PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 17 



of course, whilst it lasts, must take the first place in regard 

 to chemical work as in all other matters, and explosives 

 claim perhaps the greatest share of attention, and consequently 

 also such substances as cotton and nitric acid, which is made 

 synthetically from the nitrogen contained in the atmosphere in 

 Norway and Germany, though I doubt if it is yet manufactured 

 in this country. Nickel is another important munition metal, 

 and an attempt is being made to procure it refined from. 

 Canada. And there are many others in this connection such 

 as that caused by the necessity of protection from and 

 retaliation with the poisonous gases so barbarously used by 

 the Germans against us. A new, cheap, and easily produced 

 disinfectant employed on board ship is electrolysed sea 

 water, which also seems to be effective. Mineral springs 

 have been discovered in Colorado in which so much radium 

 is present that it is hoped it may be extracted and produced 

 at a much lower cost than its present price. It has been found 

 that a very thin strip of mica, when exposed to the X-rays for a 

 week or so, is bent, the side exposed to the rays becoming 

 convex and displaying iridescent colours, and that the 

 particles are deposited in the mica in the form of helium. 



ENGINEERING. 



By far the most important and extensive movement in 

 engineering is due to the war, which has required so enormous 

 an output of munitions of all kinds and has converted numbers 

 of factories hitherto used for other purposes into places for 

 the manufacture of deadly or protective weapons. The 

 invention and use of new methods of attack by the enemy 

 have to be combated by similar means on our part, and though 

 secresy is at present desirable, there can be no doubt that 

 many inventions, great and small, have been made, for air, 

 earth, and water, of which we may hear later, but the benefit 

 of which we are already reaping. The great importance of the 

 work of scientists both in chemical and other inventions, and 



