88 



PKKSll)i:X'JI.\I. ADDKKSS SECTION 1!. 



per cent, in 191 3, and as a specific example may be ciuoted. ihc 

 firm of F. Bayer and Co., of Elberfeld, which on a capital of 

 ii, 800.000 made a net profit of £838,092, figures which remind 

 one of a rich Transvaal Gold Mine. Lesser concerns show pro- 

 portionate results. 



From the point of view of the present conflict, these fac- 

 tories, with their vast chemical equipment and organisation, are 

 among the greatest national assets of their country, and it is 

 by no means beside the mark to state, that without her chemical 

 industries (jermany would never have been able to continue the 

 struggle. 



If we leave out of consideration the exploitation of her 

 metalliferous minerals, which will in the not far distant future 

 be but memories. South Africa may be considered as a coimtry 

 where chemical industry is, jjractically speaking, non-existent. 

 Hence, to prepare the nation for the future prosperity we 

 should so earnestly desire to see attained, the obligation lests 

 upon this generation to develo}), at the earliest i^ossible moment, 

 those chemical industries, in the first place, needful for its own 

 existence, and onl\- when this has Ijeen achieved, to attemjyi an 

 expansion beyond it»s borders. 



The second portion of nn- theme relates to the organisation 

 of chemical industry and the ] art which research should play 

 therein. So much has been written upon this subject, since the 

 war liegan, that it reqm'res some amount of courage to add to 

 the already voluminous literature bearing upon it. and. in ventur- 

 ing to do so, I cannot ho])e to do more than give a l)rief survey, 

 one which, however, will relate more es])ecially to the conditions 

 as they exist in this country. 



Reference has ah'ead)- been made lo the enormous progress 

 which Germany has made in this direction, but, unfortunately, 

 it has reiiuired a war of the present dimensions to pierce the 

 armour-plated conservatism of the governing classes in England, 

 and, even yet, is is a matter of grave doubt, whether much im- 

 pression has been made. The force of precedent and example 

 within the Empire in all its aflfa.rs is so dangerous, that, in many 

 respects, it should be classified as a disease and treated accord- 

 ingly. But this is a phase of mentality, which so far has been 

 outside the vision of those to whom we have entrusted our 

 destinies. It should, however, in this respect be noted that the 

 agitation for the endowment of scientific education and reseaich 

 on the one hand, and the scientific development and control of 

 industry on the other, is a theme ujion which the leaders of science 

 and contemporary thought ha\e nexiT wearied to dilate since 

 Ciermany first began to rival her competitors, and then leave them 

 behind in the race for industrial supremacy. I'atent laws and 

 other legislative ex])e(lients of a like artificial nature are Inu 

 momentary impedimenta in the path of modern scientific indusiry, 

 arid" soon melt away like llu- proxerbial dew. It will suffic(.' to 

 mcntir)n the c^'mparison brlweeii the great anticipitions and their 



