36 
NATURE 
[SEPTEMBER 14, 1916 
methods 
acterise the people of this country. 
The Government has taken a most significant step 
in advance by appointing an Advisory Council for 
Scientific and Industrial Research, and providing it 
with funds; incidentally, in so doing, it has recognised 
the past failure of the State to afford adequate support 
to scientific worl. 
It is safe to prophesy that the money expended by 
the Advisory Council will sooner or later yield a goodly 
return, and this justifies the hope that the Government 
will not rest satisfied with their achievement, but will 
take further steps in the same direction. This desire 
for continued action finds strong support in the recom- 
mendations made by a Sub-Committee of the Advisory 
Committee to the Board of Trade on Commercial In- 
telligence, which was appointed to report with respect 
to measures for securing the position, after the war, 
of certain branches of British industry. Of these 
recommendations I quote the following :— 
“ Scientific Industrial Research and Training. (a) 
Larger funds should be placed at the disposal of the 
new Committee of the Privy Council, and also of the 
Board of Education, for the promotion of scientific and 
industrial training. (b) The universities should be 
encouraged to maintain and extend research work 
devoted to the main industry or industries located in 
their respective districts, and manufacturers engaged in 
these industries should be encouraged to co-operate 
with the universities in such work, either through 
their existing trade associations or through associa- 
tions specially formed for the purpose. Such associa- 
tions should bring to the knowledge of the universities 
the difficulties and needs of the industries, and give 
financial and other assistance in addition to that 
afforded by the State. In the case of non-localised 
industries trade associations should be advised to seek, 
in respect of centres for research, the guidance of the 
Advisory Committee of the Privy Council. (c) An 
authoritative record of consultant men of science, 
chemists, and engineers, and of persons engaged in 
industrial research. should be established and main- 
tained by some suitable Government Department for 
the use of manufacturers only.” 
The admirable scheme of the Australian Govern- 
ment is more comprehensive and more generous than 
that of our Government, but it could be rivalled with- 
out much difficulty. We already possess an important 
asset in the National Physical Laboratory, and there 
now exists the Advisory Council with its extensive 
powers and duties. What is lacking in our scheme, 
so far as chemistry is concerned, could be made good, 
first, by providing the Advisory Council with much 
larger funds, and secondly, by the establishment of a 
National Chemical Laboratory—an institute for re- 
search in pure and applied chemistry—or by assisting 
the development of research departments in our uni- 
versities and technical colleges (as is now being done 
in America), or, better still, by moving in both direc- 
tions. With respect to the second alternative, I do 
not mean to suggest that research work is neglected 
in the chemistry departments of any of our higher 
institutions; what I plead for is the provision of greater 
facilities for the prosecution of investigation not only 
in pure but also in applied chemistry. As things are 
at present, the professors and lecturers are for the 
most part so much occupied in teaching and in ad- 
ministration as to be unable to devote time unin- 
terruptedly to research work, which demands above all 
things continuity of effort. The ideal remedy would 
be the institution of research professorships, but, fail- 
ing this, the burden of teachings and administrative 
work should be lishtened by appointing larger staffs. , 
Unless the conditions and methods which have ruled 
in. the past are greatly altered it is scarcely possible 
NO. .2446, VoL. 98] 
and results of scientific work which char- 
| 
to hope that the future prospects of our chemical 
industry will be bright; it is essential that the repre- 
sentatives of the industry should organise themselves 
in their own interest and co-operate in fighting the 
common enemy. More than ever is this the case 
when, as we are informed, three different groups ¢ 
German producers of dyes, drugs, and fine chemicals, 
who own seven large factories,"have formed a com- 
bination with a capital of more than 11,000,000l., and. 
with other assets of very great value in the shape of 
scientific, technical, and financial efficiency. Hence it, 
is eminently satisfactory to be able to record the active 
progress of a movement, originated by the Chemical 
Society, which has culminated in the formation of an 
Association of British Chemical Manufacturers. 
Needless to say, the progress of this important move- 
ment will be assisted by everyone who is interested, 
either directly or indirectly, in the welfare of our 
chemical industry, and, moreover, the support of the 
scientific societies will not be lacking. : 
In an address given to the Society of Chemical 
Industry last year, I indicated another way in which 
chemical manufacturers can help themselves and at. 
the same time promote the interests of chemistry in 
this country. In the United States of America indi- 
vidual manufacturers, or associations of manufacturers, 
have shown themselves ready to take up the scheme 
originated by the late Prof, Duncan for the institution 
of industrial research scholarships tenable at the uni- 
versities or technical colleges, and the results obtained 
after ten years’ experience of the working of this 
practical method of promoting co-operation betweer 
science and industry have more than justified the 
anticipations of its originator. The scheme is worthy 
of adoption on many grounds, of which the chief are 
that it provides definite subjects for technical research 
to young chemists qualified for such work, that it 
usually leads to positions in factories for chemists who 
have proved their capacity through the work done 
while holding scholarships, and that it reacts for good 
on the profession generally, by bringing about that 
more intimate intercourse between teachers and manu- 
facturers which is so much to be desired. 4 
It cannot be too often reiterated that no branch of 
chemical industry can afford to stand still, for there 
is no finality in manufacturing processes; all are 
capable of improvement, and for this, as well as for 
the discovery and the application of new processes, the 
services of the trained chemist are essential. Hence 
the training of chemists for industrial work is a matter 
of supreme importance. We may therefore congratu- 
late ourselves that the opportunities for chemical in- 
struction in this country are immensely greater than 
they were thirty years ago. The claims of chemistry 
to a leading position have been recognised by all our 
universities, even the most ancient, by the provision 
of teaching staffs, laboratories, and equipment on a 
fairly adequate if not a lavish scale, and in this respect — 
many of the technical colleges fall not far behind. The 
evening classes conducted in a large number of tech- 
nical institutions are scarcely fitted to produce fully 
trained chemists, if only because lack of the necessary 
time prevents the student from obtaining that pro- 
longed practice in the laboratory which cannot be dis- 
pensed. with, unless indeed he is prepared to go 
through a course of study extending over many years. 
At the same time these evening’ classes play a most im- 
portant part, first, in: disseminating a knowledge’ of 
chemistry throughout the country, and, secondly, in 
affording instruction of a high order in special branches 
of applied chemistry. Finally, in a large and increas- 
ing number of schools a more or less satisfactory 
introduction to the science is given by well-qualified 
teachers. With our national habit of self-depreciation 
we are apt to overlook the steady progress which has 
