43^ 



NA TURE 



[March 8, 1906 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for tliis or any other part of N ature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



The Perkin Jubilee and Chemical Industries. 

 At the meeting held at the Mansion House on 

 February 26, with the Lord Mayor in the chair, many men 

 of position and influence in the scientific world met to do 

 honour to Dr. W. H. Perkin, and to agree to celebrate 

 the jubilee of his discovery of the first coal-tar colour. 

 Whilst all felt not only the importance, whether from a 

 purely scientific or from an industrial point of view, of this 

 discovery, and whilst they all applauded Perkin's researches 

 in other branches of science and his modest and retiring 

 bearing throughout, the fact could not be lost sight of that 

 although England was the country in which the coal-tar 

 industry was founded, it had practically, since those days, 

 passed out of our hands into those of the Germans. The 

 cause of this, I remarked, was not due to any want of 

 knowledge or power on the part of Dr. Perkin himself, but 

 rather to the absence of appreciation by capitalists and 

 others engaged in industry of the importance of scientific 

 method, or, in one word, to English Philistinism, the result 

 being that the successful prosecution of a new industry 

 the very existence of which depends on high scientific 

 attainment was impossible. In corroboration of this 

 opinion, which was also expressed in an excellent article 

 in the Times a few days before the meeting, I ventured to 

 direct attention to the fact that, being at that time (fifty 

 vears ago) engaged in building up a chemical school at 

 Owens College, I knew three talented young German 

 chemists whose names have since become watchwords in 

 Germany (Caro, Martius, and Pauli) who were then 

 employed in chemical works in Manchester and the neigh- 

 bourhood. These men were intimately acquainted with 

 the colour industry, both in theory and practice, so far as 

 it had then advanced, and were perfectly capable, as was 

 afterwards proved, of carrying it on successfully. Had 

 they been supported by men of financial light and leading 

 in Lancashire the industry might have flourished in this 

 country. Not, however, finding the necessary support here, 

 they returned to Germany, where they became the leading 

 members of the great colour works at Ludwigshafen, 

 Hochst, and Berlin. 



But the Germans, not content with having secured an 

 industry the value of which is reckoned at 50,000?. annually, 

 are preparing for future attacks. On the very day of the 

 Perkin meeting I received a letter from my friend Dr. 

 Hagen, the director of the Physikalische Reichsanstalt in 

 Charlottenburg, in which he informs me of the determin- 

 ation to found a corresponding Anstalt for chemistry, and 

 in the last number of the Berichte I find a statement made 

 by the committee of the German Chemical Society in sup- 

 port of this proposal. In this they point out, in the first 

 place, that the due development of chemistry, influencing 

 as it does so powerfully national life, cannot be ensured 

 by individual effort, and that the establishment of a 

 Reichsanstalt for chemistry is for this purpose necessary. 

 In the second place, they proceed to indicate a large number 

 of questions requiring solution which can onlv be satis- 

 factorily answered by long-continued research. They con- 

 clude by the remark that such an institution must be of a 

 national character, inasmuch as the subjects dealt with 

 are of national importance, influencing the welfare and 

 progress of the country. 



Here we have a true trumpet call. Will England answer 

 to it or will she otherwise make up her mind again to 

 take a second place? In his admirable letter on " Science 

 and the Industries " in the Times of Saturday, March 3, 

 Prof. Silvanus Thompson points out that the electrical 

 industry, and that of the manufacture of steel, are likely 

 to fall, if they have not already fallen, into the hands of 

 Germany and America, and insists, as many of us have 

 been doing for the last twenty years, on the necessity of 

 our commercial and educational leaders becominu; aware of 

 the absolutely vital nature of the bearing of scientific re- 

 search on industrial prosperity. This conclusion is empha- 

 sised in a letter printed in the Times of March 6 from Sir 

 Joseph Lawrence, in which he urges the plea that English 



no. 1897, VOL - 73 



manufacturers are too poor and too closely run by com- 

 petition to be able to afford scientific leading ! This is 

 indeed an appeal ad misericordiam I 



The long and the short of it is that the Germans, and 



the Americans I may add, see this, and are strenuously 



working the principle into practice, whilst we remain 



" blind leading the blind." When will our eyes be opened? 



Henry E. Roscoe. 



Cooperation between Scientific Libraries. 



Dr. Bather's letter in your issue of March 1 is one 

 which deserves the hearty support of all scientific workers, 

 in the United Kingdom at least. I have long felt that the 

 whole of the literature indexed in the International Cata- 

 logue ought to be available for reference in some one 

 locality, and preferably in London. In my address as 

 president of the Chemical Society in 1894, foreshadowing 

 the time when our meeting-room would be too small, I 

 ventured to point out that " This is a difficulty that 

 threatens to oppress all the Burlington House societies, 

 and must become more pressing as the importance of bring- 

 ing all societies having cognate aims into juxtaposition is 

 realised. Perhaps some day our friends and neighbours 

 the artists will have found quarters elsewhere more suited 

 for the display of their works — for they appear already to 

 have far outgrown the space at their disposal, and to be 

 therefore obliged to impose undesirable limitations on 

 exhibitors ; when this occurs, it should be possible to find 

 accommodation more adequate to the needs of science and 

 fit presentment of its Imperial importance " (Chem. Soc. 

 Trans., 1S94, 35S). 



Since then, the University of London has vacated the 

 portion of Burlington House in which it long had its 

 quarters, and the Royal Society has let slip a golden 

 opportunity of securing these rooms for its own use, and 

 at the same time of affording to other cognate societies — 

 including the British Association — the increased accommo- 

 dation they so much need. The quad, roofed in would 

 make a magnificent reading-room. Sad experience teaches 

 me that there is little hope in this country that those who 

 are engaged in scientific work will consent to work together 

 for some serious common purpose : apparently every little 

 show must be run separately ; but if they could be per- 

 suaded — if the Royal Societv would for once have courage 

 and lead — much might be done to further a project such 

 as Dr. Bather advocates and bring it to a practical issue 

 at no distant date. Henry E. Armstrong. 



The letter of Dr. Bather on the above subject in Nature 

 of March 1 (p. 413) is of much interest. 



My experience in the preparation of the Royal Society 

 Catalogue of Scientific Papers fully confirms the state- 

 ments of Dr. Bather and of Dr. Muir, to whose paper he 

 refers, as to the inconveniences arising from want of 

 coordination between different libraries. 



When we were commencing the indexing of the scientific 

 papers from 1884 to iqoo, it was necessary to ascertain 

 the names of new serials that had come into existence 

 since 1883, and also to take note of the serials that had 

 been omitted from the twelve volumes of the Catalogue 

 already published. Members of our staff were sent to some 

 of the scientific libraries in London, and a list was thus 

 obtained containing more than 1400 serials of various 

 degrees of importance. Many of these were, of course, 

 unsuitable for our purpose; a large number, however, were 

 incomplete, single volumes and sometimes single parts 

 only being available. These separate portions had probably 

 come to the various libraries as specimens, or for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining exchanges ; and if there had been a 

 general agreement between the libraries of London, arrange- 

 ments might have been made to maintain such serials 

 complete in one or other of the libraries. If a joint hand- 

 list, as suggested by Dr. Bather, had been in existence, 

 much time expended by us in searching for these serials 

 would have been saved. 



A few days ago I heard that the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh is engaged in considering a scheme of cooperation 

 amongst the principal scientific libraries of Edinburgh and 

 Glasgow, and that a complete list of scientific serials in 

 these libraries is to be compiled. It would be of great 

 advantage if a similar scheme could be carried out in 



