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National Resources Planning Board 



The Institut Oceanographique studies marine life. 

 The Institut Alfred Fournicr is concerned with venereal 

 diseases. The Fondation Salgues engages in investi- 

 gations in the biological sciences. The Institut Marey 

 is an association for the study of methods employed in 

 physiology. The Institut d'Optique is interested in 

 the development of the science and industry of optics. 



Learned and Technical Societies 



There arc upwards of 36 societies of national scope in 

 France, of which 7 are of a general nature and the re- 

 mainder devoted to the fields of agriculture, anthro- 

 pology, astronomy and meteorology, biology, botany 

 and horticulture, chemistry, entomology, geography, 

 geology, mathematics, medicine, physics, and several 

 of the natural sciences. The great academies are di- 

 rectly supervised by the State under appropriate min- 

 istries. In addition there are many regional societies 

 and local bodies attached to the universities. 



The number of technical societies in France is large. 

 In chemistry, Soci6te de Chimie industrielle and So- 

 ci^td de Chimie de France are the most proniinent, as 

 is Soci6t6 frangaise de physique in the field of physics, 

 Soci6t6 fran5aise des ^lectriciens in electricity, Soci4t6 

 de biologic in biology, and Soci6t6 de Chimie biologique 

 in biochemistry. 



Industry 



Compared with other major industrial nations French 

 industry, with the exception of a few outstanding firms, 

 lags seriously in ability to apply results of research to 

 practice. Industry in general maintains a passive 

 attitude toward improvements in products so long as 

 purchasers are satisfied. The French chemical in- 

 dustry, since 1918, has undertaken little commercial 

 development of processes or products originated in 

 French research laboratories — whether Government or 

 privately owned. Except in distillation equipment, 

 French engineers have made few contributions to mod- 

 ern chemical equipment. 



The French people are not development minded. 

 Secrecy prevails to a high degree both in established 

 industries and in new developments. Many industries 

 hand down secret processes from father to son. A 

 common practice is use of private documents describ- 

 ing individual researches or inventions, which are 

 placed in depositories for future use, particularly in 

 the event of patent applications by others. Conti- 

 nental Europeans, particularly the French, tend to speak 

 of research problems finished in the laboratory as com- 

 mercially complete. French industrialists are reluc- 

 tant to go through the pilot plant stage of development, 

 preferring often to buy a completely developed new 

 process with a performance guarantee. 



The purchase of "manufacturing rights" to processes 

 developed abroad has been a feature of French opera- 



tions but has not been particularly beneficial to indus- 

 try because the "rights" covered production for con- 

 sumption in France only — not export. Such processes 

 have not undergone further development but have 

 tended to remain in their state of original instal- 

 lation. 



Industrial research and science in the universities 

 are much less closely coordinated in France than in 

 Germany or Great Britain. In recent years lack of 

 funds for research has aggravated the situation. 

 Labor troubles with which industry has had to contend 

 have cither limited the funds available for research or 

 when available, have made executives reluctant to 

 spend them for this purpose. 



In nearly every branch of French industry at least 

 one outstanding research man may be found. In 

 many industries, and particularly the chemical indus- 

 try, teclmical direction is frequently by Swiss or 

 Alsatians, the principal reason for which seems to be 

 that university research training in France does not 

 meet the requirements of industry. 



The number of industrial research laboratories in 

 France is comparatively small. Etablissement Kuhl- 

 mann, largest of the chemical companies, maintains 

 the most extensive in that field and is active in research 

 on dyes, organic chemicals, and heavy chemicals. 

 Cie. Gobain conducts research in its lino of products — 

 glass, heavy chemicals, and petroleum. Cie. Gau- 

 mont, one of the largest moving-picture companies in 

 Europe, also manufactures starting and ignition 

 systems, cameras and moving-picture apparatus, field 

 glasses, and precision specialties, and maintains one 

 of the largest staffs in Europe for research in these 

 fields. The Thomson-Houston Company maintains 

 a large central research laboratory for its activities in 

 electrical machinery and supplies. Societe Chimiques 

 de la Grand Paroisse has been investigating the pro- 

 duction and hydrogonation of shale oil. Other indus- 

 trial concerns which have been active in research 

 include Society Anonyme pour I'Etude et Exploitation 

 dos Procedes Georges Claude; Societe Anonyme des 

 Etablissements Roure Bertrand Fils et Justin duPont; 

 Societe d'Eclairage, Chauffage et Force matrice; 

 Societe d'Electro-Chimie, d'Eloctro-Metallurgie et des 

 Aci^ries (Savoie) ; Societe d'Elcctro-Chimie, d'Electro- 

 Metallurgie et des Aci^ries (Paris); Compagnie de 

 Produits chimiques et electrometallurgiques, Alais, 

 Forges et Camargue; Societe anonyme des Mati^res 

 colorantes et Produits chimiques de Saint-Denis; 

 Soci^t^ des Usines Chimiques Rhone-Poulenc; Comp- 

 toir des Textiles artificiels. 



Noteworthy research accomplishments have been 

 made by other industries such as alloys, metallic car- 

 bides, naval stores, and coal. Research on raw mate- 

 rials of the French colonial possessions, such as rubber, 



