February 23, 191 1] 



NATURE 



559 



for the sixth time to Germany ; this constitutes 60 per 

 cent, of all the Nobel prizes hitherto awarded for chem- 

 istry. During the same period of time two and a half 

 prizes were awarded to Germans for physics and three a. id 

 a half for medicine. Dr. Alfred Nobel, unfortunately, did 

 not provide for the remaining natural sciences. 



The majority of the investigations distinguished by the 

 award of these prizes, however, belong to the nineteenth 

 century. Since that time matters are to some extent 

 altered. It is well known that the greater number of 

 German scientific investigators are teachers at universities 

 or polytechnics. During the last ten years a scheme of 

 practical education of the masses has developed, which 

 affords to all students the possibility of acquiring a 

 thorough training in experimental science, and which pro- 

 vides our industries with an army of scientifically educated 

 workers. But this very education of the masses tends 

 mentally to exhaust the teacher to a great extent, certainly 

 to a higher degree than is desirable, or indeed compatible, 

 with the creative power of the investigator. 



There prevails in modern educational laboratories a con- 

 dition of overstrained activity comparable with that exist- 

 ing in all but the smallest factories and commercial 

 offices, and in the harassing cares of the day the teacher 

 loses far too readily that peace of mind and broad view 

 of scientific matters necessary for tackling the larger 

 problems of research. This danger has been most keenly 

 appreciated by teachers of chemistry, to which body 

 I myself belong. It is therefore no mere accident that in 

 our circles of recent years the cry for new laboratories 

 should be at its loudest ; an appeal for laboratories which 

 should permit of research in absolute tranquillity, un- 

 encumbered by the duties of teaching. 



But all our efforts were fruitless, in spite of the active 

 support of an industry ready to make any sacrifice, and 

 we were about to abandon, with reluctance and with sad- 

 ness, our cherished plan, when the action of your 

 Majesty in directing the attention of all munificent ladies 

 and gentlemen in Germany to the need of supporting 

 scientific research came to us like a heaven-sent aid. 



In place of the one State-supported chemical institute 

 which we had planned, chemists may now anticipate the 

 immediate possession of two such institutes in which gifted 

 men may conduct their original researches with ample 

 means in freedom from any other duties. It is anticipated 

 that the younger generation of chemists will thereby 

 derive special benefit. By the younger generation I mean 

 in particular those men who are at present acting as 

 assistants or lecturers in university laboratories, and who 

 can carry on research in addition to the servile labour of 

 teaching only by possession of an extraordinary capacity 

 for work. 



That which applies to chemistry may, mutatis mutandis, 

 be applied to the other sciences, and is esf)ecially applic- 

 able to new branches of knowledge, for the prosecution 

 of which the laborious organisation of educational labora- 

 tories leaves no possibility. 



The handicap under which we work, in comparison with 

 other nations, in particular the United States of America, 

 in which similar institutes have recently been founded, 

 can thus be removed. If the hopes which we all place in 

 the new institutes are fulfilled, Germany will in the future 

 not lack recipients of Nobel prizes, and we may then hope 

 to maintain the honourable position which we hitherto 

 have held in the domain of science. 



That this is, however, not only a matter of sentiment 

 and honour, but a palpable advantage in material respects, 

 is at once evident from the close relation between modern 

 scientific prepress and national well-being. I am not here 

 to demonstrate this relation by means of statistics or 

 political economical considerations. On the contrary, I 

 would invite your attention to a cursory review of my own 

 science. I shall thus, in considering the most recent 

 achievements in this field, be able to point out to you the 

 diversity of the problems and their fertility with regard to 

 the most varying branches of technical industry. 



As I have already remarked, our conception of the 

 nature of chemical elements has to some extent altered 

 owing to the discovery of radium, the first element to be 

 discovered by a woman. We are now acquainted with 

 more than twenty-four such substances— the so-called 

 radio-active elements — and we recognise that they disinte- 



NO. 2156, VOL. 85] 



grate spontaneously, and that elementary transmutations 

 are hence possible. 



Germany took at the outset only a small part in the 

 notable researches connected with the discovery of these 

 elements, although the first stimulus leading to the dis- 

 covery of radio-activity was given by the Kontgen rays. 

 The reason for this is that Germany possesses none of the 

 raw materials necessary for the production of radium, and 

 that the majority of German investigators have not the 

 means for the purchase of this costly element. This lack 

 of means was especially keenly felt when radium first 

 found profitable application in the fields of medicine. 



We are therefore all the more delighted to record such 

 an event as the recent discovery due to Prof. Otto Hahn 

 of the chemical laboratory- of the University of Berlin.' 

 He has for several years been investigating the disintegra- 

 tion products of thorium, which is employed in large 

 quantities in the manufacture of incandescent mantles, and 

 has in the course of his work discovered several radio- 

 active elements, the most important of which he has 

 designated mesothorium. He has, moreover, succeeded in 

 devising a process for the isolation of this substance from 

 the valueless waste products occurring in the manufacture 

 of thorium I am therefore able to show to you a speci- 

 men of Hahn's preparation. This is the bromide of meso- 

 thorium, a white salt, which evolves the same highly 

 penetrating rays as the corresponding salt of radium. In 

 radio-active power this preparation is equivalent to 100 

 milligrams of pure radium bromide, but costs only one- 

 third as much. Nevertheless, it is not cheap, since for 

 this small quantity of material 550Z. was paid. Thanks to 

 an endowment from Dr. von Bottinger, of Elberfeld, the 

 Akademie der Wissenschaften in this city will in a few 

 months be in possession of 250 milligrams of this sub- 

 stance, and lend it out to German investigators. It would 

 be possible yearly to produce in Germany a quantity of 

 this preparation of Dr. Hahn's equivalent to more than 

 lo grams of pure radium bromide from the valueless resi- 

 dues after the extraction of the thorium. This is approxi- 

 mately equivalent to the world's stock of radium. By this 

 discovery, the radium famine hitherto prevalent in 

 Germany may be said to be relieved. 



The field of chemical experimentation has in the last 

 decade been widened to an extraordinary degree by the 

 ease with which it is possible to obtain very high and very 

 low temperatures. High temperatures can now be 

 obtained by means of electric furnaces with which 

 temperatures up to 3000° are easily produced. Low 

 temperatures may be obtained by means of liquid air. 

 This commodity can now be purchased in Berlin at the 

 price of a wine of medium quality, that is to say, at 

 IS. gd. per litre. For this we are indebted to your 

 Majesty, wfio invited Prof, von Linde, of Munich, lo 

 erect here one of his large machines for the liquefaction 

 of air.^ You will understand how indispensable this liquid 

 has become when I tell you that in the laboratories of the 

 University of Berlin several litres are daily consumed for 

 scientific purposes. 



Far more effective is liquid hydrogen, which affords a 

 temperature lying 60° below that of liquid air. The boil- 

 ing point is so low as —252-6°, only 20-4° above the 

 absolute zero. It cannot, however, yet be purchased in 

 Berlin ; in fact, it cannot be obtained here at all. I am 

 nevertheless able to show it to you. This preparation 

 comes from the physical laboratory of the University' of 

 Leipzig, where it was prepared this morning and trans- 

 ported here with some care. I will now transfer a small 

 quantity from the oddly shaped container into a transparent 

 glass vessel, and demonstrate the lowness of its tempera- 

 ture by immersing in it a glass tube sealed at the bottom. 

 On removing the tube it is seen to be filled with a white 

 solid resembling snow ; this is solid air ; you will see that, 

 when once removed from the cooling liquid, this solid 

 melts after a few moments. 



The remainder of the liquid hydrogen in the containing 

 vessel is to serve to-day for scientific purposes. At the 

 end of my lecture it will find its way to the physical 



1 Dr. _ Hahn ipade the discovery of mesothorium in the laboratory of 

 University College. London, while investigating some thorianite residues 

 giwen to h'm by Sir William Ramsay. — Tr. 



2 A similar apparatus was independently devised and simultaneously 

 patented by Dr. William Hampson in London. — Tr. ' 



