August 9» 191 7] 



NATURE 



46- 



SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.' 



THIS is the first of a series of papers which 

 the Department of Scientific and Industrial 

 Research prop>oses to publish, and it is a report 



I. — Laboratory car, Pennsv 



suited to carry on research in pure science, are 

 not as a rule in touch with industry, and the 

 amount of research required for industrial pro- 

 gress Is beyond their resources. Hence it may 



be conceded that "the 

 research facilities 

 created to such an 

 extent during- the past 

 two years are as yet 

 quite disproportionate 

 to the magnitude of 

 British industry." 

 This is true without 

 the limitation to two 

 years. 



What is most strik- 

 ing about the condition 

 of research in the 

 United States is the 

 large amount of money 

 devoted to it. There 

 are a number of 

 manufacturing cor- 

 f)orations the annual 

 expenditure of which 

 on research ranges 

 from lo.oooi. to 

 ioo,oooi., and there 

 is a tendency for each 

 large industrial firm 

 to establish its own 

 ania RaHroad c.iipanv. rescarch laboratory. 



of remarkable value 

 and interest at the 

 present time. It 

 describes the pro- 

 gress made in the 

 United States, 

 chiefly in recent 

 years, in the crea- 

 tion of institutions 

 concerned in indus- 

 trial research, and 

 is illustrated by 

 eighty-five excellent 

 photographs of 



buildings and the 

 interior of labora- 

 tories. 



It is p>ointed out 

 that in this country 

 the chief facilities 

 for research are in 

 the technical 

 schools and univer- 

 sities, though the 

 railways, steel- 

 works, and 



I some other in- 



I dustries have real- 



lised the need 



; of laboratories and have provided them. But 



! the staffs of colleges and universities, though well 



^ "Industrial Research in the United States of America." By A. P. M. 

 I Fleming. (Published for the Department of Scientific and Industrial 

 Research by H.M. Stationery Office.) Price is. net. 



XO. 2493, VOL. 99] 



Fig. 2.— Heat treatment laboratory, Peaasylvania Railroad Company. 



Thus the Eastman Kodak Company estab- 

 lished a laboratory which cost 30,000/., and 

 though its annual cost is about the same, this 

 is only 07 per cent, of the annual pi'ofits. The 



