Ja>;uary 13, 19 1 6] 



wiru-R.E 



537 



their work or advice. What wonder, then, that the 

 public, which sees through. this, kind of thing, shpuld 

 tend to despise, not onlv scientific men, but science 

 itself? 



It is idle to disguise the fact that recent events have 

 filled most educated persons with a sense of extreme 

 resentment against the administration of this country 

 — a resentment which I have heard expressed by 

 numbers of, persons — civilians and soldiers. It is felt 

 by many (and I am one of them) that we live under 

 the rule of the invertebrates. The people who ad- 

 minister the country are not the best, the most vigor- 

 ous, and the most sagacious of men. They are too 

 often the time-servers and the mediocrities. The mal- 

 administration of scientific affairs is only one of the 

 many forms of maladministration ; but, on the whole, 

 1 think it is perhaps the most important form, because 

 it givyjs to the mind of the whole nation a lower, a 

 meaner, and a thoroughly sentimental and unpractical 

 turn. For more than half a century before the war 

 Enf*land has ceased to be an intellectual nation ; the 

 public at largo has remained indifferent to science, art, 

 literature, invention, and all the great intellectual 

 pursuits, and has given itself up to game-playing, party 

 politics, faddism, and a debased drama. We are now 

 paying the penalty, and, if I do not mistake, will have 

 to pay a heavier one before the end. If we have 

 produced great men their names are unknown to the 

 multitude, while the wire-oullers, the sentimentalists, 

 and the hypocrites sit on high. That is my own sum- 

 ming up of the British nation of to-day — and I know 

 that many ajrree with me. I am also of opinion that 

 when our soldier*; return from this war there will be 

 something very like a revolution against the. class of 

 men who at present misgovern us in almost ever}'- 

 thing. 



Sir William Crookes suggests a Ministrv of Science 

 and representation of science on the Priv\' Council. 

 But in the light of our present experience are these 

 likely to help us in any way? The Board of Education 

 WH'? appointed partly for this purpose, and what does 

 it do for the worker? It has formulated a contribu- 

 torv pension scheme, but I believe nothing else. The 

 able editorials in Nature of November 24 and Decem- 

 "ber 2, 1915, well define the position of science in this 

 country to-dav ; but no reform is likely to be effected 

 so long as men of science themselves do not insist 

 upon it. What is required is a small association of 

 stron.e men banded together for the express purpose 

 of forcing the pace without fear or favour, and in spite 

 of twaddlers who now paralyse all efforts at improve- 

 ment. I would suggest at once the following pro- 

 gramme : — 



fi) Direct payment bv the State for non-remunera- 

 tive scientific work which has been of benefit to the 

 public at large. 



(?) Invariable payment by Government departments 

 and public bodies for all scientific expert advice or 

 assistance whatever. 



{■\) No issue of Government grants for expenses of 

 researches without a fixed payment of. sav, 50 per 

 cent, to the workers themselves for their expenditure 

 of time on the work. 



Cj) Control by the State over the sweating svstem 

 no^*■ employed bv universities and numerous publi'' 

 bodies in connection with scientific workers of all 

 kinds. 



Sir William Crookes thinks that our national atti- 

 tud? towards science "can onlv be rectified slowlv. 

 step by step." But war is a rapid arbiter, and the , 

 swo'-d does not wait for the armour to be girded on^ j 

 !f T mistake not, we have not much time left for 

 vepentance. Rov.Ai.n Ross. I 



Tanuarv -;. 



Germany's Supplies of Nitric Acid. 



An/ article in the Times of Januar}- 6 deals with the 

 resources in Germany for producing nitric acid. 

 Formerly, the major part of the world's supply of 

 nitrates came, from the caliche beds, on the west of 

 the .'\ndes, but of recent years, as is well known, nitric 

 acid and nitrates have been manufactured by the 

 electric process of Birkeland and Eyde in various parts 

 of Norway. Franck and Caro, some years ago, intro- 

 duced a process whereby ammonia can be produced 

 from calcium carbide, after conversion into calcium 

 cyanamide. The Ostwald-Kaiser process of partially 

 oxidising ammonia by passing it along with air over 

 platinum or other contact substances, afforded a prac- 

 tical means of producing cheap nitric acid. Then the 

 discover}' of Haber and Le Rossignol, that nitrogen 

 and hydrogen could be combined in presence of contact 

 agents under high pressure, and at moderate tempera- 

 tures, made it possible to synthesise ammonia more 

 cheaply than it could be obtained by recovery from 

 gasworks liquors. 



It is understood that the German Gkjvernment sub- 

 sidised the Badische factory to the extent of 100 million 

 marks at the beginning of the war, so that no shortage 

 in their supplies should occur. They claim to be 

 producing sulphat-e of ammonium, according to Mr. 

 D. Milne Watson, at the rate of 300,000 tons a year, 

 and it is not impossible, provided they can get sufficient 

 sulphuric acid. Mr. A. E. Barton, who has just 

 returned from a visit to Norway and Sweden, learned 

 that the increase in the Badische Company's output of 

 ammonium sulphate was 200,000 tons; they had 

 formerly manufactured 150,000 tons a year. Plant 

 of 10,000 h.p. is being erected, too, in Westphalia, to 

 produce ammonia by the carbide process ; the result 

 is expected to be the production of 200,000 tons of 

 concentrated nitric acid a year. Other two works, one 

 in Bavaria, and the other near Cologne, produce be- 

 tween them 45,000 tons of cyanamide. 



Had our Government taken the steps which were 

 urged upon them in August, 1914, to prevent Chile 

 saltpetre from entering Germany, in all probability 

 there would have been a shortage of nitric acid in 

 German v. That shortage is now not likely to occur. 



W. R. 



NO. 241 



VOL. 



96] 



National Technical Training. 



With reference to the recent leading articles deal- 

 ing with the position of science and industry in this 

 country, attention may usefully be directed to the 

 system under which the work of the smaller technical 

 schools is conducted. 



At present it is generally admitted that our work- 

 people are not very scientific, and their trades unions 

 do not appear to realise how much might be done if 

 the various industries had colleges of their own. The 

 only chance a workman has therefore of learning the 

 technical portion of his business is by attending even- 

 ing classes at the smaller technical colleges, and it is 

 with these schools I would like to deal, since the 

 subject is now of considerable importpnce. 



.\t most of these places so rnany subjects are taught 

 that they resemble museums, of applied education 

 more than anything else, and the principals in charge 

 of them, and the inspectors who frequently inspect 

 them, have generally no knowledge of technical work, 

 or business experience. Why there are so many in- 

 spectors nobody knows, or what becomes of their 

 reports. Further, the old system of examination has 

 been given up, and " student hours " are rnade such 

 a fetish, that I have seen classes opened and closed as 

 many as seven times during a session ; closed when one 



