286 



NATURE 



[June 12, 1919 



ployment in the purifiers. Certain of the samples 

 resulting- from the operations of the Gas Light 

 and Coke Co. were, however, found to give ex- 

 cellent results, and Dr. Evans, of the South 

 Metropolitan Gas Co., is at present engaged in 

 their further investigation. 



Ferric hydrate precipitated by lime from the 

 acid liquors used in the pickling of iron in the 

 tin-plate and galvanising industries is also 

 capable of being used in gas-purification. The 

 utilisation of the waste pickle has been the subject 

 of many patents, and various processes are in 

 use, especially in the Midlands. 



Attempts were made to recover selenium from 

 the flue-dust from pyrites burners, and the 

 residues from the Glover towers and vitriol 

 chambers, but with no practical result. The 

 amount in the flue-dust was found to be negli- 

 gible, whilst that in the Glover tower and 

 chambers varied between o'3 and 07 per cent. In 

 some exceptional cases it was as high as 4 per 

 cent. 



Other subjects which received the attention of 

 the Committee were so-called bichromate of soda 

 residues — that is, the residues left after the oxida- 

 tion of organic substances by sodium bichromate 

 and sulphuric acid; the residues from the manu- 

 facture of acetic anhydride; the tarry residues 

 obtained in the rectification of benzol ; residues 

 containing calcium sulphate ; residues from the 

 manufacture of brucine ; peat-tar residues, etc. 

 But no specific information is given con- 

 cerning the results which have been obtained, or 

 as to the extent to which industry has benefited 

 by the Committee's attempts to utilise these 

 waste products. 



It will be obvious from this summary that the 

 Committee has been able to deal with only a few 

 of the large number of such products brought to 

 its notice, and of these few it remains to be 

 proved that any results of permanent value have 

 been obtained. Other inquiries are in progress, 

 and it is suggested by the Committee that it 

 should be developed into a permanent organisa- 

 tion similar in character to that of the National 

 Physical Laboratory, with an Advisory Committee 

 in association with a director and chemical staff 

 with its own laboratories. 



Of course, it is conceivable that the work of 

 such an organisation might be largely extended, 

 and that an institution might be created to sub- 

 serve the higher interests of chemical technology. 

 But the report of the Committee affords no evi- 

 dence that results at all commensurate with the 

 expense of such an institution are likely to accrue. 

 Indeed, it may be questioned whether the kind 

 of subjects with which it has concerned itself 

 should fall to the cost of the taxpayer. It is 

 primarily the duty of the manufacturer to deal 

 with the by-products of his industry. He will 

 utilise them if he sees that it is to his advantag-e 

 to do so, and it is surely not the business of the 

 State to teach him how to do it. In some cases 

 there is no reasonable hope that these products 

 NO. 2589, VOL. 103] 



are capable of being utilised, but in that event 

 the expense of getting rid of them is no proper 

 concern of the taxpayer. 



Practically all the subjects to which the atten- 

 tion of the Committee was directed, in response 

 to its circular letters for information, are long- 

 standing problems which have taxed the energies 

 of chemists and chemical engineers for many 

 years past, and where men of proved technical 

 skill have failed it is scarcely to be expected that 

 a Committee constituted like that which has now 

 reported will succeed. Committees are, in fact, 

 cumbrous organisations to deal with questions of 

 this character, unless, indeed, they are of the 

 j single-member type, which a bureaucratic Com- 

 mittee seldom or never is. 



" EDUCATION: SECONDARY AND 

 UNIVERSITY.^ 

 " '\"\ /"E end where we began; with an appeal to 

 *^ educational enthusiasts to temper their 

 enthusiasm with charity. Let the advocates of 

 classics, of history, of natural science, try, while 

 exalting the value of their own subjects, to avoid 

 reflections which hurt the feelings and provoke 

 the opposition of the advocates of other subjects." 

 Such is the exhortation with which Sir Frederic 

 Kenyon concludes his interesting pamphlet, which 

 embodies a report of conferences between repre- 

 sentatives of literary, historical, and scientific 

 aspects of education. Such aspirations may well 

 receive sympathy and approval from all liberal- 

 minded people, while they recognise that final 

 agreement on all points under discussion has not 

 even yet been reached. 



A few only of these questions can be referred to 

 here. Most people would be disposed to agree 

 with the view that " universities have the right to 

 require that every student who enters them shall 

 be intellectually qualified to profit by the education 

 which they offer," and it is to be hoped that this 

 condition will be made practically operative. It is 

 true that all young" minds do not develop at the 

 same rate, and many a boy or g-irl supposed to be 

 dull at school has shown at maturity unexpected 

 activity and powers. But with the present suffi- 

 cient choice of subjects and methods the age of 

 eig-hteen or thereabouts should afford time for the 

 display of sufficient of those qualities which justify 

 the admission of the student from the school stage 

 to the university stage of his education. There 

 has been too much of this in the past, with corre- 

 sponding waste of educational resources and effort, 

 and it has yet to be fully recognised that all young- 

 people are not inclined to intellectual pursuits, and 

 for those who are not so disposed there is plenty of 

 other useful work to do. " Common sense ap- 

 pears to indicate that a student should show some 

 aptitude for a subject before he embarks on a 



university course of education in it." 



1 "Education: Secondary and University." A Report of _ Conferences 

 between the Council for Humanistic Studies and the Conjoint Board of 

 Scientific Societies. By Sir Frederic G. Kenyon. Pp. 47. (London : John 

 Murray, 1919.) Price is. net. 



