An experiment was conducted to investigate the relationship between specific gravity and total fat content of the half-carcass. Specific gravity was found to be highly but negatively correlated with the percentage of fat in the half-carcass

(r = −0·9841, P < 0·001).

It was also found that the sample joint is a satisfactory index of fatness of joint as well as that of the half-carcass.

Certain relationships between linear live animal and carcass measurements and the quantitative composition of the half-carcass have been established.

Of the live linear body measurements taken, the length of the fore-cannon bone and length of the hind leg appear to have close relationship with carcass measurements. Live fore-cannon bone is a good index of the total weight of bone in the halfcarcass and therefore has application in the selection of meat sheep.

Of the carcass measurements studied, length of fore-cannon bone and length of tibia + tarsus (T) appear to be satisfactory predictors of the total weight of bone.

The half-carcasses from twelve Dorset Horn x Border Leicester-Merino lambs (3-5 months old) were used to investigate the relationships between the weight of the carcass and its cuts and their chemical composition. The specific gravity of the whole carcass and of the cuts was also measured.

Half-carcass weight and chemical composition were highly correlated. Weight could be used to predict the chemical composition with a reasonable degree of accuracy. The loin, the leg, the leg plus loin and the residual were shown to be highly correlated with the chemical composition of the halfcarcass. The loin and leg plus loin are the most convenient to use.

We have determined the strain and particle size for several samples of palladium powder by time-of-flight nrutron powder diffraction on two different diffractometers and by x-ray powder diffraction. The results are compared and found to be in fair agreement. The time-of-flight method gives good enough precision to reveal deficiencies in the simple models used for strain and particle size line broadening.

We have been using the technique of pulsed neutron powder diffraction to study several problems in the physics and chemistry of the actinide elements. In these elements one often encounters very complex structures resulting from polymorphic transformations presumably induced by the presence of 5f-electrons. For exampie, at least five distinct structures of plutonium metal are found between room temperature and its melting point of 640°C, and two of the structures are monoclinic! Single crystals are usually not available, and the high resolution which is intrinsic to the time-of-flight powder technique is a powerful tool in the solution of complex structural problems. The relatively low absorption coefficients for neutrons for at least some actinide isotopes is an advantage when surface oxidation is a problem (as in high-temperature experiments) and provides good particle statistics so that high-quality data are available for Rietveld refinement. The low absorption of neutrons by other materials such as vanadium and fused silica enables the use of these materials for the containment of samples in high- and low-temperature environments, and the fixed geometry of the time-of-flight technique simplifies the design of furnaces and cryostats.