February 28, 19 18] 



NATURE 



507 



Ir.terming-led carbonaceous matter have hitherto 

 been dissipated in air. It can be shown that the 

 oil contents of a blackband seam, as well as the 

 ammonia, can be extracted by distillation, and 

 lixed carbon left in intimate association with the 

 ferric oxide, so that the ironstone is in a better 

 condition, both chemically and physically, for 

 treatment in the blast-furnace, leading- to a con- 

 siderable saving- of coke, a readier extraction 

 of metal, and less wear-and-tear of the furnace. 

 Mr. Craig- boldly faced the economics of the ques- 

 tion, and explained in detail the conditions upon 

 which the commercial success of treating- the 

 cannels and associated minerals by the method he 

 indicated must depend ; and he showed how it 

 compares, as a business proposition, with the 

 well-established Scottish industry. 



Dr. Mollwo Perkin contributed a short paper on 

 the relative merits of high- and low-temperature 

 carbonisation, with special reference to the produc- 

 tion of fuel-oil; and gave the results of a num- 

 ber of trials with different coals a* low tempera- 

 tures, say 450-550°, showing the very great 

 -variation in yield under substantially the same con- 

 ditions. The average quantity of fuel-oil obtain- 

 able from one ton of cannel may be put at 20 gal- 

 lons. If 15,000 tons of cannel were carbonised 

 per diem, it would amount to 105 million gallons 

 ■of oil per annum, working the plant for 350 days 

 in the year — no inconsiderable proportion, there- 

 fore, of our present needs. 



Mr. Berry and Dr. Dunstan dealt more particu- 

 larly with the chemical and analytical questions in- 

 volved, such as the modes of sampling the cannel ; 

 the determination of the yield of oil; the products 

 of retorting; the chemical nature of cannel oil; 

 effects of temperature on its character; its refin- 

 ing, and fractionation ; calorific values and other 

 physical data. 



The papers together form a valuable contribu- 

 tion to a subject of special importance at the pre- 

 sent time ; they serve, moreover, to direct atten- 

 tion to the possibility of a new and permanent 

 British industry, and deserve, therefore, the 

 thoughtful consideration of all who are interested 

 in the development of our national resources. 



THE ORGANISATION OF RESEARCH IN 



AGRICULTURE. 

 /^F the results of the war, not the least remark- 

 ^^-^ able IS the awakening of interest in the 

 application of scientific research to economic ob- 

 jects and the readiness of the State to endow 

 industrial investigations of all kinds ; and yet the 

 admitted pre-eminence of Germany in the techni- 

 cal applications of scientific knowledge does not 

 jump to the eyes in the apparatus or operations of 

 war. She cannot even claim priority in her in- 

 humanities. The use of poison-gas was suggested 

 to our War Office soon after the Crimean War and 

 unhesitatingly rejected. Nor has the extraordin- 

 arily lavish expenditure of Germany on abstract, 

 as well as industrial, research been productive of 

 -very marked new additions to knowledge. The 

 NO. 2522, VOL. 100] 



root of the matter must be sought elsewhere. In 

 a paper read by M. Georges Wery ^ at a conference 

 held in Paris lagt June and presided over by the 

 Minister of Agriculture, one finds attention 

 directed to what is really the dominant character- 

 istic of the German people in relation to this mat- 

 ter — a characteristic to which much of their recent 

 advance in efficiency may be ascribed. 



The German people, as a whole, believe in the 

 economic value of knowledge, respect the scien- 

 tific method, are eager to give practical effect to 

 the results attained by that method, and, as a 

 result, are ready to submit their industries to 

 scientific direction. It will avail us little to endow 

 scientific research unless scientific knowledge is 

 deferred to more than it has been in the past. The 

 fond belief that scientific results can be ordered 

 and paid for like goods, and that the knowledge 

 which gave these results birth has no continuing 

 industrial value, must be abandoned, if we set 

 out to compete with the German in his own field. 

 The attitude of the public generally, and particu- 

 larly that of the leaders of industry, must change. 



The main purpose of M. Wery's paper is to give 

 an account of the organisation of research in agri- 

 culture in foreign countries, and to contrast the 

 comparatively meagre provision made in France 

 for }his object with that made in Germany and 

 America. He points out that Germany has no 

 fewer than ninety-nine institutions, comprising 16^2 

 distinct laboratories, devoted to research in agri- 

 cultural subjects, all of which are in receipt of 

 State subventions. Prussia alone has fifty-eight 

 institutions of this nature, all of which have large 

 staffs, "luxurious " laboratories, and ample equip- 

 ment. As evidence of the hold which scientific 

 work has gained on the German agriculturist, M. 

 Wery cites the remarkable fact that some years 

 ago the German farmers and landowners raised a 

 sum of a million and a half sterling, which they 

 presented to the Emperor for the purpose of found- 

 ing- industrial and agricultural laboratories. No 

 better evidence could be given of the fundamental 

 difference between the attitude of the German agri- 

 culturist to science and that taken up by the Eng- 

 lish farmer. The gross revenue of the agricul- 

 tural research stations in Germany approaches 

 40o,oooL — a sum which M. Wery effectively con- 

 trasts 'with the parallel figure in France of 

 6o,oooL ; he might have added the corresponding 

 English figure, which is less than 40,000/. ! But 

 even the German figure pales before the American 

 total of i,ooo,oool. 



It is pointed out that the German organisation 

 of research was not without what may be termed 

 a publicity value in the past. The admiration 

 which it excited, if not calculated to assist the 

 sale of German goods, at any rate led to the 

 exploitation of German " Kultur " in England and 

 created a demand for the German savant outside 

 his own country — results which, no doubt, were 

 indirectly of economic value to the Fatherland. 

 M. Wery is on sure ground when he proceeds to 



1 Btillitin tie lit Sociftf d' Encouragenient pour C litiiusirie Nationak 

 No. 5. »c.7. 



