no GERMAN SCIENCE 



also in Lancashire. It is a remarkable fact that in the middle 

 of the nineteenth century, the idea of applying science to 

 manufacture was more prevalent in certain parts of Britain 

 and certain sections of British industry than in any other part 

 of the world, and it was easier for a German chemist to find 

 a place in England than in his own country. This is well 

 shown by a fact of great and almost tragic interest namely 

 that there were then in works round about Manchester three 

 German chemists who subsequently returned to their own 

 country and became the leading spirits in three of the vast 

 concerns in Germany at which we now stand in such amaze- 

 ment. 1 



The return of these men to Germany and also the trans- 

 ference in 1 864 of Hofmann from London to Bonn and then 

 to Berlin are considered to have exercised a decisive influence 

 on the development of the coal-tar industry. The new 

 industry, it must be remembered, was new in a very wide 

 sense. Not only were new things made, but they were made 

 by methods of manufacture which depended much less on 

 inventiveness and the kind of practical skill in which the 

 Englishman excels, than on an elaborate and thorough compre- 

 hension of deep science. In this respect Germany was more 

 favourably situated for the development of the industry than 

 England. Liebig's labours, and the labours of others who 

 followed his lead, had brought into existence in Germany an 

 army of young, enthusiastic, and highly capable chemists who 

 were eager for an opportunity of turning their powers to 

 practical use. 



The German industry of preparing pure chemicals, one 

 requiring knowledge and methods akin to those required for 



1 One of these men informed me in the course of conversation a few years 

 ago that he had left England because the firm with which he was engaged 

 showed so much reluctance to support the scientific work he deemed 

 essential for the impending industrial developments. 



