August 22, 1918] 



NATURE 



493 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC 

 INDUSTRIES. 



/^NE interesting feature of the British Scientific 

 ^-^ Products Exhibition, arranged by ihe British 

 Science Guild at King's College, London, is \he 

 st'ries of short lectures and demonstrations given with 

 the special aim of directing public attention to the 

 necessity of developing the scientific industries of the 

 country, lliese lectures cover a wide range, and by 

 reminding us how ill-prepared we were at the out- 

 break of war to cope with the vast industrial tasks 

 involved in the supply of munitions of • war, they 

 should help to stimulate effort with the view of pre- 

 venting the occurrence of a similar disadvantage in 

 ci)mmerce when hostilities cease. 



Lord Sydenham, who opened the exhibition on 

 August 14, pointed out in his address that the Ger- 

 mans with deliberatfe design had penetrated our whole 

 commercial system, and had obtained control of some 

 of our kev industries. We were at first not in a 

 position to start the new industries which were vital 

 to success, and which the Germans had laboriously 

 built up. At present, as Lord Sydenham pointed out, 

 there is not a single branch of the industries of war 

 in which we cannot excel the Germans, and from this 

 fine achievement we can draw lessons of supreme 

 importance for the future. Lord Sydenham also em- 

 phasised a lesson which the war had taught us, that 

 small quantities of material had enormous influence in 

 determining production, and large industries were 

 vitally affected by small industries. The dye industry, 

 which Germany had largelv developed with an eye to 

 war as well as to industrial supremacy, was quoted as 

 an examp'e of this. We paid Germany nearly 

 2,ooo,oooZ. per annum for dyes, upon which depended 

 an industry of more than 2oo,ooo',oooZ. per annum. 

 The great chemical w^orks of Germany had almost 

 monopolised this and other kev industries, and when 

 war broke out the works engaged thereon were readv 

 to be turned on to the production of explosives and 

 propellants. Lord Sydenham expressed the opinion 

 that the new Education Act, if properly used, would 

 provide the machinery to add largely to the number 

 of our science- workers. When the Bill was before the 

 House of Lords he endeavoured to introduce the word 

 •science" into it, but the official objection was that it 

 would be inappropriate to specify a. particular item in 

 such a Bill. In conclusion. Lord Sydenham pointed out 

 that two factors were operating to bring about certain 

 victory in the field. The first was the splendid gal- 

 lantry and devotion of our fighting men ; the second, 

 the resourcefulness and hard work of our men and 

 women, which had enabled them to be supplied with 

 the best weapons science could produce. If, when 

 victory was ours, we diligently applied that resource- 

 fulness to the arts of peace, we should be able to re- 

 create national prosperity on a broader and more 

 enduring basis than it had possessed in the past. 



A German chemist. Dr. Otto N. Witt, soon after 

 the declaration of war, expressed the opinion that 

 the manufacture of dyes could never be established in 

 this country because we lacked the knowledge and 

 experience as well as, according to his view, the moral 

 qualities requisite for so great an undertaking. Sir 

 William Tilden, in the first of two lectures on 

 " Lessons of the Exhibition," pointed to the products 

 exhibited, which, he said, demonstrated that these 

 estimates of the British men of science were alto- 

 gether mistaken, and he claimed that we had every 

 reason to be proud of the result. Sir William Tilden 

 explained and illustr;;ted the use of the word " re- 

 search," which is now so freelv used, but the true 



meaning of which is rarely understood. Some of the 

 modern applications of scientific knowledge in 

 chemical manufactures afford excellent examples, 

 such, for instance, as the successful establishment of 

 the contact process for making sulphuric acid, the 

 production of ammonia from gaseous hydrogen and 

 atmospheric nitrogen, and the oxidation of ammonia 

 into nitric acid. In the second of his lectures Sir 

 William TUden mentioned that research in science is 

 undertaken by two distinct classes of people. There 

 is, first, the divinely gifted genius who pursues in- 

 vestigation for the purpose of finding out the laws of 

 Nature and answering the eternal question. Why? 

 Such a man was Faraday, and such a man is the 

 president of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Thomson. 

 These lead the way, end provide stepping-stones for 

 the second type of man, who wants to get practical 

 results from his labour; and so we have what is called 

 pure science and applie.-i science. In both directions 

 the first requirement is exact cbservation. This 

 generally means measurement of weights, volumes, 

 temperatures, times. In the first lecture Sir William 

 Tilden illustrated this by referring to progress in 

 chemistry; in the second, he referred to the modern 

 developments in the use of steel. This is an age of 

 steel. But the steels in use at the present time pre- 

 sent extraordinary characteristics in strength, hard- 

 ness, and cutting pioperties. These are produced by 

 adding small quantities of manganese, nickel, 

 chromium, tungsten, or other metals, of which prac- 

 tically nothing was known in the pure state until the 

 use of the electric furnace bv Moissan twentv-five 

 years ago. Moissan was the pioneer in pure science 

 whose discoveries rendered possible the practical 

 achievements of Sir Robert Hadfield and other great 

 steel-makers. 



Metals generally are distinguished by their remark- 

 able surface actions. The property possessed bv 

 platinum of causing the combination of oxygen gas 

 with hydrogen and other combustible substances w-as 

 discovered bv Sir Humphry Daw just one hundred 

 years ago. But many other metals present still more 

 remarkable powers. One of the most valuable is the 

 power possessed by nickel of causing hydrogen to com- 

 bine with heated oil,* converting it into a fat which 

 is solid when cold. A substance which acts in this 

 w^ay is called a catalyst, and catalytic actions are now 

 being turned to account on a large scale in a great 

 variety of ways in making sulphuric acid, nitric acid,, 

 and ammonia, in the surface combustion of gas, in 

 obtaining solid fats from w-hale-oil, and in a variety of 

 manufacturing processes. Here again the pioneering 

 study of the facts precedes their application. A great 

 field is open in the study of catalytic effects. 



In both his addresses Sir William Tilden referred' 

 to the question of training diemists. We are still 

 very short of chemists, physicists, and skilled techno- 

 logists, and he emphasised the fact that, unless steps 

 are taken to train a large number of boys and girls, 

 we shall be as badly off as ever after the war. In 

 passing, he mentioned the valuable work done by many 

 women chemists, and expressed the view that this was 

 a calling to which many educated girls might advan- 

 tageously devote themselves. The supply of men, he 

 said, will depend chiefly upon the use of scientific 

 method and the more extensive teaching of facts and 

 principles in the secondary and greater public schools, 

 where the education of the governing class is chiefly 

 carried on, and where reform is most urgently needed. 



Mr. R. R. Bennett, of the British Drug' Houses, 

 Ltd., in the course of a lecture on "Progress in 

 Pharmaceutical Products." said that the total number 

 of vegetable drugs which have bero?ne unobtainable 



NO. 2547, VOL. lOl] 



