DEAR SIR,-In the issue of The Structural Engineer last month Mr. Williams asks for an explanation of the apparent inconsistency between:- (a) Statements attributing an absolute relationship between water-cement ratio and compressive strength of concrete; and on the other hand- (b) A statement by Dr. Glanville confirming this but at the same time comparing a 3:1 sand-cement and 4:2:1 concrete as having the same approximate strength if the water-cement ratio is 0.5 in the former case and 0.6 in the latter.
WE are living in an engineering age. Many audiences have been apprised of this fact and presumably none of us would feel inclined to chdlenge so trite a statement. Indeed, it is very obvious thathe whole fabric of our modern so-called civilization is upheld and maintained in more or less perfect working order by a most intricate and delicate superstructure which is the outcome of the development of the science and art of engineering; and we poor mortals dash frantically to and fro in our endeavour to render our structure invulnerable, in the constant struggle which we wage against the destructive forces of Nature and each other, by ever increasing the delicacy and complexity of its detail, and thereby its susceptibility to failure under the incidence of unforeseen types of overload. Professor J. Husband
Among the duties which fall to the structural engineer in the course of his profession is the design of industrial buildings where the problem is to fulfil certain industrial requirements in the most economical way. Oscar Faber
1. The form of steel structural members. The use of steel in foundations, marine and river structures which is constantly expanding in Germany, is founded upon the use of two steel structural elements, that is, sheet piling and bearing piles. Dr.-Ing. Agatz