THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



191 



fast as tlie opposite effect from mete- 

 oric dust. In fact, if the average mass 

 of meteorites is no greater than one 

 gram, it will require a million million 

 years, at the present rate of influx, to 

 lengthen the day by so much as a quar- 

 ter of a second. 



It is clear, therefore, that, if the 

 regularity of the earth as a timekeeper 

 during historic times is to be ques- 

 tioned, one must look to other causes 

 than secular cooling and meteoric dust. 



ENGLAND'S CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. 



There has been much agitation in 

 England during the last few years over 

 the fact that Germany is steadily forg- 

 ing ahead in all lines of chemical in- 

 dustry. As long ago as 1886, Professor 

 Mendola, in a paper read before the 

 Society of Arts, reviewed the English 

 color industry, and sounded a warning 

 note regarding its future progress. 

 English manufacturers have, however, 

 manfully stood by their old methods, 

 and are seeing their trade gradually, 

 but surely slipping from their grasp. 



At the Glasgow meeting of the Brit- 

 ish Association, Arthur C. Green, who 

 is well qualified to speak on the sub- 

 ject, read a paper on the relative prog- 

 ress of the coal-tar industry in Eng- 

 land and Germany during the last 

 fifteen years, in which he handles the 

 matter \\ith almost brutal frankness. 

 After sketching the wonderful advance- 

 ment which has been made in the de- 

 velopment of the industry during the 

 period covered by his paper, the dis- 

 covery of thousands of new dyestuffs, 

 the introduction of hundreds of new 

 synthetic pharmaceutical products and 

 the great advances in the production 

 and design of chemical plant, occa- 

 sioned by the vast requirements of the 

 industry, he brings out the comparative 

 statistics of the industry in the two 

 countries. Among them the following 

 are worthy of reproduction. The ex- 

 ports of coal-tar colors, exclusive of 

 alizarin, from Germany have increased 

 from 4,646 tons in 1885 to 17,639 tons 



in 1899; those of anilin oil and salt 

 from 1,713 tons in 1885 to 7,135 in 

 1895, and of alizarin colors from 4,284 

 to 8,927 tons in the same period. The 

 values of the coal-tar colors exported 

 increased from 2,600,000 pounds ster- 

 ling in 1894 to 3,500,000 pounds in 

 1898. In fifteen years the imports of 

 coal-tar dyestuffs into England have 

 increased fifty per cent., while the ex- 

 ports from England have decreased over 

 thirty per cent. The Bradford Dyers' 

 Association uses at present 80% Ger- 

 man coloring-matters and only 10% 

 English. The British Cotton and Wool 

 Dyers' Association imports 78 % of its 

 anilin colors and over 98% of its 

 alizarin colors. Tlie English Sewing 

 Cotton Company used, out of a total 

 of sixty tons of coloring-matters, only 

 % of English manufacture. In addi- 

 tion to this, the indigo industry, which 

 now yields to India an income of three 

 million pounds sterling a year, is seri- 

 ously threatened by the synthetic 

 indigo from Germany, and its days 

 are in all probability numbered. 



The cause of this state of affairs Mr. 

 Green finds in the almost utter inap- 

 preciation of science on the part of the 

 English Government, manufacturers 

 and people. As he says, 'it is not so 

 much the education of our chemists 

 which is at fault as the scientific edu- 

 cation of the public as a whole.' 



This theme has more than an indi- 

 rect bearing upon American industries. 

 We are just beginning to reap the har- 

 vest which awaits us in the application 

 of scientific principles to our indus- 

 tries. Until recently we have been fol- 

 lowing the English 'rule o' thumb' 

 method, but along many lines there has 

 now been a radical change, and in 

 these England is finding her commer- 

 cial supremacy threatened from this 

 side of the water. There are yet enor- 

 mous fields for us to conquer, in which 

 we have a great advantage over Ger- 

 many in the natural resources of the 

 country. Tlie enormous industrial 

 strides which this country is taking, 



