September 19, [918 



NATURE 



57 



Maj I just repeal h are siili ap- 



■ l.n .1 few remarks which I mad. in my 

 1. ntiaJ a«Wn - < Chemical Si 



gi 1 ? 

 \- .in in. in e 1 hemistr.j nevei i 



in isolation. When we innc.ni ourselves with the 

 chemistry of the country's vegetabli products ii is 

 the scienci ..I botanx thai has to all. ml addii 

 aid ; if it is general agriculture thai we are dealing 

 with, the chemisl ma) also have to work in co-o] 



ologist, entomologist, or mycologist'. 



Often, in connection with the investigation of the 

 try's mineral pi 6du< ts and of its agricultural soil-, 



illation with the geologist is required. In any 

 case, there is this on.- outstanding fan thai these 

 11- scientific offices need to be in closest touch 

 with each oihri in niil.'i io promote the smoothesl 

 working of the rutin- machine oi investigation as an 

 organised whole. 

 "This close contact between science ami science is 

 real importance, hut it is still more important 

 that contact between tin- various workers in one ami 

 tin' same science should be as intimate as prop, i co- 

 in. I organisation can make it. During its 

 annual convention, towards the close of mm, tin- 

 American Society of Agronomy was very largel; 

 occupied with we standardising of methods foi con- 

 ducting experiments. It was then shown again and 

 again that a large am. unit of experimental work 

 .Ion. in tin- I nit.-.l States had led to results which 

 not !"• compared with each other, wen- difficult 

 to interpret in a trustworthy way, and were liable to 

 lead to wrong conclusion-, b.i.iu-e ih.-rc had I..-, n no 

 in. -in as to method amongsi the various in-iiiu- 

 s involved in the work. We do not wish to have 

 these mistakes repeated in South \frica; our desire 

 i, rather to profit l>\ the experience of other lands, 

 hut unless we look well to our step- we -land to repeat 

 somi ..I those verj mistakes in an aggravated form. 

 Therefore, lest we should go on .. wrong track with 

 regard to this matter of investigation and research, 

 two principles should remain de.pK graven on our 

 mind-: these are co-ordination "I effort and unity of 

 plan." 



Some of us have read whai Mr. 11. G. Wells 



bes ..- ideal in hi- "Modern I lopia" : — 

 '■In Utopia a great multitude of selected men, 

 chosen volunteers, will he coll on this new 

 step in man'- struggle with th. elements. . . . Even 

 university in tin- world will be urgently working foi 

 priority in ihi- aspect of th.- problem or that. Reports 

 of experiments, a- full an.! a- prompt as the tele- 

 ports of cricket in our n s] ii i atmo- 

 sphere, will go about the world." 



Clearly, co-operation and co-ordination cannot 

 becomi .it.iii\. with.ni! efficient organisation. We 

 were afforded a splendid illustration of what ma\ thus 

 in the casi of a private corporation on the 

 . -i, II. nl. .. -i hin.. . a age, when 



we visited the dvnamite facton at Somerset West, 

 and listened to tin- historical .....unit given by the 

 general managi - I stablished at Hie beginning of the 

 ., the purpose ol supplying dynamite 

 to the Kimh. 1 1. \ mine-, ihe -pit.!' "I operations had 

 tended that during th. twelvi month- imme- 

 diate! our vi-it ih. works. had sxported 



t.. the Commonwealth of Australia nun. than to.., / 



worth of explosive manufactured in South Africa, in 

 -n I., suopiving our own need-. From that 

 manufacture olh.-r industries developed one b> one, 

 and the works now include plain for the manul 



ulphuric, hydrochloric, and ni ri< a. id- and of 



i sulphate and the nitrates ol barium and lead, 



while others arc iiml.-i consideration. Farmers have 



been supplied with tin- sulphur which they need for 



2551, VOL. I02 1 



-I" ep-dip] , ,. hili 20, gallons 



monthly oi a 1 !-sulph ..,, sheep-dip] 



in a. .1 1 . .1 fail n, ,i, 



'-. al cl ical ih.. war. 1 Im- 

 'i 1I1. pi i\ ate i .hi. ei n ; what u .d in th.- ... .1 



a Government establishmen is titute for re- 



-. m'Ii in 1 and applied chemi 1 uch a national 



chemical laboratory ..- Prof. II. ml. on ha- beet 

 longing 1,1 see established in England, but I ngland i- 

 not yet sufficiently responsive. "V\ onducl 



research," says Mr. II. 1.. Well-; let it 



happen." Ah, lhal is where England ' 



South Africa; we don't lit it happen. Somi 



make ourselves believe that we do, and tin 



other Ihings happen to interfere with it. Why, I have 



been pleading these twenty-four years for a pi 



organised system of chemical, physical, and bioloj 

 research with re-pecl I.. our agricultural -oil-, anil i 

 has not come vet. 



The way in which a nation can organise itself 

 and its resources for war has impressed a world. 

 Other nations are talking about organising them- 

 selves for the commercial struggle that will ensue 

 upon tin- termination of the present strife, but 

 mere talking about reconstruction will not enable 

 us to faie the future serenely: "We all talk 

 about the weather," said Mark Twain, "but nothing 

 is done!" Why is it that England, France, Aus- 

 tralia, New Zealand, and Canada are mobilising 

 their scientific men for research? Dr. G. E. Hale, 

 chairman of the Department of Science and Research 

 of the United States Council of National Defence, 

 says that it i- because, " looking ahead, it was seen 

 thai tin conclusion of peace would be followed by a 

 trade war with Germany, in which no industn not 

 pi 1 fected bv scientific research could hope to succeed." 



Can South Africa compete industrially with a 

 country that has shown us what organisation can 

 achieve, if we starve the very soul of industrial 

 prosperity — pure and applied scientific research carried 

 out in the laboratory? 



Mr. YV. C. Dampier Whetham, in his recently pub- 

 lished book on "The War and the Nation," devoted a 

 section to tin- organisation of British industry and 

 commerce, in regard to which a reviewer says that 

 "three years of war have done more than a centun 

 of peace to impress upon the public mind tin- irtdis- 

 neii-abilitvof scientific research to national prosperity." 

 The result has been that the Imperial Government 

 ha- called into being a department for the express 

 purpose of organising and directing research, and has 

 placed considerable -urns of money al this Depart- 

 ment'- disposal. But perhaps the mosl important out- 

 come is that "the leaders of British industries have 

 1.1 acquire the habit of working together in 

 order to conduct associated researches." 8 



Now let me emphasise the point that there is not 

 on.- of these industries for which the chemist i- 

 not essential at on. .mother. An interesting 



address given somi months ago bv tin- president of 

 th.- American Cvanamide Company 6 shows how uni- 

 versal the nee.l of the chemist is. Two thousand 

 grade- of glassware are required for a vast variety ,.l 

 purposes; for this the -killed glass-maker must work- 

 under chemical control. The iron and steel of out 

 cutlerv, the extraction of silver, gold, and. in fai 

 all metals from the ores, need the chemist at 

 gtepj the clothing we wear, the dyes that coli 

 and more particularly synthetic dyes, the host of_ other 

 uses 1.1 which cotton is put, the use ..i n the 



1 artificial silk as a new textili ill are 



interwoven with th. resources of the chemist. The 



• lourn. Boy. Sue. An- ■ 



11 Chun. News, vol. cxvi., pp. 1-,; 



