NITROGEN PRODUCTS 133 



ment of the art of nitrogen fixation, an art which, by fur- 

 nishing cheaper fertilizer and thereby increasing the crop-pro- 

 duction of the world, is bound to contribute greatly to the wel- 

 fare of mankind. From the beginning of the war, the govern- 

 ments of England, France, and the United States, as well as 

 many of the large chemical companies of those countries, ac- 

 tively prosecuted investigation in this field. When the Nitrate 

 Division of our Ordnance Department was formed, it estab- 

 lished a Research Section^ and this actively assisted industrial 

 companies and inventors in the development of their processes. 

 And, in cooperation with the Nitrate Investigations Committee 

 of the National Research Council, it initiated and prosecuted 

 researches of its own, in its laboratories at the Nitrate Plant at 

 Sheffield, in those of the bureau of Chemistry and Bureau of 

 Soils at Arlington, and at the Geophysical Laboratory of the 

 Carnegie Institution, which during the latter period of the war 

 liberally placed its facilities and assigned some of its staff to 

 this work. 



It is a subject for congratulation that provision has been 

 made by the Government for the continuation of researches 

 upon nitrogen fixation under most favorable conditions. The 

 excellent laboratories at the American University previously 

 used by the Chemical Warfare Service are now utilized for 

 this purpose, funds enough to enable the work to be effectively 

 prosecuted for some time are available, and the investigations 

 are under the competent direction of some of our best research 

 chemists, who will attack the difficult problems involved in a 

 fundamental way. 



In conclusion, the hope may be expressed that this brief 

 story of nitrogen fixation in its war relations may contribute 

 to the purposes of this volume by showing the vital dependence 

 of military operations upon the applications of science, and 

 the reactions of war experiences on the development of science 

 itself. 



