388 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



been made in this matter of the economical fixation of nitrogen. 

 His report is highly instructive and significant for us, and he 

 greatly favours a synthetic ammonia process by the General 

 Chemical Company, similar to that of Haber, but using lower 

 pressures. The economy of this process has been demonstrated, 

 and is slightly superior to that of the Haber process. Another 

 process, a cyanide one, by the Nitrogen Products Company, 

 according to the same authority, shows so great promise that 

 he recommends the Government to assist financially active 

 experimentation along its general lines. 



If America, to w T hose threshold the nitre fields lie adjacent, 

 is so impressed with the need for advance in the development 

 of this chemical industry, it needs no apology on our part to 

 lay stress on its development in this country from which the 

 nitrate fields are separated by half the globe. 



As regards the other case, this is concerned with the dis- 

 covery of a method for obtaining potash economically from 

 hitherto untapped sources. For a long period the world has 

 been practically dependent for its potassium on the Stassfurt 

 deposits of Germany, and it has been one of the smug replies 

 of our enemy to threatened economic boycott that the rest of 

 the world must reopen negotiations with her on account of 

 its need of these supplies. It was, then, a matter for general 

 satisfaction when, on June 28, Dr. Addison, then Minister of 

 Munitions, announced in the House of Commons, during his 

 survey of the work of the Ministry, that " thanks to the ingenuity 

 of Mr. Kenneth Chance and other gentlemen working with 

 him, a process has been discovered whereby great quantities of 

 potash may be obtained, and the development of the scheme 

 is now in operation with the assistance of the Ministry. We 

 shall be able to provide every ounce of potash that the glass 

 trade requires, as well as very largely to meet the needs of 

 agriculture." 



We sincerely hope that, in the working out, this forecast of 

 new conditions will be fully justified. No details have so far 

 been made available, but one may safely hazard the guess that 

 the new source of quantities of potash lies in the feldspars or 

 similar minerals. It is, therefore, interesting to note that 

 during the last few years very considerable advance in potash 

 recovery from such a class of minerals has been accomplished 

 in America. In this connection, the joint communication of 



