| Description | Manuscript drafts of articles or essays and notes relating to physiological physics and wire research. Papers relating principally to the physiological physics of blood are not included - these are contained in the 'Blood research papers' series (US41/1).
Norris' initial research into physiological physics involved a study of attraction and adhesion. A paper on this topic was published in the 'Proceedings of the Royal Society of London' Volume 12 (1862-1863) entitled 'On the Causes of various Phenomena of Attraction and Adhesion, as exhibited in Solid Bodies, Films, Vesicles, Liquid Globules, and Blood-Corpuscles'. A further paper was published in 1876 in the 'Proceedings of the Birmingham Philosophical Society' entitled 'New Researches in Contractility and Elasticity' (this was in fact the first paper to be published in that journal).
Norris' research into wires involved studying the expansion and contraction of iron and steel wires when they were heated or cooled. He examined the temporary and permanent changes to wires including what he called the heating or cooling 'kicks' or 'jerks' (a temporary expansion during cooling and temporary contraction during heating) and looked at the circumstances in which these changes occurred. His conclusions included that crystallization and decrystallization was the cause of the 'kicks'. A paper on this topic was read at the Royal Society of London on 12 April 1877, and an abstract was published in the 'Proceedings of the Royal Society of London' Volume 26. Drafts of a much more substantial paper or papers on the topic are contained within this series. |