82 



NATURE 



[March 23, 1916 



medium, and to do so before it is hustled into the 

 acceptance of some factitious brew of sounds and 

 letters. The universal language, in fine, need not be 

 laboriously sought for. It has been with us all the 

 time, like a neglected tool that we have only to clean 

 of its rust and sharpen. Let us no longer neglect it. 



W. A. Caspari. 



CHEMICAL ORGANISATION IN GERMANY 

 DURING THE WAR. 



VERY soon after the outbreak of war steps 

 were taken in Germany to org-anise, control, 

 and develop the supply and manufacture of the 

 materials necessary for chemical industry, especi- 

 ally that part of it most closely connected with 

 the manufacture of munitions of war. 



The first interesting sign of this internal activity 

 was the fusion, on August 8, 1914, of the two 

 great industrial associations, the Zentralverband 

 deutscher Industriellen and the Bund der Indus- 

 triellen, under the title Kriegsauschuss der 

 deutschen Industrie (War Committee of German 

 Industry). 



The next step was the formation of a large 

 number of organisations and Zentralstellen, the 

 function of which was the collection, control, and 

 regulated distribution of the whole existing stock 

 of war materials and crude products necessary for 

 industry, especially in its relation to war. Thus 

 were formed the Kiiegsmetall Aktiengesellschaft 

 and the Kriegschemikalien Aktiengesellschaft. 

 Before the end of 1914 no fewer than twenty-eight 

 such Zentralstellen had been formed, each dealing 

 with a different kind of material or product. One 

 has also been formed in Brussels for the purpose 

 of taking stock of, and collectingf, the available 

 material found in Belgium. It is interesting to 

 n^te that the German technical journals state quite 

 openly that the Belgian stocks improved in many 

 respects the condition of German industry, which 

 had been somewhat shaken at the outset. 



But in spite of this centralisation of control and 

 supply, it appears that a good many difficulties 

 have had to be surmounted. Although large 

 stocks of Chilian nitrate had been collected before 

 the war, the question of the supply of nitric acid 

 was seen to be of vital importance. It appears 

 that the Ostwald catalytic oxidation process (im- 

 proved by Haber), which had been carried on 

 before the war by the Badische Anilin- und Soda- 

 fabrik at Ludwigshafen (and also by another com- 

 pany at Vilvorde in Belgium), probably on a 

 comparatively small scale, has been very largely 

 extended. The commercial possibility of this 

 depends, of course, on the fact that the Badische 

 company had already developed on an enormous 

 scale the synthetic production of ammonia initiated 

 by the researches of Haber and Le Rossignol. 



It must not be forgotten, too, that the manu- 

 facture of nitric acid from the air had been already 

 developed in Austria by Pauling. Possibly this or 

 similar processes (e.g., Schonherr-Hessberger) 

 have been extended since the beginning of the 

 war. A significant fact is that the Griesheim- 

 Elektron Company, which had started some 

 NO. 2421, VOL. 97] 



years ago the manufacture of nitrogen peroxide 

 in Switzerland, greatly extended these works 

 after the outbreak of war, and sent the product in 

 liquid form to Germany. Nitrogen peroxide is the 

 " raw material " for the manufacture of synthetic 

 nitric acid. It also makes quite good "poison 

 gas." It appears that the nitrogen peroxide was 

 allowed to pass through easily, as, no doubt, a 

 harmless substance like that was not of any 

 importance. 



In order to make matters quite sure, the German 

 authorities forbade the use of nitrates in agri- 

 culture. E. Haselhoff published an extensive 

 paper giving the relative values as manure of a 

 large number of substitutes for nitrate. Ammon- 

 ium sulphate was recommended as of equal value, 

 especially if put relatively deep into the soil, and 

 preferably during autumn rather than spring. The 

 value of urea and guanidine and their compounds- 

 was also considered, and close attention was given 

 to calcium cyanamide, which is produced in large 

 quantities in Germany. As regards phosphates, 

 which are so important for manure, attention was. 

 directed to the deposits in the neighbourhood of 

 Li^ge and Mons, and to the phosphorites of the 

 Rhine and Lahn districts; also to Thomas phos- 

 phate slag. 



In connection with the use of calcium cyan- 

 amide, the Prussian Department of State for Agri- 

 culture issued, at the beginning of 1915, a circular 

 asking for rapid solutions of the following^ prob- 

 lems, namely : (i) Determination of the value of 

 calcium cyanamide as manure, at the different 

 seasons, for different soils, and for different crops. 

 (2) Improvements in its Streufdhigheit (capability 

 of being strewn or spread). 



For the first, three prizes of 150?., looZ., and 50L 

 were offered. For the second problem a prize of 

 500Z. was offered for the devising of a new pro- 

 cess, and another prize of 500/. if the process be 

 adopted. 



The Germans appear to have been obliged tO' 

 take great precautions to avoid a shortage of 

 sulphuric acid. In time of peace Germany obtains 

 about 80 per cent, of her supply from outside, 

 mainly from Belgium, where it is obtained as a 

 by-product in the roasting of sulphide ores (zinc, 

 lead, iron). But this source must have been prac- 

 tically stopped, in spite of the occupation of Bel- 

 gium, since the ores treated in Belgium come 

 mainly from Spain, North Africa, America, and 

 Australia. The employment of sulphur can 

 scarcely be feasible, unless Germany has suc- 

 ceeded since the outbreak of war in obtaining* 

 sufficient supplies from Italy and America. 

 Swedish ores can, however, be handled, especially 

 by means of mechanical roasters. There are alscr 

 the Norwegian, Hungarian, and Styrian ores to 

 be reckoned with. There are, however, many 

 evidences that the employment of sulphuric acid 

 has been put under the strictest control and super- 

 vision. 



The question of substitutes for wheat and rye 

 in the manufacture of bread has been very widely 

 discussed. Amongst the substitutes or additions. 



