82 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B. 



methods which have been successful, and hence adopted in their 

 entirety in other countries, would be followed here. This state 

 of affairs is, however, too common an occurrence in this country, 

 and even in England, the popular opinion being that the duties 

 of the chemist and the pharmacist are identically the same. 



The second process mentioned involves the use of mercury, 

 which must necessarily be imported at present. The case, 

 however, is otherwise as far as sodium cyanide and zinc are 

 concerned, the imports of which amount to half a million sterling. 

 and both of which can be manufactured here. The former 

 can be obtained indirectly from atmospheric nitrogen through 

 cyanamide, which would find great use as an artificial manure. 

 and thus stimulate agricultural progress. In point of fact, the 

 Rand may be said to be ])rimarily responsible for this great and 

 growing industry, since it was the search for a new method of 

 preparing cyanide that fixst discovered the reaction. Zinc blende 

 is also found native, and the winning of the metal offers no great 

 difficulty. 



The mining of gold ore or other mineral deposits would be. 

 practically speaking, impossible without the use of explosives, 

 and to meet this necessity three large explosive factories have 

 been established in the country, all of which are entirely de- 

 pendent for their raw materials on other countries. The value 

 of these imports in 191 3. the last completely normal pre-war 

 period, w^as as follows : Sulphur, £78,386 ; nitrates, £235,984 ; 

 glycerine. £563,014; or a total of £877,384, iron pyrites not 

 being given. Of these, no large deposits of sulphur or pure 

 pyrites are known to exist in South Africa, but nitric acid and 

 its salts can now be prepared in any quantity from the nitrogen 

 present in the atmosphere, and glycerine is a bye-product in the 

 manufacture of soap, factories for which have recently l)cen 

 erected here. 



The production of the oils for the latter purpose would 

 necessitate the provision of artificial fertilisers, an industry of 

 prime imjjortance for the progress of every branch of agricul- 

 ture. Happily the problem of the transference of atmospheric 

 nitrogen to the requirements of the soil, first stated by Sir 

 William Crookes in his classic address to the British Association 

 at Bristol in 1896, has now been solved in various ways, two of 

 which have been indicated above, and which would therefore 

 serve, if estal)lished, a double function. Unfortunately deposits 

 of potassium salts or mineral phosphates of any large extent and 

 degree of purity, have not hitherto been discovered here; but 

 in this respect South Africa is in no worse case than most 

 other countries, and hence this prol)leni is by no means insolul>le. 

 The manufacture of super])hosphate. however, could and should 

 be undertaken, the value imported in 1913 being £95,273, and 

 of raw phos])hates only £1,705. It should also be mentioned 

 in this connection that over 135^2 million pounds of basic slag, 

 a bye-product of the steel industry, were imported in 1914 — 

 another valid argument for the creation of the latter. With 



