NATURE 



[March. 8, 1917 



profits varying from 14 per c^nt. to 30 per cent, in 

 1913, and as a specific example may be quoted the firm 

 of F, Bayer and Co., of Jilberfeld, which on a capital 

 of 1,800,000/. made a net profit of 838,092/., figures 

 which remind one of a rich Transvaal gold mine. 



If we leave out of consideration the exploitation 

 of her metalliferous minerals^ which will in the not 

 far distant future be but memories, South Africa may 

 be considered as a country where chemical industry 

 is, practically speaking, non-existent. Hence, to pre- 

 pare the nation for the future prosperity we should 

 so earnestly desire to see attained, the obligation rests 

 upon this generation to develop, at the earliest pos- 

 sible moment, those chemical industries, in the first 

 place, needful for its own existence, and only when 

 this has been achieved to attempt an expansion beyond 

 its borders. 



The second portion of my theme relates to the 

 organisation of chemical industry and the part which 

 research should play therein. Reference has already 

 heen made to the enormous progress which Germany 

 has made in this direction, but, unfortunately, it has 

 required a war of the present dimensions to pierce 

 the armour-plated conservatism of the governing 

 •classes in England, and, even yet, it is a matter of 

 grave doubt whether much impression has been made. 



By way of preface it would, perhaps, at this stage 

 be of interest to take a few illustrations of the manner 

 in which some of Germany's chemical industries have 

 risen to their present state of flourishing activity, 

 and although the story is an oft-repeated tale, con- 

 stant reiteration does not yet seem to have brought 

 home the lessons it teaches. I shall first refer to the 

 synthetic preparation of indigo. 



The synthesis of indigo was first accomplished by 

 Nencki in 1876, but it was not until Bayer and his 

 pupils had five or six 5'ears later thoroughly investi- 

 gated and proved its constitution that simple methods 

 for .its synthesis became available. The next step, 

 namely, the translation of the laboratory methods thus 

 discovered into commercially economic processes, 

 proved a source of extreme difficulty, in which success 

 was only achieved after nearly one million pounds had 

 been spent on innumerable and laborious experiments, 

 and at the end of seventeen years' work, artificial 

 indigo prepared from the naphthalene of coal tar being 

 first put on the market in 1897. If anything can excite 

 our admiration, surely this example of one of the 

 finest industrial achievements known to science should 

 do so. The result of this vast amount of labour and 

 expenditure is shown in the following table given by 

 Prof. P. F. Franklahd in 1915 in a paper on the 

 'Chemical industries of Germany :^ 



InAigo. 



British East Indies Germany 



Value of exports 



3,569,670 

 1,980,319 

 1.234,837 



556,405 

 424,849 

 225,000 



60 to 70,000 



In^ 1895-96 the acreage under cultivation was ap- 

 proximately 1,400,000 acres, and on December 31, 

 1915, the Indian Trade Journal (Calcutta) published 

 an estimate that the total area in 1915 was 314,300 

 acres, as compared with 148,400 acres in 19 14, this 

 increase being due to the high prices ruling on 

 account of the war and the cessation of the German 

 Industry. The total yield was estimated at 39,000 

 cwt.^ as against 25,200 cwt., the revised estimate 

 for 1914-15, and the average output per acre 14 lb., 



NO. 2471, VOL. 99] 



as ag^ainst ,19 lb. in the preceding year. The price 

 of indigo (loo per cent.) in 1897 was i6i-. per kilo, 

 and in 1913 7s. 



The knowledge of what was being done in Germany 

 prior to the advent of the marketing of synthetic 

 indigo was not unknown to the Indian planters, but 

 they were sceptical of the results, many believing 

 that it was an impossibility to prepare the substance 

 from coal tar, with the result that, practically speak- 

 ing, they took no steps whatever to improve either 

 the yield per acre or the quality of their finished 

 product. Having thus lulled themselves to sleep, 

 their awakening in 1897, when synthetic indigo was 

 placed on the market at a price much below that 

 demanded for the natural substance, was somewhat 

 of a bolt from the blue. Owing to the stress of the 

 competition, which they at last realised would take 

 place, they attempted some improvements ; but, as 

 seen above, they were somewhat belated. It is diffi- 

 cult to predict with any degree of accuracy whether 

 the natural product would have been entirely ousted 

 had there been no war, because tradition is h^rd to 

 kill, and there are still dyers who prefer to use the 

 natural dye. On the other hand, there can be no 

 doubt that the production of the latter would have 

 been insignificant in comparison with that of the 

 synthetic material, as happened in the previou,sly well- 

 known and analogous case of the dye alizarin, for- 

 merly extracted from madder-root. The indigo fields 

 would have shared the same fate as those of the 

 madder. 



The tannin industry in this province is in a similar 

 position to that in which the indigo industry found 

 itself about 1880-82. The master synthesis of tannin 

 was effected in 19 n by Prof. Emil Fischer and Dr. 

 Karl Freudenberg in Berlin. The formula of tannin 

 is now known with a great degree of certainty, and 

 the researches are still being continued. The next step 

 is the commercial utilisation of this knowledge, 

 which means the synthetic production of artificial 

 tannin on a commercial scale from raw materials 

 found in Germany. This, as stated above, in the 

 case of indigo took seventeen years' work and one 

 million pounds in money. 



The value of the tannin bark industry to Natal is 

 approximately 300,000/. per annum. 



The problem which confronts the industry in this 

 province is therefore how, whilst there is still time, 

 to. protect it against any competition which might 

 ix>ssiblv arise from the presence on the market of 

 an artificial substitute. The answer to this mav be 

 put in the form of a question. If, during the years 

 1880-96, the indigo planters of India had invested 

 one million pounds in the scientific investigation and 

 development of their industry, would they have for 

 one moment feared to have faced competition at the 

 end of that period? This would have meant an ex- 

 penditure to the extent of between 50,000/. and 

 60,000/. per annum for seventeen years invested 

 so as to obtain results which would not only 

 have made the future secure, but at the same time 

 would also have increased the output annuallv during 

 the period of its outlay. In point of fact, it would 

 in all probability have placed vegetable indigo beyond 

 competition. Moreover, just as India was compelled 

 to export the indigo which she grew, so also must 

 Natal at present export her tannin bark until the 

 chemical industry of leather manufacture be estab- 

 lished here, in which case the leather would be re- 

 quired to stand the strain of the competitive market. 

 In passing, it may be noted here that of the tw'entv- 

 five large classes into which Germanv officialW 

 divides material connected with chemical industry, 

 one of the divisions is " tanning extracts " and 

 another " dves and dve mafprial." 



