318 



NATURE 



[June 15, 1916 



factured by the larger firms." During the war 

 period the famine in chemicals enables the "small 

 men " to make a profit, even on their necessarily 

 restricted operations. It is, however, doubtful 

 whether these praiseworthy enterprises will be 

 able to withstand the stress of the forthcoming- 

 trade war. The collapse of these smaller under- 

 takings will spell ruin to some, and will inevitably 

 entail losses of capital and industrial energy. 

 What is urgently needed at present is an intelli- 

 gent co-ordination of these useful and patriotic 

 activities. 



The question of dyes is only part of the larger 

 problem of coal-tar products, in which Germany 

 has invested a capital of 8o,ooo,oooJ. The cost 

 of producing the best modern synthetic dyes can 

 never in this country be brought to the German 

 level until the utilisation of numerous by-p»oducts 

 is placed on a sound economic basis. The solu- 

 tion of this intricate problem demands years of 

 patient and often unproductive research, syste- 

 matic organisation of chemical investigation, co- 

 ordination of national resources in men and 

 materials, and extensive industrial development, 

 supported and defended impartially by a scienti- 

 fically informed branch of the Government. 



There is no evidence that anything systematic 

 is being attempted. These sporadic and dis- 

 organised enterprises will prove futile against 

 our scientifically organised opponents. Success 

 in this strenuous struggle will come to British 

 chemical industry only if the tactics of the unsup- 

 ported industrial sniper are replaced by the far- 

 seeing strategy of an organised general staff of 

 qualified chemists and manufacturers. 



An important step in this direction was taken 

 on May 23 at a meeting, held at Burlington 

 House, of the representatives of one hundred 

 leading firms engaged in chemical industries, 

 when a motion was adopted to the effect that "it 

 was desirable that British firms engaged in the 

 chemical and allied trades should form an asso- 

 ciation to promote closer co-operation and to place 

 before the Government the views of the chemical 

 trade generally ; to further industrial research ; 

 and to facilitate closer co-operation between 

 chemical manufacturers and various universities 

 and technical schools." 



At this meeting the chairman. Dr. Charles 

 Carpenter, president of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry, pointed out that at present we had no 

 organisation to meet foreign competition when 

 war was over. Mr. Brunner, M.P., mover of the 

 resolution, stated that, although the war had 

 shown that science was invaluable in time of war, 

 yet the Government, by their lack of knowledge of 

 chemistry, had kept them back in more ways 

 than one. 



NO. 2433, VOL. 97] 



The opinion was also expressed that this organ- 

 isation of chemical industries should be regarded 

 as a necessary step in the direction of affiliating 

 chemical manufacturers with a more comprehensive 

 union embracing allied trades. How extensive 

 and diverse are the ramifications of the colour in- 

 dustry will be seen when due consideration is 

 given to the trades affected directly by the ab- 

 normal price of dyes. Although textile manufac- 

 turers have been hardest hit, the blow has also 

 been felt by paint- and colour-makers, paper- 

 makers, ink-manufacturers, leather-workers, soap- 

 boilers, coach-builders, sealing-wax makers, and 

 the linoleum, celluloid, and engineering trades. If 

 further evidence be needed to emphasise the claim 

 of the synthetic dye manufacturers for impartial 

 and extensive Government support, it is the car- 

 dinal fact that this trade is a key industry in the 

 general scheme of national defence. An outstand- 

 ing example may be cited. One of the large 

 German dye groups was, before the war, employ- 

 ing 10,000 operatives in the production of colours 

 and other fine chemicals. To-day there are 14,000 

 workers in these factories making high explo- 

 sives. 



I^AMB'S HYDRODYNAMICS. 



Hydrodynamics. By Prof. Horace Lamb. Pp. 

 xvi + 708. Fourth edition. (Cambridge : At 

 the University Press, 1916.) Price 24s. net. 



THAT this work should have already reached a 

 fourth edition speaks well for the study of 

 mathematical physics. By far the greater part of 

 it is entirely beyond the range of the books avail- 

 able a generation ago; and the improvement in 

 the style is as conspicuous as the extension of the 

 matter. My thoughts naturally go back to the 

 books in current use at Cambridge in the early 

 'sixties. With rare exceptions, such as the 

 notable one of Salmon's "Conic Sections," and 

 one or two of Boole's books, they were arid in the 

 extreme, with scarcely a reference to the history 

 of the subject treated or an indication to the 

 reader of how he might pursue his study of it. 

 At the present time we have excellent books in 

 English on most branches of mathematical 

 physics, and certainly on many relating to pure 

 mathematics. 



The progressive development of his subject is 

 often an embarrassment to the writer of a text- 

 book. Prof. Lamb remarks that his " work has 

 less pretensions than ever to be regarded as a 

 complete account of the science with which it 

 deals. The subject has of late attracted increased 

 attention in various countries, and it has become 

 correspondingly difficult to do justice to the grow- 

 ing literature. Some memoirs deal chiefly with 

 questions of mathematical method and so fall out- 

 side the scope of this book ; others, though 

 physically important, scarcely admit of a condensed 

 analysis; others, again, owing to the multiplicity 



