho Germans, who could not bo ■ firing : from n poiut less than 70 miles from.the city. It was at first incredulous. Then, as usual, it credited ijic Germans with having invented some new propellnnt of marvellous efficiency. But our .artillerists knew better. They realised) that, thanke to the control .of pressures and rates of burning in our .present smokeless powders, Gueh a range could ho obtained in a gun of determinable dimensions. Indeed, all the details of the giiii and tho powder necessary to accomplish the feat were at once worked out, and the Run wonld have been manufactured if it had possessed sufficient military value towarrant the work and the expense. ■ The distance passed over by tho projectile was so great that if the Germans had taken tho trouble* to'aim at any particular building they must have allowed nearly half a milo for the fact that during the flight tho rotation of tho. Garth would to that extent carry the' target farther towards the east'than it would carry the gun. ■■..•'■

All explosives, with few unimportant' exceutions. depended 'on the use of hi-', tratcs. Nitrates could' be made from the nitrogen of tho atmosphere. Germany made these nitrates, end.did'not declare war till their factories wero working. We continued to get ours from the natural deposits found in Chile. That handicap still remained, but it would be an unparilomible act of folly on the part of our Government and our people if itwere allowed to exist any longer, now ■ that; peace had set free tho mun-pmver of the. nation and mode it possible for them to mako lip for their past neglect of scientific discoveries of vital importance.