58 



NATURE 



[Septembeb n). 1918 



pri set vation of out foods, and the 



their purity, both depend on chemical 



control. I hi manufacture of synthetic drugs, such as 



antipyrin, phenacetin, sulphonal, veronal, novocaine, 



id salvarsanj the introduction oi synthetic 



perfumes like heliotropin; of synthetic flavours like 



vanillin; of synthetic rubber and synthetii camphor; 



the quality of the fuel we use; the efficiency <>f the 



fertilisers we put into the soil; th<- extraction and 



tation of the various animal and vegetable oils, 



and the conversion of some of them into solid fats by 



catalytic agency, and so into soaps 01 candles, with 



glycerin as a by-product; the production of liquid 



tin I- every one of these would be impossible without 



1 hemical aid. 



There are a few facts regarding the chemisl which 

 1 want every South African, and particularly those in 

 high positions, to realise. First of all, get rid of the 

 idea that he is a druggist or pharmacist, any more 

 than he is a baker or plumber, or belongs to any other 

 avocation in which chemistry takes a share. And 

 then grasp the fact thai there is scarcely an avocation 

 on the lace of this earth into which chemistry does 

 not enter, or wherein the chemist would not be of 

 some use. One does not need to tell Johannesburg 

 that it has to thank the chemist for its prosperity, 

 for without him many of the mines would long have 

 ceased to work. The other great industry of South 

 Africa, agriculture, is at the mercy of the chemist in 

 respect of the manufacture of fertilisers, and many 

 agricultural products owe to him the processes em- 

 ployed in their preparation. Chemical operations are 

 fundamental to every branch of the dair\ industr} ; 

 the making of jam, the drying of fruit, the tinned 

 vessels in which many of these articles are preserved, 

 are all subservient to the chemist. Without him the 

 economical production of metals of anv kind could 

 not take place ; there would be no locomotive engines, 

 no assurance that the water which these engines need 

 will not corrode their boiler-tubes, no testing of the 

 coal which converts that water into steam, no provi- 

 sion of steel rails to run the locomotives on, or, to go 

 further, no steel armour for our battleships, and no 

 alloys for shrapnel, aeroplanes, or submarines. It is 

 also the chemist's work to control the driving-power 

 of ships of war and merchandise alike, whether that 

 driving-power be coal, oil, or electricity, for the 

 materials employed by the electrician must all, in the 

 first place, be scrutinised by the chemist. 



All explosives are essentially chemical in their make- 

 up, and, in fact, the whole Army, as well as the 

 Navy, is dependent on the chemist all along the line, 

 inasmuch as he has to vouch for the purity of all their 

 supplies of food and drink, even well-water; ami not 

 onl\ their natural puritv, but also their freedom from 

 fraudulent adulteration or deliberate poisoning. The 

 various gases so much used in the present war are all 

 the productions of the chemist, and so are the means 

 adopted to secure immunity from those gases. It is 

 the chemist who controls the Army's drugs, disin- 

 fectants, and anaesthetics. The colouring of the 

 material used for clothing not onlv the military and 

 naval Services, bul the whole civil population as well, 

 is subject to the careful scrutiny of the chemist. His 

 functions also include the manufacture of the leather 

 which provides an army with boots; without him 

 that leather cannot be tanned, as the entire wattle 

 and other tanning industries are conducted under his 

 advice. The finished leather, too. is investigated by 

 him lest fraudulent practii ' have participated 



in its manufacture. 



Without the chemist then could be no books, for 



chemical processes are fundamental to thi making of 



. of printing and writing ink, not to mention 



XO. 2551. VOL. I02] 



again the materials wherewith books are bound and 

 the colouring of the binding. The production of illus- 

 trations in those books, b\ whatevei means, and also 

 the whole ail ol photography, must stand or fall with 



the ability of chemistry to assist them. And then, 

 as I have already said, there is the increasing!) large 

 subjeel of fine and synthetic chemicals, beginning with 

 manufactures like those of starch, glucose, and dex- 

 trin, the synthetic dyes which surpass natural pro- 

 ducts in brilliance and permanence, the synthetic pi r- 

 fumes which far transcend natural odours in potency, 

 the synthetic drugs which have done much to afford 

 relief to the suffering; artificial products — I do not 

 say imitations, for they are often better suited to their 

 applications than the natural products which they 

 replace artificial products in substitution of rubies, 

 of bone, horn, and ivory, of resins, and of leather, 



are all 1 he result of chemical research. Again and 

 again the chemist has shown us how to produce the 

 most valuable commodities out of waste and refuse. 

 The refuse of the Hessemi i steel-works gave rise to 

 one of our most efficient fertilisers; the refuse of the 

 gas-works provided the world with dyes, drugs, and a 

 marvellously long list of other useful articles; the 

 waste of w ool-washeries furnishes us with lanoline. 

 Wast., wood, if destructively distilled, and, amongst 

 others, waste wattle-wood, of which large quantities 

 are annually available in Natal, is capable of pro- 

 ducing acetone, whereof enormous quantities are now 

 being used for the manufacture of propellants. 



So we may rightly claim that the present age is the 

 age of the chemist. The chemist has never before 

 had such opportunity for the application of his know- 

 ledge to the betterment of material conditions upon 

 earth, and never has he more effectively applied it to 

 the attainment of this aim. It is also sadly true that 

 never before has he applied his knowledge with such 

 damaging effect as during the present war, but when 

 the war shall have run its course all the chemist's 

 resourcefulness, all his energy, all his persistence will 

 be needed to repair the damage done, and to start 

 exhausted nations upon new lines of industry. On 

 the chemist, more than on anyone else, will this task 

 devolve, and in South Africa in particular he will find 

 abundant work awaiting him. Is he to be there to 

 respond to the call? Then it is for us to educate and 

 train him to the necessary standard ; it is for us to 

 provide the means wherebv his purpose may be accom- 

 plished ; it is for us to accord him sympathetic treat- 

 ment. Do not let us regard him as useful only so 

 long as he is bound down to routine work, and as 

 academic when he is occupied with investigations 

 bevond our limited capacity to understand. 



We have heard much during the past four years of 

 the difficulties under which the chemist has been 

 labouring in Britain and America — of the apathetic 

 attitude adopted towards him by Governments, public 

 institutions, and industrial concerns ; of the sparing 

 hand wherewith the essentials for the pursuit of his 

 investigations have been doled out to him. I have 

 deemed it very desirable to place before you this even- 

 ing some of the opinions which have been expressed 

 on these topics north of the Equator, because T am 

 convinced that manv of our administrators, politicians, 

 educationists, and commercial men are wholly un- 

 aware of the strong remonstrances which have grown 

 to quite a literature during tins, four years, and are 

 probably under the illusion that in South Africa the 

 chemist has now the opportunity, if he cares to make 

 use of it, to help the Union, with tclai to himself, 

 safely through some of the difficulties resulting from 

 the war. I have, in fact, heard such a view seriously 

 expressed; the idea is. of course, perfectly absurd. 

 At the same time it falls to the chemist in particular 



