412 



NATURE 



[July 13, 19 16 



sion of optical work, however, the staff of Adam 

 Hilger, Ltd., has been able by its superior knowledge 

 and intensive study of the manufacture of modern 

 spectroscopes to transfer a large portion of the manu- 

 facture of such instruments from Grermany to England 

 again. 



In a recent book review in Nature (December 2, 

 1915, p. 366) it is pointed out that the rare earth in- 

 dustry has been chiefly concentrated in Germany. The 

 manufacture of gas mantles, discovered by an Austrian, 

 developed an entirely new chemical industry, which 

 has been carried on almost completely under German 

 auspices. It seems to be suggested at the present 

 time by some of the leaders of British industry 

 that such specialised chemical operations as the manu- 

 facture of compounds of the rare earths can be trans- 

 ferred to Great Britain by the application of superior 

 financial methods, or better business foresight, or even 

 merely more intense application. I do not believe 

 that anyone who is acquainted with the business men 

 of several countries will believe that the British manu- 

 facturer is lacking either in financial capacity, or in 

 business foresight, or in application, but none of these 

 things by itself will develop a chemical industry. 

 The only thing that will attract and retain the busi- 

 ness is the manufacture and development of new and 

 improved products, and this can be done only by the 

 use of more and better research chemists and physicists 

 than the competitor is willing to employ. In fact, at 

 the present time it seems to be clear that the future 

 of any industry depends upon its being able to com- 

 mand a sufficient supply of knowledge directed 

 towards the improvement of the product and the de- 

 velopment of the methods of that industry, and that 

 any failure in this respect may involve eventual failure. 

 While this view of the importance of research work 

 to the industries is now obtaining universal acceptance, 

 I feel that many who assent without hesitation to the 

 value of a research laboratory still take far too low 

 a view of the work which it should perform. 



Industrial laboratories may be classified in three 

 general divisions : — 



(i) Works laboratories exerting analytical control 

 over materials or processes. 



(2) Industrial laboratories working on improvements 

 in product and in processes, tending to lessen cost of 

 production and to introduce new products on the 

 market. 



(3) Laboratories working on pure theory and on the 

 fundamental sciences associated with the industry. 



The first class of laboratories are so obviously neces- 

 sary that practically all works are so equipped, and 

 frequently each department of a factory maintains its 

 own control laboratory. The second class of labora- 

 tories are frequently termed "research" labora- 

 tories, and this type has been very largely instrumental 

 in forwarding the introduction of scientific control into 

 industry. 



Unfortunately, however, the immediate success of 

 the application of scientific methods to industrial pro. 

 cesses has often led the executives of commercial enter- 

 prises into the belief that such work along directly 

 practical lines is capable of indefinite extension, and 

 'n this belief a number of laboratories have been 

 started, some of which, at any rate, have been sources 

 of disappointment in consequence of a failure to grasp 

 the fact that if the whole future of an industry is 

 dependent on the work of the research laboratory, then 

 what is required is not merely an improvement in 

 processes or a cheapening in the cost of manufacture, 

 but fundamental development in the whole subject in 

 which the manufacturing firm is interested, and for 

 this purpose it Is clear that something very different 

 from the usual works laboratory will be required, and 



NO. 2437, VOL. 97] 



that in order to attain progress' the work of the re- 

 search laboratory must be directed primarily towards 

 the fundamental theory of the subject. This is a point 

 which seems to be continually overlooked in discus- 

 sions of industrial scientific research, where such 

 stress is generally laid upon the immediate 

 returns which can be obtained from works 

 laboratories, and upon the advantage of scientific 

 control of the operations ; but in every case where the 

 effect of research work has been very marked, that 

 work has been directed, not towards the superficial 

 processes of industry, but towards the fundamental 

 and underlying theory of the subject. From Abbe's 

 work on lenses, and Abbe and Schott's work on 

 glasses, to the work of the research laboratory of the 

 General Electric Company on the residual gases in 

 lamp vacua, which resulted in the production of the 

 nitrogen-tungsten lamp and the Coolidge X-ray tube, 

 this will be seen to be true, and we must consequently 

 agree that for Industries to retain their position and 

 make progress they must earnestly devote time and 

 money to the investigation of the fundamental theory 

 underlying the subject in which they are interested. 



Research work of this fundamental kind involves 

 a laboratory very different from the usual works 

 laboratory, and also investigators of a different type 

 from those employed in a purely industrial laboratory. 

 It means a large, elaborately equipped, and heavily 

 staffed laboratory, engaged largely on work which for 

 many years will be unremunerative, and which, for 

 a considerable time after Its foundation, will obtain 

 no results at all which can be applied by the manu- 

 facturer. 



The value of a research laboratory is essentially 

 cumulative; in the beginning it may be of service as 

 bringing a new point of view to bear on many 

 problems ; later, accumulaved information will be 

 more and more available; but most men acquainted 

 with Industrial research work consider that five years 

 Is the earliest date at which any considerable results 

 can be expected from a newly-established research 

 laboratory, and that the development of really new 

 material in considerable quantities so that It will have 

 an effect upon the industry as a whole cannot be 

 looked for In less than ten years' consecutive work. 

 This does not mean that a laboratory is useless during 

 the Initial period, since it will be of considerable service 

 In many other directions than in that of Its main 

 work on the fundamental problems, but when this 

 main line of research begins to bear fruit it will absorb 

 the energies both of the laboratory and of the factory. 



It is often suggested that the problem of the 

 organisation of scientific industrial research is really 

 the problem of obtaining satisfactory co-operation be- 

 tween the manufacturers and the universities, possibly 

 with small research laboratories in the factories them- 

 selves acting as intermediaries. Various schemes have 

 been suggested for enabling the universities to carry 

 out research work of value to the manufacturers, but 

 If it is believed that the work chiefly required for the 

 development and maintenance of Industry deals with 

 the fundamental theory of the subject, it will be seen 

 that this cannot possibly be carried ori to any large 

 extent in collaboration with a university ; it requires 

 a continuity of application by the same Investigators 

 over long periods, with special apparatus, and with 

 the development of special methods which cannot be 

 expected from any university. This necessity for con- 

 tinuous work along the same line is. Indeed, the 

 greatest difficulty in making use of the universities for 

 Industrial research. The conditions of a university 

 laboratory necessarily make it almost impossible to 

 obtain the continuous application to one problem re- 

 quired for success In Industrial research, and, Indeed, 



