370 



NATURE 



[February i6, 1905 



manufacturers, and to promote combination among 

 tlicm against their foreign rivals; and (3) to act as 

 an advisory body to industrial chemists, and to take 

 steps to direct the education of young chemists into 

 channels helpful to the progress of chemical industry. 

 It is suggested that the worl-c of the society should 

 be aided by congresses in certain towns, which should 

 be attended by the local manufacturers, as well as bv 

 those who carry on the same or similar processes 

 elsewhere. In conclusion, the future president, it is 

 suggested, should be Prof. Haller, who has done so 

 much for the industrial progress of the town and 

 Lniversity of Nancy, and who is now professor at 

 the Sorbonne, the University of Paris. 



Such are the recommendations of the report. The 

 reasons annexed to these recommendations, which 

 form the earlier part of the report, are derived from 

 numerous letters from and interviews with members 

 of some eighty-two representative firms. The opinions 

 of some .of these form amusing reading. Thus we 

 learn from the manufacturers of " eau de Javel," the 

 precursor of bleaching-powder, that Monsieur B., 

 " suffit a I'exploitation." In another case "The 

 brewery has no chemist at all, and gets all its 

 analyses made at the brewing-school." Another firm 

 which produces " some rare bodies " (one would like 

 to know what they are) dismisses the question in 

 almost the historical words which preceded the decapita- 

 tion of Lavoisier — " Aucun besoin de la collabora- 

 tion des savants "! Another intelligent manufacturer, 

 design.-ted as X, (i) ventures the daring statement 

 that " the candle industry and chemistry have nothing 

 in common." Oh, shade of Dumas! X (to) does 

 not think that the collaboration of " savants " would 

 be useful in the extraction of dyeing stuffs from 

 wood; and a soap-maker, X (16), who confesses him- 

 self ignorant of chemistry, thinks that " chemistry 

 can contribute nothing of use to the soap industry, 

 seeing that soap is always made in the same way "! 



These examples show that some educative action 

 is necessary in France. The necessity is also 

 apparent when recent statistics are considered. For 

 while the raw materials exported from Germany have 

 remained practically stationary for the last twenty 

 years, those imported have doubled in value; and 

 while the imjxirts of manufactured products have 

 barely increased in value during the same interval 

 of time, the value of the exported manufactured 

 chemical substances has risen from 200 million marks 

 in 18S0 to 352 million marks in 1900. The progress 

 in France, accordingly, is much behind thai: of 

 Germany. To add insult to injurv. the red trousers, 

 so conspicuous in the French .\r'my, were designee! 

 originally to encourage the cultivation of the madder 

 plant; the plant is commercially as extinct as the 

 dodo, and the trousers are now dyed with artificial 

 alizarin supplied from Germany !" Sacre nom de 

 tonnerre ! 



As this article is written in the hope of reaching 

 the ignorant, the author, M. Jean Jaubert, has taken 

 some pains to show how many-sided the industrial 

 chemist should be if he is to" direct his enterprise 

 intelligently, and he sketches the steps taken bv the 

 Germans to secure such general knowledge. The 

 collaboration of manufactories and university 

 professors, the give and take, the university train- 

 ing of the scientific heads of departments in chemical 

 works, account for an increase between 18S7 and 1900 

 in the number of works in Germany from 4235 to 

 7rfi9; in the number of workmen from 82,000 to 

 153,000; and for an increase in the average wage of 

 these workmen from 38/. to 50/. a year; and the 

 average percentage dividend of 121 joint-stock 

 companies, obliged by law to publish their accounts, 

 has risen from 9J per cent, in iSSS to 13J per cent. 

 NO. 1842, VOL. 71] 



in 1899. Evidently German chemical industry is 

 prosperous, and profitable to all classes concerned. 

 Indeed, the dividend of artificial colouring companies 

 shows a still better figure ; the increase in dividend 

 is from 15 per cent, in 1888 to 20J per cent, in 1900. 



Unfortunately, similar statistics are not furnished 

 for France, either because they do not exist or because 

 they are better concealed. 



How can this distressing state of affairs be 

 remedied? To what is industrial France to turn? 

 The opinions of many manufacturers are quoted, and 

 some shall be adduced here. First, secondary educa- 

 tion is at fault ; all initiative is crushed in the 

 secondary schools, and all pupils are turned out of 

 one uniform mould. But, it is acknowledged, an 

 attempt is being made to remedy this. Second, it is 

 said nearly unanimously, by all those asked for their 

 opinions, that the training of young chemists is not 

 sufficiently practical. There is in the universities 

 too much tendency to train teachers rather than 

 industrial men ; and the professors often look down 

 on the commercial side of their science. The union 

 of science and industry is recommended. Like our- 

 selves, the French manufacturers, ignorant them- 

 selves, often engage a young chemist, and expect 

 him at once to know all about their work and to be 

 able to devise improvements ; when they find out that 

 he is of little value they contemn chemistry, as we 

 have seen in what precedes. Others complain that 

 they have to pay their chemists for a year or a year 

 and a half while he is learning their needs; and yet 

 it is acknowledged that no education in a technical 

 school can be of any value ; for the teacher cannot 

 teach anything worth knowing about the really im- 

 portant dodges employed by the manufacturer, nor 

 is he welcomed in the work if he lectures on any 

 special process. In a minority of works the German 

 system is followed ; young men are engaged as 

 juniors, and work under the supervision of seniors; 

 according to the ability and tastes which they show 

 for routine work, for management, or for invention, 

 they are kept as analysts, made managers, or left 

 in the research laboratory. But it is justly remarked 

 that this excellent plan is impossible for small 

 manufacturers. 



In many (most?) cases the difficulty lies in the 

 smallness of the remuneration. It appears common 

 for a chemist to receive 48?. to 72?. a year, rare for 

 the pay to exceed 100/. Now that is little more 

 than workmen's wages; and it is the reward of an 

 e.xpensive education. Yet the manufacturer often 

 grumbles at having to teach such young men their 

 business, and says that they should pay for his 

 tuition ; and on the other hand, the chemist who has 

 survived the kicks, cuffs and insults from the 

 foreman, and hard work of the first year, and has 

 acquired some practical knowledge, does not see why 

 he should not better himself if he can. 



.\gain, German firms employ chemists in many 

 walks of life. A man who is a chemist makes a 

 much better traveller for a chemical firm than an 

 ignoramus who can only tout his goods ; and their 

 chemists, if they show commercial ability, often take 

 to the business side of the concern, and they know 

 chemistry is a recommendation, not a drawback. 



In spite of the low pay, France, according to all 

 reports, is overcrowded with chemists. Some pity 

 them ; others think that this plethora will lead to the 

 survival of the fittest. The old-fashioned foreman is 

 as undying in France as here, however, and as 

 opposed to any attempt at innovation. Yet he is being 

 displaced by chemists in some works ; and this, 

 common in Germany, is one of the chief causes of 

 her industrial prosperity. The foreman, knowing 

 some tips of importance, looks askance at anyone 



