XXXVIII THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



dition of applied science. The German policy resulted in the pene- 

 tration of scientific methods and organization into every type of 

 national activity. The scientific career offered the highest prizes 

 to the young graduate. The university and technical laboratories 

 consequently were crowded by eager students; co-operation and 

 organization of applied science were developed to the highest power. 

 The Industrial Research Institute at Grosslichterfelde, outside Berlin, 

 covered acres of ground, and was staffed by hundreds of men repre- 

 senting branches of science, many of which seem remote from industrial 

 application. A similar institute at Charlottenburg has long been 

 established to study the application of science to problems of war. 



Germany did not owe her great strength in 1914 so much to her 

 scientific knowledge as to the power she had attained by the organized 

 combination of national effort to the one end. In the whole history 

 of the world there was never a combination so close and effective. 

 The political, military, financial and scientific resources of the nation 

 were fitted into a gigantic, perfectly working machine, characterized, 

 to quote McAndrew's hymn, by "Interdependence absolute, foreseen, 

 ordained, decreed." 



The scientific world knows well that at the outbreak of the war, 

 Germany had largely succeeded in extinguishing in other countries 

 those industries essential to the prosecution of a modern war, and had 

 built up for herself, especially in chemistry, an army of experts and 

 square miles of plant ready to be diverted to the scientific destruction 

 of the rest of humanity. This feature of Germany's long preparation 

 for the war and her method of using it were recognized very early in 

 the struggle and preparations to meet them were promptly made. 

 Fortunately, the advantages were all with us. French and English 

 m.en of science had for at least a generation given to the world its 

 greatest and most fundamental discoveries and some of their applica- 

 tions. They, therefore, entered the struggle with methods of attacking 

 scientific problems based upon fundamental concepts, which in most 

 cases surpassed the power of Germany to equal. Organization and 

 co-operation developed along natural lines. Each chief of the great 

 centres of research in the universities directed the efforts of his staff to 

 a vital problem, and usually solved it. These research laboratories 

 linked themselves with appropriate industries, and these again were 

 grouped and co-ordinated by the naval and military authorities. 



It was frequently stated in the press, according to Sir William 

 Pope, that the science of synthetic organic chemistry, as applied to 

 industries, was one in which the British nation could never hope to 

 excel, as it called for close, tedious, detailed laboratory work, together 



