496 



NATURE 



[August 22, 1918 



now as good as, or even superior to, the previously 

 imported Bosch machine. The development of dope 

 for the fabric of aeroplanes has been the subject of 

 many investigations, and the planes of the present- 

 day machine are rendered taut and weather-proof by 

 means which, though slightly more complicated than 

 varnishing, are many times as efficient. The British 

 dopes consist of a solution of cellulose acetate made 

 from paper or some cheaper form of cellulose, or of 

 guncotton dissolved in suitable solvents and diluted in 

 order to reduce the solution to a workable viscosity. 



Another direction in which this country was largely 

 dependent on Germany and Austria was in carbons 

 for arc lamps. Fortunately, one British firm undertook 

 the manufacture of such carbons, and through its 

 foresight and enterprise we are now in a position to 

 be self-supporting in this direction also. 



During the war much progress has been made in 

 the manufacture of insulation and of resistance wires, 

 both of which were largely imported from Germany. 

 The same is true of electro-medical apparatus. The 

 examples of these displayed at the exhibition show 

 that British manufacturers are capable of supplying 

 our needs and of producing thoroughly sound products. 

 We may pass over the interesting display which fur- 

 nishes a fine example of successful British production 

 on scientific lines of instruments of a high standard, 

 and of the exhibits of refractory materials, in which 

 direction progress has been very marked during the 

 past four years. This is another industry v^'hich has 

 been established here ; and with proper care British 

 manufacturers should be able to maintain their posi- 

 tions in this trade after the war. 



Before the outbreak of war lens-grinding machinery 

 was either made by the individual user or imported 

 fi-om abroad. Now such machinery, at least equal to 

 any imported machines, i§ available in sufficient 

 variety to cover all the ordinary types of work. At 

 the same time, entirely new methods of working glass 

 have been developed and brought into ordinary use. 

 Some of these methods are particularly well adapted 

 to the manufacture of standardised optical systems. 

 The most striking development in this respect has 

 been the way in which enormous numbers of prism 

 binoculars, sighting and other small telescopes, have 

 been made to meet the demands of the military and 

 naval authorities. 



The gradual awakening of the British glass industry 

 since the early days of the war, as revealed by the 

 exhibition, is a feature which deserves particular men- 

 tion. The two immediate needs were chemical glass 

 and optical glass. Let it be said to the credit of 

 British industrv that in regard to optical glass a well- 

 known British firm near Birmingham started the manu- 

 facture of this in 1848 and kept it alive at consider- 

 able pecuniary sacrifice. Since the outbreak of war 

 this firm's output has increased twenty-fold. Up to nine 

 months after the outbreak of war there was no general 

 and active movement among manufacturers to take 

 up new work. Since then steps have been taken to 

 speed up glass manufacture in general, and from the 

 beginning of 1916 the trade has rapidly progressed 

 from a state of dependence or doubt to one of deter- 

 mined optim.ism. The exhibition provides some 

 measure of the material results of the reawakening 

 of the glass industry in this country. 



The Munitions Inventions Department of the- 

 Ministry of Munitions exhibits some of the results 

 which have accrued from the research undertaken 

 on the nitrogen problem. This takes the form 

 of a unit plant for the oxidation of ammonia 

 to oxides of nitrogen. This process was not in 

 extended use outside Germany before the outbreak of 

 war, but there is reason to believe that the Germans 



NO. 2547, VOL. lOl] 



I have relied on it very largely for their output of nitric 

 acid for explosives, as well as in the' manufacture of 

 sulphuric acid by the chamber process, as a substitute 

 for Chile nitrate, which, owing to our blockade, -they 

 have been unable to obtain. The method is now in 

 use in this country, and several large firms, such 

 as Brunner, Mond, and Co., Ltd., and the United 

 Alkali Co., Ltd., are using apparatus similar to that 

 shown. The apparatus is on view continually during 

 the period of the exhibition. Demonstrations are given 

 by an officer of the Munitions Inventions Department 

 on Wednesdays at 4.30 p.m. 



In a preliminary review of the exhibits which will 

 be displayed at King's College until September 7 

 it is difficult to do more than give ah outline of the 

 development which has been achieved under the 

 pressure of war conditions. For instance, much can 

 be said about the development of the dye industry, 

 which was so backward in this country prior to 1914 

 that the outbreak of war disclosed a dependence on 

 Germany for our supplies of dyes that was little short 

 of appalling. The serious position in which we were 

 placed is evident when it is realised that Qur trade in 

 cotton and woollen goods, as well as the requirements 

 for leather staining and a multiplicity of minor indus- 

 tries, could be carried on only with the aid of these 

 essential materials. How the difficulties have been 

 overcome and the dye industry and industries asso- 

 ciated with it placed on a firm footing will provide a 

 most interesting chapter in the industrial history of 

 these days. What has been achieved can be seen at 

 King's College, and is certainly worthy of attention. 

 Dependent upon the 'dye industry is that of drugs and 

 fine chemicals, and the progress made during the war 

 has rendered the Empire self-supporting in regard to 

 its supplies of these essential articles. 



The aim of the exhibition is to stimulate public 

 interest and confidence in the capacity of British 

 science combined with industrial enterprise to secure 

 and maintain a leading place among progressive 

 nations; and the object is the full development of our 

 mental and material resources. It has been popularly 

 assumed that useful scientific work was almost a 

 prerogative of Germany, whereas a slight acquaintance 

 with scientific history would show that most modern 

 industries have originated with British science and 

 invention. In purely scientific research of initiative 

 quality we have been the pioneers ; where we have 

 been deficient is in the practical use of the results' 

 obtained and the application of our natural scientific 

 genius to the solution of industrial problems. In 

 order to ensure that full use is made of our capacity 

 in this respect in the future, it will be necessary to 

 provide for the training and employment of many 

 more scientific technologists than have hitherto been 

 available in this country. The adequate, supply of 

 highlv trained scientific workers and technologists is, 

 indeed, a matter of the utmost gravity and urgency, 

 and upon it undoubtedly depends the prosperity and 

 safety of the country after the war, as well as the 

 development of the natural resources of the Empire 

 and the production of our industries on a scale greatly 

 in excess of anything we have hitherto achieved. The 

 Education Act has provided for elementary and con- 

 tinuative education by which the rank and file will be 

 equipped for the struggles of the future, but from the 

 point of view of industrial development it is even 

 more important to secure a supply of highlv trained 

 captains of industry and pioneers of applied science. 

 Modern progress in industrial and commercial fields 

 depends upon these leaders, and the State that neglects 

 the training of them in adequate numbers cannot 

 expect to maintain a high place among the progressive 

 Powers of the world. 



