August i, 1901] 



NA TURE 



)29 



disease which has up till now baffled the scientific and 

 medical men of the world, and that is cancer. God grant 

 that before long you may be able to find a cure for it, or 

 check its course ; and I think that to him who makes the 

 discovery a statue should be erected in all the capitals of 

 the world. In taking leave of you I trust that your stay 

 in London and in England has been an enjoyable one, 

 and that you will one and all carry away pleasant recol- 

 lections of your visit to my country." 



There can be no doubt that the King's desire will be 

 gratified, for, if the foreign delegates have received the 

 some amount of pleasure from the scientific and social 

 work of the Congress as have their British confreres, they 

 should go away amply satisfied and with very pleasant 

 recollections indeed. That they were prepared to enjoy 

 everything may be gathered from the fact that they cheer- 

 fully, and apparently even willingly, sat through twenty- 

 seven speeches at the final banquet given on Friday 

 night. 



The other social features of the Congress were the 

 receptions at the Mansion House by the Lord Mayor, at 

 Apsley House by the Duke and Duchess of Wellington, 

 at the \'ictoria and Albert Museum by the Earl and 

 Countess of Derby, and at Sion House by the Duke and 

 Duchess of Northumberland ; whilst evening parties, 

 private dinners, water parties and the like afforded ample 

 entertainment for all who were able to attend such 

 functions. 



.'Altogether the Congress may be looked upon as one of 

 the most interesting and successful ever held in London, 

 and the results promise to be very far-reaching. 



POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF ELECTRO- 

 CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES. 

 'X'HE presidential address delivered last week by Mr. 



-'• J. W. Swan, F.R.S., to the Society of Chemical 

 Industry, though it covers the same ground as the one he 

 delivered three years ago as President of the Institution 

 of Electrical Engineers, does so in a much more com- 

 prehensive and detailed manner. The paper is very 

 valuable and instructive, though not always pleasant 

 reading for the English electrochemist, who cannot help 

 reflecting that his country is much behindhand in the de- 

 velopment of those industries of which Davy and Faraday 

 laid the foundations. It cannot be urged that our back- 

 wardness is wholly due to the lack of water power in the 

 British Islands, though doubtless this has contributed in 

 many instances to our failure to keep pace with our com- 

 petitors. But there are many electrochemical industries 

 in which, though cheap power is by no means essential, 

 other nations have been the pioneers and are likely to 

 reap the reward. Thus, to quote one striking example, 

 there appears to be no English bullion refinery using 

 electrochemical processes, although these are finding 

 extensive employment in .America and Germany. The 

 value of the output for 1900 from two out of the three 

 German refineries is given by Mr. Swan as 2,500,000/., 

 the source of power in all three cases being steam. 



The fact remains, however, as Mr. .Swan points out, 

 that the greater number of electrochemical plants are 

 operated by water power. For fifty European works the 

 figures obtained show that there is 149,000 h.p. available 

 from water, 16,700 h.p. from steam, and 250 h.p. from gas. 

 The great bulk of the horse power generated from water 

 is used in the production of aluminium and calcium 

 carbide, industries in which cheap power is paramount. 



Is it to be feared, therefore, that the more extended 

 use of electrochemical processes will cause chemical 

 industries to leave this country for others more fortunately 

 supplied with waterfalls? The question is one, as Mr. Swan 

 says, " of national importance, for chemical manufactures 

 occupy, and have always occupied, a leading place among 

 the industries of our country." Something, perhaps much, 



NO. 1657, VOL. 64] 



is to be hoped for from the reduction in the cost of power 

 generated from coal, in which connection we may quote 

 Mr. Swan's words : — 



"Great advances have in recent years been made in the 

 direction of reduction of cost, by improvements in the steam 

 engine, the gas producer and the gas engine. In the best 

 modern steam engines a heat efficiency of 15 per cent, is ob- 

 tained. There is great reason for hope that help in the more 

 economical generation of power for electrochemical work may 

 come from the further development of the gas engine. Already 

 much has been done, both in the improvement of the gas 

 engine and also in providing it with cheap gas. Our honoured 

 past president. Dr. Mond, has made a valuable contribution in 

 this direction. 



" One of the drawbacks to the employment of gas engines 

 for large operations has been that they were not adapted for 

 large units of power, but now engines of 500 h.p. and even 

 1000 h.p. are manufactured, and work with successful results." 



It is to be feared, moreover, that we are not only ham- 

 pered by unfavourable conditions, but that we do not 

 make the most of the opportunities we possess. The 

 position deserves the most carefulj consideration of 

 all chemists and electricians, or the former will one 

 day awake to find that his purely chemical manufactur- 

 ing processes have been superseded in other countries 

 by electrochemical methods, and the latter will find, as 

 he has already found largely in electric traction, that, 

 whilst he was sleeping, a new field of development has 

 been fully exploited by American and continental 

 engineers. We cannot help thinking that the fault is, to 

 a considerable extent, due to our educational system and 

 to the bias of the English manufacturer against college- 

 trained men. Mr. Swan's remarks on this point are 

 worthy of very careful attention: — 



"In England and Ireland we are suffering acutely from dire 

 educational neglect and destitution, and that worst kind of 

 poverty, insensibility to our deficiencies. 



"Our English system of scientific and technical education is 

 not'equal to the present needs of the country, seeing how severely 

 we are pressed on every side by the most energetic and in- 

 telligent competition. We are giving to the classes at the bottom 

 of the industrial ladder a di.sjointed smattering of miscellaneous 

 science, of no great value, though probably good so far as it 

 goes, while we are neglecting to educate thoroughly those upon 

 whose shoulders will soon rest the weight of the management 

 of our great manufacturing industries. In the present state of 

 things a competent knowledge of the science of the business a 

 man is engaged in, as well as an active interest in it, whether 

 it be chemical industry or any other, are essential conditions of 

 any large degree of success in meeting the emergencies of a 

 highly competitive and progressive time. A scientific training 

 of university standard, for our manufacturers and for our technical 

 chiefs, is an absolute necessity. Surely public money cannot 

 be better spent than in providing adequate facilities for the 

 educational equipment of the men of the future, with this 

 essential means of national defence. Our country possesses great 

 stores of mineral wealth, a precious heritage that we are lavishly 

 spending. That gift of nature will certainly not avert, and 

 cannot go far to compensate for, the consequences of neglect 

 of the scientific training necessary to turn our fast-diminishing 

 mineral wealth to the best advantage. 



"One of the most pressing requirements nf the moment, 

 demanded, not only in the interest of chemical industry, but in 

 that of our manufacturing industries generally, is adequate en- 

 dowment and encouragement of researc/i. Original scientific 

 research is the fountainhead of new knowledge, the vital 

 stimulus of industrial growth, the originator of new industries 

 and sustainer of old. Vet, nationally, in the organisation of our 

 educational and industrial system, we give to scientific research 

 no hospitality — we barely pay it the respect of recognition." 



These arguments have been advanced again and 

 again by educational enthusiasts, but they have as yet 

 borne but little fruit. Perhaps now that they have been 

 so strongly endorsed by one so well qualified to speak 

 from the manufacturer's point of view as Mr. Swan, they 

 may find their way into the minds of those in whose 

 hands lies the future industrial prosperity of England. 



