PRKSIDKNTIAI. ADDKKSS .SKCTION I! 



Sc; 



realisation, when a few years ago Mr. Lloyd (Icorge attempted 

 by such legislation to transfer in some degree ( lerman chemical 

 industry to Great Britain. TaritTs may i)rotect the birth throes 

 of industries, whose sponsors are ftilly conversant with modern 

 methods of their exploitation and utilise this knowledge to the 

 fullest extent in their i-o'itrol, but otherwis(^ tiiey provide an 

 illustration of a futile and impotent waste of energy, such as any 

 scientific man would most rigorously condemn. 



By way of preface it would, i)erhaps. at this stage be of 

 interest to take a few illustrations of the manner in which some of 

 these industries have risen to their present state of flourishing 

 activity, and, although the story is an oft-repeated tale, constant 

 reiteration does not yet seem to have brought home the lessons 

 it teaches. T shall first refer to the sxnthetic preparation of 

 of indigo. This example is at the present moment the most 

 fitting one which, 1 think, could be chosen, since it bears the 

 closest possible resemblance and analogy to an industry upon 

 which much of the prosperity of this {)arl.icular Province is 

 directly dependent, namely, the tannin industrx . 



The synthesis of indigo was first accomplished by Nencki 

 in 1876, but it was not until Mayer and his pupils had five or 

 six years later thoroughly investigated and proved its constitution, 

 that simple methods for its .synthesis became available. The 

 next step, namely, the translation of the laboratory methods thus 

 discovered into commercially economic processes, proved a source 

 of extreme difficulty, in which success was only achieved after 

 nearly one million pounds had been spent on innumeraljle and 

 laborious experiments, and at the end of seventeen years' work, 

 artificial indigo prepared from the napthalene of coal tar being 

 first put on the market in 1897. If anything can excite our 

 admiration, surely this example of one of the finest industrial 

 achievements known to science should do so. The result of this 

 vast amount of labour and expenditure, which, it is needless to 

 say, would not have been incurred had the consequences not been 

 clearly and ]M-ecisely foreseen, is shown in the rollowing table 

 given by Professor P. F. Frankland in an exhaustive paper on the 

 Chemical Industries of Germany last year: — 



Indigo. 



