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I should like to set the scene by giving you an outline of that part of B.I.S.R.A. (British Iron and Steel Research Association) organization with which I am connected, as this will explain the scope and depth of our interests in the small‐firm field and provide a background against which the later part of the talk will be more easily understood. I also intend to stop in time to deal with questions, or indeed to hear views from the floor, because, as you will hear, one of the principles I shall put to you is that formal lecturing and presentation of reports is, in our small‐firm world, less effective than discussion as a means of presenting ideas.

The last of the London meetings for the winter session 1955–6 was held on 13th April, 1956, when Mr. C. N. Kington, Group Manager, British Iron and Steel Research Association, and Director of Research, Cutlery Research Council, spoke on the problem of helping small firms to make use of scientific research. Many of the steel‐using firms are too small to have information departments of their own and, moreover, have a strong tradition of craftsmanship which is often slow to appreciate the value of new techniques. Mr. Kington has had first‐hand experience of the special approach that is necessary if these firms are to be kept in touch with scientific progress. His paper is printed in full in this issue, together with an account of questions and answers in the discussion which followed. The Chair was taken by Dr. M. A. Vernon, of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, a branch of the Government that is particularly interested in this problem.

The term edge cutlery as used in this article refers to spring knives (such as pocket knives which include a flat spring and moveable blades), knives without springs (such as table knives, kitchen, butcher, carving and trade blades, etc.), scissors and cut‐throat razors. The British cutlery trade has a normal turnover of the order of several million pounds per year in these and allied edge products, and approximately half of this is accounted for by exports, so that the trade has to cater for varying climatic and use conditions in a large number of countries all over the world. Corrosive conditions can occur in ordinary use and also during transport and storage, and whilst serious corrosion is rare some examples are sufficiently interesting to warrant examination. Today, corrosion problems in British edge cutlery are almost invariably traceable to extraordinary conditions encountered in transit or in use, and over which the manufacturer often has little or no control. The lessons to be learned from investigation of such cases as do occur nearly always require application by the user, and less frequently, by those responsible for transport and storage.

Libraries—international activities KING, A. The place of documentation today.

This series of annual reviews of the literature of special librarianship, which now reaches its fifth year, has been designed to help those most in need of the body of professional experience contained in the literature. Those special librarians or information officers with little or no professional training, who work in small departments far away from more experienced colleagues, have only the recorded knowledge in the literature to help them, but, because of lack of experience, they are often unable to sift from the mass of articles of varying value and character which crowd the pages of the professional journals the comparatively few items likely to be of practical use to them. For their benefit we present a selection of those papers really likely to give them solid help, leaving aside all purely theoretical and polemical articles, however important, and all literature on large libraries, unless they are likely to have applications in smaller ones. To these we add a selection of reference books likely to be of professional use to anyone in information work, including a number which he may wish to know about, even though he does not have them in his own library. The list is not restricted to work published in 1956, but is intended rather to be representative of items received in British libraries during that year. With the growing volume of library literature, the choice of a hundred or so items is bound to be in some respects a personal one, with which many may disagree, especially over the omissions, but it is hoped that all the items included will be of positive value.

This series of articles, now in its fourth year, has been designed to fill a gap in the bibliographical coverage of library literature which is covered by no other publication. Its aim is to spotlight those items in the year's production which are likely to be of direct practical value to the librarian or information officer working in a small organization. Such persons are frequently without previous training and experience of the work and need assistance in selecting from the ever‐growing volume of writings on librarianship those items which are likely to be of assistance to them in their work. This review aims at doing this; eliminating all purely theoretical discussions and descriptions of practice in large libraries, except where it is felt they can be of practical application in the small department, and including not only descriptions of library practice but also works of reference of which, even if they are not held in his library, any librarian should know something. No attempt is made to include only those items published in a particular year, but it is hoped that the list is in general representative of items received in British libraries in the year in question, and that between the articles in the series all important items have been covered. The volume of literature from which the choice must be made continues to grow, and the choice of individual items is necessarily a personal one, with which others may be expected to disagree, particularly over the omissions, but it is hoped that it will serve as a useful guide to those for whom it is intended.

GERMANY. Oxidation of refractory carbide alloys (hard metals). The effect of additions of tungsten, chromium and tantalum‐niobium on the oxidation rate and structure of the oxide layers was studied on samples of titanium carbide/cobalt bonded, and annealed at 800 to 1,100°C. for 75 hr. If these contain sufficient tungsten carbide to dissolve completely in titanium dioxide (rutile), the tungsten trioxide formed in oxidation, the rate of this latter decreases strongly owing to reduced ion diffusion. If, owing to the higher tungsten carbide content, the proportion of WO3 in the oxide layer becomes so high that the solubility limit for WO3 in TiO2 is exceeded, then CoTiO2, Co2TiO4 and C0WO4 occur in the oxide layer in addition to CoO and TiO2. This decreases oxidation velocity still more.

High‐Production ‘Vacu‐Blast’. A new form of gun has been introduced by the manufacturers of Vacu‐Blast, specially designed to obtain an extremely high rate of millscale removal from flat plate prior to fabrication. Indeed, the manufacturers claim that millscale can be removed with the gun at a rate varying between 300 and 600 sq.ft. /hr., according to the surface to be cleaned.

The case of the prosecution and conviction of a cowkeeper, who was also a milk vendor, in January last for selling milk that showed a deficiency of 25·27 per cent. in fat content is said to have presented such unusual features that no conviction should have followed.