a. 
SEPTEMBER 14, 1916] 
NATURE 
35 
a very large scale, is the combustion of nitrogen in the 
electric arc. 
In other industrial operations the high temperature 
which is necessary is obtained by the help of 
the oxy-hydrogen or the oxy-acetylene flame, 
the former being used, amongst other — pur- 
poses, in a small but, I believe, profitable industry, 
the manufacture of synthetic rubies, sapphires, and 
spinels. Also, with a comparatively recent period, 
advantage has been taken of the characteristic proper- 
ties of aluminium, now obtainable at a moderate price, 
in the various operations classed under the heading 
alumino-thermy, the most important being the reduc- 
tion of refractory metallic oxides, although, of course, 
thermite is useful for the production of high tempera- 
tures locally. 
The modern methods of liquefying gases, which 
have been developed within the period under review, 
have rendered possible research work of absorbing 
interest on the effect of very low temperatures on the 
properties and chemical activity of many substances, 
and have been applied, for instance, in separating from 
one another the members of the argon family, and in 
obtaining ozone in a state of practical purity. More- 
over, industrial applications of these methods are not 
lacking, amongst which I may mention the separation 
of nitrogen and oxygen from air, and of hydrogen 
from water-gas—processes which have helped to make 
these elements available for economic use on the 
large scale. 
Electrolytic methods are now extensively employed 
in the manufacture of both inorganic and organic sub- 
stances, and older processes are being displaced by 
these modern rivals in steadily, increasing number. It 
is sufficient to refer to the preparation of sodium, 
magnesium, calcium, and aluminium, by electrolysis of 
fused compounds of these metals; the refining of iron, 
copper, silver, and gold; the extraction of gold and 
nickel from solution; the recovery of tin from waste 
tin-plate; the preparation of caustic alkalis (and 
simultaneously of chlorine), of hypochlorites, chlorates, 
and perchlorates, of hydrosulphites, of permanganates 
and ferricyanides, of persulphates and percarbonates ; 
the regeneration of chromic acid from chromium salts ; 
the preparation of hydrogen and oxygen. As regards 
organic compounds, we find chiefly in use electrolytic 
methods of reduction, which are specially effective in 
the case of many nitro-compounds, and of oxidation, 
as, for instance, the conversion of anthracene into 
anthraquinone. At the same time a number of other 
compounds, for example, iodoform, are also prepared 
electrolytically. 
Within recent years there have been great advances 
in the application of catalytic methods to industrial 
purposes. Some processes of this class have, of course, 
been in use for a considerable time, for example, the 
Deacon chlorine process and the contact method for 
the manufacture of sulphuric acid, whilst the prepara- 
tion of phthalic anhydride (largely used in the syn- 
thesis of indigo and other dyestuffs), by the oxidation 
of naphthalene with sulphuric acid with the assistance 
of mercuric sulphate as catalyst, is no novelty. More 
recent are the contact methods of obtaining ammonia 
by the direct combination of nitrogen and hydrogen, 
and of oxidising ammonia to nitric acid—both of which 
are said to be in operation on a very large scale in 
Germany. The catalytic action of metals, particularly 
nickel and copper, is utilised in processes of hydro- 
genation—for example, the hardening of fats, and of 
dehydrogenation, as in the preparation of acetaldehyde 
from alcohol, and such metallic oxides as alumina and 
thoria can be used for processes of dehydration—e.g. 
the preparation of ethylene or of ether from alcohol. 
Other catalysts employed in industrial processes are 
titanous chloride in electrolytic reductions and cerous 
NO. 2446, vot. 98] 
sulphate in electrolytic oxidations of carbon com- 
pounds, gelatine -in the preparation of hydrazine 
from ammonia, sodium in the synthesis of rubber, 
etc. 
Other advances in manufacturing chemistry include 
the preparation of a number of the rarer elements and 
their compounds, which were scarcely known thirty 
years ago, but which now find commercial applications. 
Included in this category are titanium, vanadium, 
tungsten, and tantalum, now used in metallurgy or for 
electric lamp filaments ;.thoria and ceria in the form of 
mantles for incandescent lamps; pyrophoric alloys of 
cerium and other metals; zirconia, which appears to 
be a most valuable refractory material; and com- 
pounds of radium and of mesothorium, for medical 
use as well as for research. Hydrogen, together with 
oxygen and nitrogen, are in demand for synthetic pur- 
poses, and the first also for lighter-than-air craft. 
Ozone is considerab!~ used for sterilising water and as 
an oxidising agent; for example, in the preparation of 
vanillin from isoeugenol, and hydrogen peroxide, now 
obtainable very pure in concentrated solution, and the 
peroxides of a number of the metals are alse utilised 
in many different ways. The per-acids—perboric, per- 
carbonic, and persulphuric—or their salts are employed 
for oxidising and bleaching purposes, and sodium 
hydrosulphite is much in demand as a reducing agent 
—e.g. in dyeing with indigo. Hydroxylamine and 
hydrazine are used in considerable quantity, and the 
manufacture of cyanides by one or other of the modern 
methods has become quite an important industry, 
mainly owing to the use of the alkali salts in the 
cyanide process of gold extraction. Those remarkable 
compounds, the metallic carbonyls, have been investi- ° 
gated, and nickel carbonyl is employed on the com- 
mercial scale in the extraction of the metal. Fine 
chemicals for analysis and research are now supplied, 
as a matter of course, in a state of purity rarely 
attained a quarter of a century ago. 
In the organic chemical industry similar continued 
progress is to be noted. Accessions are constantly 
being made to the already enormous list of synthetic 
dyes, not only by the addition of new members to 
existing groups, but also by the discovery of entirely 
new classes of tinctorial compounds; natural indigo 
seems doomed to share the fate of alizarine from 
madder, and to be ousted by synthetic indigo, of 
which, moreover, a number of useful derivatives 
are also made. Synthetic drugs of all kinds—anti- 
pyrine and phenacetin, sulphonal and veronal, nova- 
cain and f-eucaine, salol and aspirin, piperazine and 
adrenaline, atoxyl and salvarsan—are produced in large 
quantities, as also are many synthetic perfumes and 
flavouring materials, such as ionone, heliotropine, and 
vanillin. Cellulose in the form of artificial sillx is 
much used as a new textile material, synthetic cam- 
phor is on the market, synthetic rubber is said to be 
produced in considerable quantity; and the manu- 
facture of materials for photographic work and of 
organic compounds for research purposes is no small 
part of the industry. 
British chemists are entitled to regard with satis- 
faction:the part which they have taken in the develop- 
ment of scientific chemistry during the last three 
decades, as in the past, but with respect to the progress 
of industrial chemistry it must be regretfully admitted 
that, except in isolated cases, we have failed to keep 
pace with our competitors. A number of different 
causes have contributed to bring about this state of 
affairs, and the responsibility for it is assigned by 
some to the Government, by others to the chemical 
manufacturers, and by still others to the professors 
of chemistry. I think, however, it will be generally 
admitted that the root of the matter is to be found in 
the general ignorance of and indifference to, the 
