266 



NATURE 



[December 6, 19 17 



seems all the more curious when one notices the 

 hundreds of small, dilapidated pagodas all over the 

 country. These, although they may have been built by 

 their own relatives, the Buddhists usually allow to perish 

 from old age and the effects of the climate, and if 

 one inquires into the reason one gets for answer that 

 such repairs would go to the " merit " of the original 

 builder, not to the repairer. They therefore, if they 

 had the money available, prefer to erect another small 

 pagoda or religious building, when they would be 

 acquiring "merit" for themselves. But when money 

 has to be spent over a famous shrine like the one at 

 Pegu, they seem to have a national, rather than a 

 religious, motive in co-operating, and giving what they 

 can afford — it may be a rupee, or a thousand rupees. 

 Hence money for such an object is always forthcoming. 



F. N. Burn. 

 42 Pyinmagon, Dalla P.O., Lower Burma. 



THE NITROGEN PROBLEM. 



UNDER this term we have come to denote a 

 question of most pressings importance at the 

 moment. It not only affects our present and 

 prospective national welfare ; our very exist- 

 ence as an Empire is directly and immediately 

 concerned with it. This arises from its bearings 

 upon war and agriculture. Nitrogen compounds 

 are absolutely necessary to the manufacture of 

 munitions; they are no less indispensable to the 

 production of food. All nations, therefore, and, 

 for obvious reasons, especially those which are 

 locked together in a life-and-death struggle, are 

 eager to solve it, and under the compelling strain 

 of a dire necessity an extraordinary measure of 

 success is attending their efforts. This is more 

 particularly the case with Germany, owing to the 

 special circumstances of her position, and to the 

 fact that she and the other Central Powers are 

 practically cut off from external supplies of com- 

 bined nitrogen products. 



That Germany should be so far in advance of 

 other nations in this respect is due to her prior 

 recognition, years ago, of certain factors by which, 

 under the very conditions which she dreaded might 

 arise, and which have, in fact, arisen, her actual 

 existence as a nation might be imperilled. The 

 whole history of her association with the nitrogen 

 problem shows that under the semblance of a 

 peaceful venture it was part of the great con- 

 spiracy by which she sought to dominate the 

 world. Her first efforts were made in Norway, 

 when she secured a controlling interest in that 

 country's abundant supply of hydro-electric 

 energy, and took the fullest advantage, as is her 

 method, of other people's originality and pioneer- 

 ing efforts. As the problem evolved itself 

 and the political situation became apparently 

 clearer, in proportion as manufacturing processes 

 passed beyond the experimental stage, the great 

 combines, financial and industrial, at the back of 

 the enterprise gradually unloaded their interests in 

 Norway upon an unsuspecting world. It is doubt- 

 ful whether the whole of the synthetic stages from 

 atmospheric air to ammonia and nitric acid were 

 in full working order at the time the Serajevo 

 tragedy forced the Kaiser's hand; but, as the 

 NO. 2510, VOL. 100] 



sequel has shown, they were so far advanced that 

 under the stress of compulsion, aided by the finan- 

 cial support of the State and with no hampering 

 commercial restrictions, they could be made to 

 serve the necessity of the nation. We all re- 

 member with what a glow of pride Bethmann- 

 HoUweg revealed to the world that Germany's 

 chemists had at length solved the great nitrogen 

 problem, and thereby secured, henceforth and for 

 all time, as he said, her national security. 



Owing largely to our command of the sea, our 

 position, and that of our Allies, in respect to this 

 matter is less acute than that of our enemies. At 

 the same time, apart from the submarine menace, 

 which is transitory, there are elements in the situa- 

 tion which require us to pay very serious heed to 

 it. It would be the greatest possible folly on our 

 part to neglect its study. For there can be no 

 doubt whatever that this question of the fixation 

 of nitrogen and the production of synthetic am- 

 monia and nitric acid has come to stay. Matters 

 of this kind have hitherto been considered as out- 

 side the business of the State. Government had 

 no direct interest in them. They were subjects to 

 be left to private enterprise and individual effort. 

 But the circumstances of the time have changed 

 much in our time-honoured and traditional view 

 of the mutual relations of the individual and the 

 State. Public opinion, under the hustling influ- 

 ence of the moment, now compels the State to 

 accept responsibilities and exercise initiative to 

 an extent hitherto undreamt of. Accordingly, a 

 number of official bodies connected with the 

 Government are engaged in the consideration of 

 the nitrogen problem, and we are given to under- 

 stand that a gratifying measure of success has 

 already attended the systematic research work 

 which has been undertaken at their instance. The 

 attempt should now be made to co-ordinate this 

 business with a view to economy of effort and to 

 bring the whole to a common focus. Government 

 Departments are too apt to encase themselves in 

 water-tight compartments, and departmental 

 jealousies are prone to interfere with unity of 

 action. 



We trust that, in view of the urgency and seri- 

 ous nature of the matter, no such trivial con- 

 siderations will be allowed to operate. The Nitro- 

 gen Products Committee of the Ministry of Muni- 

 tions, constituted more than a year ago under the 

 auspices of the Munitions Inventions Department, 

 is no doubt primarily concerned with the matter, 

 for at the moment the question affects the prose- 

 cution of the war and is, therefore, of the first 

 consideration, and every agency should be 

 directed to that issue. In solving the problem as 

 it affects war we incidentally go far to solve it as 

 it affects peace and agriculture. The Comptroller 

 of Munitions Inventions has just issued a report 

 giving a general account of the action which has 

 been taken by his Department in dealing with the 

 subject, and he promises a more complete report 

 based upon the work of the various sub-com- 

 mittees which have been instituted to deal with 

 its several aspects. 



