December 2, 1915] 



NATURE 



365 



liberately devoted his life to the increase of natural 

 knowledg-e rather than the pursuit of wealth, and 

 the community has been content to reap the 

 benefits of his discoveries without any sense of 

 responsibility as to payment for them. 



The question of payment for scientific researches 

 is raised by Sir Ronald Ross in Science Progress 

 for October in a note headed " Mr. Lloyd Georg-e, 

 the Nation of Shopkeepers, and the Pied Piper 

 of Hamelin." We arc very gflad that Sir Ronald 

 Ross has made formal application to the Govern- 

 ment for a subsidy in recompense for the work 

 which he has accomplished in connection with 

 tropical medicine. We are not surprised that his 

 application has been refused ; at the same time 

 he has done good work in directing attention to 

 the absence of any provision for such compensa- 

 tion. It is true that we have Civil List pen- 

 sions, but, as he points out, these are quite in- 

 adequate, and, moreover, partake largely of the 

 nature of charities. The precedent of Jenner 

 shows that the Government did actually vote a 

 grant of money to the pioneer of preventive 

 medicine, but this was many years ago, and Mr. 

 Lloyd George's secretary informed Sir Ronald 

 Ross that such a recommendation was not in 

 accordance with modern usages. Thus while 

 large salaries are paid to political officials, the 

 man who is capable of confening the greatest 

 benefits on mankind is passed over. He has 

 either to lose the income which he might other- 

 wise earn, or to leave undone most or all of what 

 he ought to have done. If he adopts the first 

 alternative he will not be able to work at his 

 proper efficiency. The nation is calling out for 

 more and more scientifically trained men, but when 

 it has produced them the payments offered for their 

 services as teachers are deplorably low, and beyond 

 these there is little hope of further reward, what- 

 ever the national worth of their work. We look 

 for the coming of the time when the State will 

 take the lead in showing juster appreciation of the 

 men who are extending and organising the know- 

 , ledge upon which modern advance depends. 



RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CHEMICAL 

 TECHNOLOGY, 

 (anuals of Chemical Technology. II. The Rare 

 Earth Industry. By S. J. Johnstone. Together 

 with a chapter on The Industry of Radio-active 

 Substances. By Dr. A. S. Russell. Pp. xii + 

 136. (London : Crosby Lockwood and Son, 

 1915.) Price 75. 6d. net. 

 Manuals of Chernical Technology. III. Industrial 

 Nitrogen Compounds and Explosives. By Dr. 

 NO. 2405, VOL. 96] 



G. Martin and W. Barbour. Pp. viii+125. 

 (London: Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1915.) 

 / Price 75, 6d. net. 



THESE volumes form part of a series of 

 manuals of Chemical Technology which 

 is being produced under the editorship of Dr. 

 Geoffrey Martin. The series consists largely of 

 compilations, each extending to about 120 octavo 

 pages, suitably illustrated (where illustrations are 

 available) with process cuts, and provided with 

 fairly full bibliographies and references to 

 original sources of information. But it must be 

 obvious that in such limited space there is not 

 much room for descriptive letterpress or for de- 

 tailed accounts of technical methods. 



In this respect, therefore, the manuals compare 

 unfavourably with standard treatises designed 

 primarily as works of reference, and for the in- 

 formation of actual manufacturers. At the same 

 time, certain of the books in the series may be 

 said to have a special value at this present junc- 

 ture, when the future of chemical manufacturing 

 in this country is so dark and so full of anxiety. 

 It is quite certain that, in the fierce industrial 

 struggle which will follow the cessation of hostili- 

 ties, we shall be confronted with new difficulties 

 and dangers. There will be a gigantic effort on 

 the part of our present enemies not only to re- 

 acquire the markets which have now been prac- 

 tically closed to them for upwards of a year, but 

 also to wrest from us our pre-eminence In certain 

 branches of manufacturing chemistry — limited In 

 number but large in output — which we have been 

 accustomed to regard as among our staple In- 

 dustries. 



Leaders of chemical technology In Germany 

 openly declare their Intention to bring all their 

 powers of organisation and their manifold re- 

 sources — educational, industrial, and financial — 

 to bear upon the realisation of this consumma- 

 tion. The struggle will be all the keener, and tell 

 more hardly against us, from the circumstance 

 that much of the economic advantage we have 

 hitherto enjoyed will be greatly curtailed, and it 

 Is possible that nothing short of a revolution in 

 our fiscal policy will be required to maintain what 

 is left of It. No doubt our competitors, like our- 

 selves, have their labour problems, but It Is doubt- 

 ful whether these have reached the acute stage 

 that we witness In this country. There would 

 seem to be nothing like that deep-rooted antago- 

 nism between labour and capital In Germany that 

 we are painfully conscious of, and which has made 

 itself so deplorably evident, even at a time when 

 our very existence as a nation is at stake. The 

 combination which the largest, richest, and 

 most powerful of our trade unions — all concerned 



