THE PRODUCTION OF EXPLOSIVES 137 



Similar research organizations were created in other countries. 

 In 1875, "Her Majesty's Inspectors of Explosives" was or- 

 ganized to supervise the manufacture, transportation and use 

 of explosives, with Dr. Dupre as its chemist, and other coun- 

 tries have, with modifications, created similar organizations. 

 In 1877 a French Commission was designated to investigate 

 explosives for use in coal mines and similar commissions have 

 been established in England, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Rus- 

 sia and this country. The United States Bureau of Mines 

 has at its Testing Station in Pittsburgh a most complete equip- 

 ment for chemical and physical tests of explosives and a force 

 of experienced and capable chemists and engineers. Because 

 of the military importance, testing stations or proving grounds 

 have for a long time been an active part of the army and naval 

 establishments of many countries, together with explosives re- 

 search laboratories, like those at Waltham Abbey and Neu- 

 babelsberg. In this country there have been for a long time 

 such chemical laboratories at Frankford and Picatinny Arsenals 

 for the army, and at Indian Head and Newport for the navy ; 

 the United States Naval Torpedo Station Laboratory having 

 been started in 1870 with W. N. Hill as chief chemist. Scien- 

 tific supervision, accompanied by research, has in recent' years 

 characterized the explosives industry. This is universally 

 recognized for those factories in which dyestuffs, photographic 

 and pharmaceutical chemicals are produced and in which ex- 

 plosives, such as the nitro substitution compounds, appear as 

 subsidiary products or intermediates. It has been the case, 

 though to a less extent, in those factories in which explosives 

 are the principal product. Thus, following the special inquiry 

 at the chemical census of the United States in 1900, it was 

 found that the explosives industry employed research chemists 

 a-ul engineers to a larger extent than any other of the chemical 

 industries. ^Moreover, explosives have for more than a cen- 

 tury furnished attractive subjects for research by university 

 professors and advanced students. As a result of all this re- 

 search activity the literature on explosives is very extensive. 



