February 7, 19 18] 



NATURE 



447 



GERMANY AND IRON-ORE SUPPLIES. 



DURING the past year there have been con- 

 tinual references in the German technical 

 Press and in the papers read before various tech- 

 nical societies to the immense importance of the 

 Briey and Longwy iron-ore basins for Gerinan 

 industry both during and after the war. Gradu- 

 ally the mask is being dropped in technical circles, 

 where the facts are, of course, well known, and 

 the hollow pretence that this war was a war of 

 self-defence on the part of Germany is barely 

 referred to, for these circles at any rate know 

 that it is a war of aggression and spoliation. 

 In February last Dr. M. Schlenker, Syndic of the 

 Saarbriicken Chamber of Commerce, showed that 

 the extraction of iron ore in the Briey basin 

 amounted (calculated by iron contents) to 28 per 

 cent, of the total German ore supply, this latter 

 being made up as to 56 per cent, of domestic pro- 

 duction and as to 44 per cent, of imported iron 

 ore. He said that it must be described as a 

 special stroke of good fortune that at the very 

 commencement of the war Germany came into 

 possession of the Briey ore basin, as without the 

 French iron ores it would have been impossible 

 for the German iron industry to cover its enor- 

 mous requirements of munitions ; on the other 

 hand, France has lost, as the result of the opera- 

 tions of the war, 85 per cent, of its pre-war iron 

 output. Dr. Schlenker takes for granted that 

 Germany will retain possession of its spoil and 

 thus remain " simply invulnerable in its most 

 important sources of strength and power." 



The same story was repeated even more em- 

 phatically at the meeting of the Union of German 

 Iron and Steel Manufacturers at Berlin in Decem- 

 ber last, where it was pointed out that the German 

 supplies of iron ore in the portion of Lorraine an- 

 nexed in 1 87 1 will be practically exhausted in forty 

 to fifty years, and that the German iron industry 

 needs the Briey ironfield in order to assure its 

 continued existence. Here, again, the demand for 

 the retention by Germany of the Briey and Longwy 

 iron deposits is most insistently put forward. 



Somewhat similar conclusions are reached by 

 the writer of an article signed ** Politicus " in 

 the Fortnightly Review for the current month. 

 After showing that throughout the history of the 

 world Germany's aggressive militarism has been 

 a constant danger to the world's civilisation, he 

 discusses in detail the main sources of military 

 power — namely, man-power and supplies of coal 

 and iron. He indicates that to a considerable 

 extent the former depends upon the latter, because 

 industrial districts are always the most densely 

 populated, and "the greatest centres of population 

 occur on and around the great coalfields." The 

 wriler also emphasises the importance of the iron- 

 ore question, though he employs statistics as old 

 as 1910, and therefore not quite correct in the 

 light of modern knowledge ; this accounts for his 

 statement that "Germany has by far the largest 

 iron deposits in Europe. France comes second." 

 Recent developments in France have somewhat 

 NO. 2519, VOL. 100] 



altered the position as it was known in 1910, and 

 it is now recognised that the quantity of iron ore 

 in France is but little less, and probably even 

 greater, than that of Germany. This fact, how- 

 ever, strengthens rather than weakens his con- 

 clusions, which are that " Germany intends to 

 retain the coal- and iron-bearing frontier lands 

 upon which she has seized. ... If Germany should 

 be allowed to retain her conquests she would not 

 only subject to herself millions of non-Germans, 

 but she would absolutely dominate Europe with 

 the coal and iron monopoly which the war would 

 have given her, and she would thus be able to 

 embark upon the final conquest of the world." 



If any confirmation of the correctness of these 

 views and of the real intentions of Germany is 

 required, this is furnished by the recent speech 

 of the German Chancellor, who gave a number of 

 reasons why Germany should retain possession of 

 Alsace-Lorraine, but carefully abstained from even 

 hinting at their supreme economic importance to 

 Germany. H. L. 



NOTES. 



The managers of the Royal Institution reported at a 

 general meeting of members held on February 4 that 

 Dr. Mond, under the conveyance and deed of trust of 

 the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, covenanted to 

 pay to the institution before the year 1926 the sum of 

 62,oooi. as endovvment fund. Dr. Mond's trustees have 

 in the most generous way anticipated the obligation by 

 eight years, and have transferred the sum of 66,500/. in 

 5 per cent. War Stock to the trustees, nominated by the 

 managers, of the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory 

 Endowment Fund. This will "add materially to the 

 income available for the purpose of promoting and 

 maintaining the efficiency of the Davy-Faraday Re- 

 search Laboratory in the advancement of original re- 

 search in chemical and physical science. 



A MEETING was held at the rooms of the Royal Society 

 of Arts on Monday, February 4, at the invitation of 

 the London Section of the Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry, to consider the formation of a London Section 

 of the British Association of Chemists. There was an 

 attendance of about 300, including members of the 

 Society of Chemical Industry, the Chemical Society, 

 the Institute of Chemistry, the Society of Public 

 Analysts, and the British Association of Chemists. Dr. 

 Ling took the chair, and briefly explained the reasons 

 for convening the meeting. Prof. Brame outlined the 

 history of the British Association of Chemists and the 

 course of the negotiations between that body and the 

 Institute of Chemistry. Mr. Smith, on behalf of the 

 British Association of Chemists, dealt with the need 

 for some registration authority for chemists and the de- 

 mand by chemists for a professional association which 

 would not only improve the status of chemists, but 

 also bring into the ranks of the chemist a larger num- 

 ber of well-equipped men than is now the case. He 

 emphasised the importance of chemists from a national 

 point of view, and invited the meeting to form a Lon-, 

 don Section of the association. After remarks by Prof. 

 Donnan and other speakers, a resolution was passed, 

 with few dissentients, for the formation of a London 

 Section, and a provisional committee of eleven was 

 appointed to proceed with the matter. Mr. Pilcher 

 made a spirited defence of the Institute of Chemistry 

 against some criticisms of that body, and stated that 

 the institute was not antagonistic to the new associa- 

 tion. 



