NEW CONCEPTIONS IN SCIENCE 



upon chemical synthesis and thermo - chemistry 

 pure, enabled M. Berthelot first to predict, then 

 in the years that followed to realize, explosives of 

 double the force of anything hitherto known ; fur- 

 ther, to make these so docile to control that they 

 may be applied in the utmost variety of ways. 

 One of the first results was the beautiful discovery 

 by his collaborator in these researches, M. Vieille, 

 of smokeless powder. From these beginnings a 

 vast industry has grown, for the industrial use of 

 explosives in blasting, railway construction, and 

 other arts of peace now far exceeds their employ- 

 ment in the dwindling game of war. 



In the struggle of the Franks and Prussians, and 

 especially in the long siege of Paris, M. Berthelot 

 displayed his tireless activity in devising new 

 means of defence, and, when the ammunition ran 

 low, of manufacturing more, in unheard-of ways 

 in founding cannon, in building mines to explode 

 under the enemy, and even in directing the artillery 

 fire from the heights of Avron. When the disaster 

 was complete, when from the d6bris of the empire's 

 fragile fabric free and undaunted spirits began the 

 rebuilding of a new republic and a new France, M. 

 Berthelot proved a pillar. Apart from the high 

 official positions he has held, he has, as the head 

 of the commission on explosive substances since 

 1873, done much to make France impregnable 



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