November 17, 1923] 



NA TURE 



743 



may be informed exactly how to carry out the in- 

 \ ention after the monopoly has expired. If the 

 idustrv carry out the invention as described, there 

 ample evidence of use, but in the large proportion 

 ! cases the public do not wish to avail themselves 

 I the privilege. Cases are known of specifications 

 Deing quoted forty years after being filed, during 

 which period there had been no use in accordance 

 with the specification. If the industry has not exer- 

 cised the privilege of use, and the subsequent inventor 

 has ehminated the defects that prevented the previous 

 patent from coming into use, surely he has good 

 ground for claiming that he has produced a new 

 mannei of manufacture. 



No less than 16,172 patents were sealed in 1907. Of 

 these 677 were paid up for the sixteenth year in 1922, 

 i.e. 4-2 per cent. Of these 677 patents, excluding 

 ordnance, less than 100 related to mechanical engineer- 

 ing. When we realise that only one mechanical patent 

 in 10,000 is worth exploiting, and the industry has to 

 bear the cost in brain power, fees, etc., it seems 

 probable that it would be cheaper for the industry to 

 associate to test designs such as is now being done 

 for research, standardisation, and the other associated 

 activities. 



The chief difference between research and invention 

 is that, when conducted by an association of the 

 industry, the results belong to the industry, but the 

 rights of a patented invention belong temporarily to 

 the patentee. The mind of an inventor is liable to 

 exhibit a preference for those designs which may 

 become subject-matter for a patent. The mind of 

 the research worker should be quite free from such 



restraint, the only object being the best possible result 

 suitable for general adoption and, in some cases, 

 standardisation. It is remarkable that when fixing 

 standards it is seldom, if ever, the British Engineering 

 Standards Committee has wished to adopt an appli- 

 ance that has been the subject of a patent. The 

 activities of research associations, learned societies, 

 technical colleges, and the British Engineering 

 Standards Association will undoubtedly increase and 

 perform a great many of the duties that in the past 

 were performed by patentees. 



Sir John gave an account of the various bodies 

 which are promoting research, and said that it would 

 take too long to give a complete list of the researches 

 in progress — researches that no single firm could 

 carry out wisely or successfully. Such researches can 

 be undertaken only by associations, which those 

 interested ought to assist in every way possible for 

 the benefit of the industry as a whole. Every one 

 who uses knowledge successfully ought to do some- 

 thing to obtain further new knowledge. Sir John 

 desired to impress upon his audience the increasing 

 confidence and hope that, in the future, research will 

 help us to surmount our difficulties. It is of import- 

 ance that all research workers should realise that by 

 " team " work they must justify and increase this 

 confidence. The nation is watching the result, and 

 critics are not wanting — some are useful and some 

 take a narrow view. We have now opportunities 

 that we never had before, and with British deter- 

 mination we can confidently expect great develop- 

 ments in the future, far exceeding those that have 

 been accomplished in the past. 



m 



^B By Dr. E. F. Armstrong, F.R.S. 



^|T can be argued that we have just entered on a 

 ^ new stage in chemical investigation. Labours 

 in the main of an analytic type have enabled the 

 exact structure of all but a very few substances to 

 be established : the results have been confirmed by 

 synthetic operations, and most compounds have been 

 built up step by step from their elements. Whilst 

 physicists of the modern school, by a series of most 

 brilliant researches, have learnt much about the 

 nature of the atom, the chemist is now concerned 

 with the behaviour of the molecule. This has 

 ntailed the recognition that he has not only to deal 

 with crystals and relatively sirnple molecules in 

 solution but also to consider actions taking place at 

 the surface of colloid aggregates. As it is probable 

 ,t the bulk of the reactions in the plant and animal 

 ill are of this nature, their importance will be at 

 ce conceded. Further, it must be realised that 

 ere is evidence that molecules in solution have a 

 icfinite space orientation at such colloid surfaces, 

 d indeed according to the work of Hardy at 

 rfaces in general. 



According to the accepted space lattice theory of 

 matter, there is a definite attraction causing adhesion 

 between each layer of molecules, and consequently 

 it a surface, say of a piece of gla.ss, there are un- 

 satisfied forces or valencies. At first when a drop 

 of a lubricant is placed on such a surface nothing 

 liappens. but when two surfaces of glass are movca 

 over one another the molecules of the lubricant 

 become arranged according to a definite pattern. 

 The chemist to-day, in seeking to explain chemical 

 action, has to realise that this takes place in many 

 instances between aggregates of molecules and at 

 the surface of such aggregates, and not between 



single simple molecules in solution such as his equa- 

 tions postulate and the ionic theory in its original 

 form demands. 



I Synomii of an a<idres!» drlivrred to the South Wales Section o( the 

 Society ol Chctnici! Industry on November 8. 



NO. 2820, VOL. 112] 



The first fact which has emerged from the detailed 

 study of chemical action at a surface is that the 

 action is not one of the so-called first order in which 

 the same fraction of the reacting substance undergoes 



changes in successive equal intervals of time a 



change expressed graphically by a logarithmic curve. 

 When proper and sufficient care is taken to keep 

 the surface active, the rate of change is uniforrn 

 provided that the changing substance is present at 

 the surface in sufficient quantity. These facts are 

 in accord with the hypothesis that action is preceded 

 by the formation of an additive unstable complex 

 which breaks down in all possible ways, that is 

 into a variety of components, practically as' fast as it 

 is formed. The problem of the source of the energy 

 necessar>' to effect this is not without interest, but 

 it is common to all chemical reactions and its dis- 

 cussion may safely be left to the exponents of the 

 quantum and other theories. 



Such actions as we are considering are known as 

 catalytic, the change being effected by virtue of the 

 activity of the catalyst surface, the onlv other agent 

 involved in practically all cases both "in the living 

 cell and the test tube being water. It is now recog- 

 ni.sed that the water molecule can undergo rupture 

 in two ways, either being distributed upon a single 

 molecule, which is tliereby re.solved into two others • 



A.O.B + H.OH -A.OHfB.OH. 

 or divided between two molecules in such manner 

 that whilst the one is oxidised the other is reduced • 



A -t-2H.OH -f-B = AG -f H,0 -f-BH,. 



Entirely different classes of catalysts bring about 



the two actions, but all are classed as enz\ m. s wlicn 



