232 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



time, and what we should very much Hke to add for the sake of those 

 chemists who are present, is illustrated by that rich collection of 

 diagrams, products, and materials of all kinds. What can neither 

 be mentioned in my paper nor illustrated by these exhibits will be 

 demonstrated by means of lantern slides, and, should you possess 

 patience enough, I shall show you at the conclusion of my address 

 one of the newest factories which the German chemical industry has 

 built on the Rhine, with its various manufacturing departments, and, 

 above all, its ]Hovision8 for the welfare of its emplo3'ees. 



In the spirit of Faust, "Who brings much will bring something to 

 many," I invite you to make a flight with me m an airship, as it were, 

 over the fields where the chemical industry holds sway, and, from our 

 point of vantage, to take a bu'd's-eye view of the latest achievements 

 of this industry. Now and then we shall make a landing and examine 

 the most attractive features a little more closely. 



PRODUCTION OF POAirER. 



The question of power, which is of the utmost importance in every 

 industry, and especially in the great synthetic processes by means of 

 which nitric acid and ammonia are manufactured, is now dominated 

 by the perfected utilization of hydrauHc power and the development 

 of the turbine. Not only does the transmission of electric energy 

 render it possible to utilize water power at great distances, but it also 

 allows of the transmission of power evolved at the coal mines and the 

 peat fields to distant points, thus eliminating the necessity of trans- 

 porting the fuel itself. Recently we also learned to apply the prin- 

 ciples of the water turbine to the steam turbme. But this advance 

 over the piston steam engine, which Watt so ingeniously constructed 

 about 150 years ago, has already been surpassed by benzme, petro- 

 leum, or oil motors (Diesel motors), and, above all, by the reliable gas 

 engmes which are driven by blast-furnace gases, I\Iond gas, and more 

 recently by peat gas. 



PRODUCTION OF BY-PRODUCTS. 



The manufacture of by-products goes hand in hand with this more 

 direct generation of energy from fuel. These products include 

 ammonium sulphate, of such great unportance in agriculture, and the 

 tar distillation products, so indispensable in the color industry. The 

 latest and most rational method of utilizing the peat or turf- beds, 

 wliich are so plentiful in Germany and in many other countries, is 

 practiced in Schweger ]\Ioor, near Osnabriick, accordmg to a process 

 discovered by Frank and Caro. There peat gas is produced and uti- 

 lized and ammonia obtained as a by-product, the required power 

 bemg generated in a 3,000-horsepower central electric power station. 



