280 
tor of the laboratory has acted as adviser in physics 
to the Ministry. He has also acted as chairman of the 
Instruments Committee of the Munitions Inventions 
Department, and has served on a number of committees 
of the Ministry of Munitions, the Munitions Inven- 
tions Department, and the Board of Invention and 
Research. 
Large additions have been made during the year 
to the laboratory buildings owing to the growth of the 
work. Early in the year an urgent request was made 
by the Admiralty and the War Office for an extension 
of the aeronautics research. This required the pro- 
vision of two or three additional wind-channels, with 
increased accommodation for model-making and simi- 
lar purposes. Authorisation to proceed was imme- 
diately given by the Treasury, and the necessary build- 
ing and constructional worl was undertaken by the 
Office of Works. The new building contains two 
wind-channels, a 7-ft. and a 4-ft., with pattern- 
makers’? shop, generator-room, offices, etc. An addi- 
tion to the metrology building, to provide additional 
accommodation for the work of gauge-testing, has 
also recently been erected by the Office of Works, 
while other buildings have been provided .for tem- 
porary purposes. 
= 
CHEMISTRY AT THE BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 
HE work of Section B (Chemistry) at the recent 
meeting of the British Association af Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne differed somewhat from that of pre- 
vious years in that it was concerned mainly with two 
subjects—coal and fuel economy, and the future of 
the British chemical industries. As the first of these 
important topics will be dealt with separately, the 
following brief. account of the sectional proceedings 
will refer chiefly to the second of the subjects of dis- 
cussion. 
“The Future of the Synthetic Chemical Industry 
in Great Britain’? was the subject of a paper by Mr. 
F. H. Carr, in which the question of training chemists 
for this branch of the industry was considered at some 
length. Mr. Carr does not profess to be an education- 
ist, and that is perhaps the reason why he gave his 
interesting views on the education of chemists to 
Section B rather than adding them to the fascina- 
tions of the programme of Section L. 
The essence of the educational scheme proposed by 
Mr. Carr is the establishment of technological col- 
leges with a course of two years, the college itself 
being practically a business concern for the manufac- 
ture of fine chemicals. Students who did not qualify 
in successive stages would be liable to dismissal, and 
a daily attendance of eight hours with but short 
holidays would be demanded. 
As the colleges would have: practically the ‘equip- 
ment of a works, the student would learn to look at 
chemical processes from the point of view of cost of 
materials, yield of finished product, and value of the 
time and labour, heat. and ower expended on: any 
particular operation, while at the same time he would 
become familiar with the ordinary plant found in 
actual factories. 
To impart this training a staff with thorough works 
experience would be needed, and it is unfortunately 
not very clear how such a staff could be got together, 
for such men would most likely be better off financially 
in works, and might perhaps have little taste for 
teaching. The college buildings and equipment would 
be provided by Government, while chemical manufac- 
turers should supply the endowment. 
This scheme might be expected to produce technic- 
ally and scientifically trained men suitable as depart- 
mental managers, but the equally important trained 
NO. 2458, VoL. 98] 
NATURE 
‘feels the loss of the old mechanics’ institutes: 
‘the present, training will have to be carried out in 
'soméwhat doubtful 
¢ 
(DECEMBER 7, 1916 
operative must also be considered. Here Mr. Carr 
regrets the absence of an apprenticeship system, and 
For. 
the factory, but he suggests that there should be com- 
pulsory continuation of education until eighteen years 
of age, more latitude being given to schools to ‘suit 
particular industries of the district, and more differ- 
entiation at the age of thirteen in the training of boys 
of different aptitudes and tastes. e, 
Mr. Rintoul, in a paper on the “ Preparation of 
Chemicals for Laboratory Use,” described the work 
being carried on by Nobel’s at Ardeer for producin 
pure reagents and materials hitherto chiefly obtain 
from Germany. 
Dealing with the subject in a more general way, Mr. 
Rintoul was of the opinion that much of the research 
work for the preparation of such chemicals need 
not necessarily be carried out in technical labora- 
tories, as much of it was well suited to university 
conditions. It would indeed afford an opportunity for 
bringing chemical industries and universities in con- 
tact, for instead of producing many papers of perhaps. 
value, the university labora- 
tories might produce authoritative statements on 
new or comparative methods for the preparation of 
compounds, information on which is at present either 
lacking or inaccurate. Most of the raw materials 
required could be obtained in the British Empire, and 
he deplored the fact of our dependence on Germany 
for supplies of pure materials the manufacture of 
which would be of educational value, and at the same 
time of importance in the industry. 
A paper by Mr. C..M. Whittaker on the “‘ British 
Coal-Tar Colour Industry in Peace and in War ”’ gave 
a summary of the work already carried out, mainly 
by British Dyes, Ltd., to supply colours for all kinds 
of dye purposes, ranging from typewriter ribbons to 
khaki cloth. An immense amount of: work has been 
/ done, and many colours are now made in this country in 
huge quantities for war purposes, and all credit is due 
to the firms concerned. The paper conveyed, no doubt 
rightly, the impression that every soldier and sailor, 
whether hale or wounded, was a living memorial to 
the industry of chemists concerned with the British 
coal-tar colour industry. Many people have perhaps 
not appreciated this aspect of the war. "9 
Apart from the discussions on coal and fuel economy, 
the three papers above briefly reviewed constituted the 
piece de résistance of the meetings of the Chemical Sec- 
tion, but there were also a few short papers of con- 
siderable interest which must just be mentioned. 
Dr. J. E. Stead contributed three short papers on 
(a) the oxidation of nickel steel; (b) the reduction of 
solid nickel and copper oxides: by solid iron; (¢) the 
disruptive effect of carbon monoxide at 400° to 500° C. 
on wrought-iron. These papers, all of interest to 
metallurgists, have been the subject of a discussion at 
the Iron and Steel Institute. ie 
Prof. W. M. Thornton gave an account of his 
stepped ignition in gases, and after reading the paper 
illustrated it experimentally. A short discussion on 
the paper showed that there was considerable diverg- 
ence of opinion as to the real explanation of the 
phenomena observed and shown by Prof. Thornton. 
Dr. J. A. Smythe contributed a note, illustrated by 
experiment, on a ‘‘ Modified Chlorination Process.” 
He showed how calcium chloride acted as a catalyst 
for the chlorination of ethylene and other hydro- 
carbons. : 
In conelusion it should be mentioned that through- 
out the meeting there was opén an exhibition of 
British-made chemicals and apparatus, which showed 
what steps have already been made to replace goods 
in’ this line of enemy origin: 
