INTRODUCTION 11 



It is difficult to estimate the amount of research work which 

 has been undertaken by manufacturers for their own purposes. 

 Obviously the results, if any, are reserved for private utilisation, 

 but whatever has been accomplished the necessity for work of 

 this kind is as yet far from being recognised by manufacturers 

 generally. The introduction of new principles and processes 

 founded on them must have been preceded by enquiry and 

 experiment by competent workers. The wide application of 

 electricity for the production of high temperatures and in 

 electrolytic operations, the use of catalytic agents, as in the 

 contact process for sulphuric acid, the hydrogenation of fats and 

 oils, and several other chemical manufacturing operations which 

 have actually been established in England during the last few 

 years, give evidence of advances which have been accomplished, 

 and which give proof of the application of physics and chemistry. 

 There are, however, so many other directions in which this 

 country is dependent for supplies from other countries that 

 much more remains to be done. 



The question how the science of chemistry can be brought into 

 the service of industry most advantageously has still to be 

 answered. We may suppose that it is agreed that the young 

 chemist, equipped with a full knowledge of theoretical chemistry 

 and well practised in all the analytical and other operations 

 of the scientific laboratory, requires an elementary knowledge of 

 engineering, and of the properties of materials for construction 

 used in the works, before he is qualified to take charge of opera- 

 tions on a manufacturing scale. This is a kind of knowledge 

 which can be acquired to a certain extent at college, but experi- 

 ence of operations on a large scale is still desirable and the 

 question arises how he is to get it. 



In the German and, to some extent, the American works a 

 system has prevailed for many years which seems to have the 

 double merit of being reasonable and practically successful. 

 Over each department an experienced scientific chemist presides. 

 When an assistant is required a graduate of one of the univer- 

 sities, recommended by the professor under whom he has worked, 

 is engaged under a contract to serve for a term of years at a 

 salary which is modest, but which is sufficient to enable him to 

 live till promotion comes. The first year or two is devoted to 

 learning, under the direction of the chief, the business of that 

 part of the works into which he has been admitted, and the 



