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FEBRUARY 22, 1917] 
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 
this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 
_ taken of anonymous communications.] 
_ Impending Developments in Chemical Enterprises. 
“ATTENTION has already been directed in the columns 
of Nature to the sporadic manner in which capital 
is being diverted into certain branches of industrial 
_ chemistry. The shortage of dyes, drugs, and other 
fine chemicals has rendered this form of manufactur- 
ing enterprise very lucrative even to comparatively 
small capitalists. The commercial success attending 
these undertakings is a proof in itself that thesé manu- 
facturers are supplying the essential needs of the com- 
munity, and to this extent their efforts are entirely 
praiseworthy. It must, however, be conceded that the 
multiplication of small businesses engaged in produc- 
ing the same article will sooner or later lead to 
competition of a particularly wasteful and disastrous 
Kind, and this clash of internecine interests will become 
most pronounced at the cessation of hostilities, pre- 
cisely when all productive energies should be national- 
ised against external competitors. This danger is not 
absent even in the larger chemical enterprises, and 
it is evident that there are great difficulties ahead in 
the most fundamental of all chemical manufactures, 
namely, the production of sulphuric acid. At present 
the explosives factories cannot have too much of this 
essential chemical reagent, and large plants for pro- 
ducing it have been erected all over the country. 
Sulphuric acid producers have been circularised recently 
by the managing director of a firm of acid-makers, 
who insists on the urgent need for co-operation among 
this group of industrialists in order to prevent the 
absolute chaos which must arise in the sulphuric acid 
trade at the conclusion of peace if manufacturers are 
“not more closely associated. Certain of the remedies 
proposed are somewhat drastic. It is proposed that 
Parliament should consent to legislation ‘‘ whereby the 
entirely wasteful introduction of capital by superfiuous 
and speculative parties without experience in the trade 
would be prohibited until the merits of the proposition , 
had been examined by a committee of expert manu- 
facturers in conjunction with expert Government re- 
presentatives.” So far as this inhibition is directed 
against new capital unaccompanied by new ideas 
something may be said in favour of legal restrictions. 
But, on the other hand, the history of human invention 
has always manifested the self-sacrificing obstinacy of 
the inventor, a characteristic which has mainly bene- 
fited, not the individual himself, but the community. 
‘One can foresee the short shrift which an inventor, in- 
experienced in the trade, but with a revolutionary pro- 
ess, would receive at the hands of a committee con- 
sisting of manufacturers interested in maintaining 
the status quo, and Government officials looking for- 
ward to an honoured age of pensionable retirement 
received as the guerdon of a policy of masterly in- 
activity. Such agencies might possibly prevent some 
waste of capital; they would, however, be much more 
likely to expatriate inventive genius. 
; Krypton. 
Science in Public Schools. 
PERHAPS you will kindly allow me once more to 
correct your correspondent. Clifton College was not 
in advance of Rugby, either in the date, or in the 
extent, of the teaching of science, but closely followed 
Rugby in both. Your correspondent gave 1867 as the 
NO. 2469, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
489 
date for the general introduction of science for, the 
whole school at Clifton. I have before me the lists 
of the Rugby classes in 1866. Out of 48 Sixth 
Form boys 24 learned science; of 133 Fifth Form, 
60; of 155 Upper Middles, 155; of 135 Lower Middles, 
135; Of 30 Lower School, none. Clifton College never 
exceeded this proportion. 
It is the fact that under Dr. Temple Rugby took 
the lead. James M. Wirson. 
Formerly science master at Rugby, and headmaster 
of Clifton College, 
The Nature of Growths in Colloidal Silica Solutions. 
Dr. Bastian has described certain experiments in 
this journal * in which he claimed to have synthesised 
from sterile colloidal solutions living bodies which 
were capable of reproducing themselves. Considerable 
weight is lent to Dr. Bastian’s demand for indepen- 
dent investigation by the undeniable fact, that since the 
earth cooled, life has already once. been synthesised 
from its inorganic constituents. In spite, therefore, of 
the inherent improbability of Dr. Bastian’s results, I 
decided to repeat his experiments. Since the best cri- 
terion of life is the ability of organisms to reproduce 
themselves in sterile media, this test was employed 
throughout; and it is hoped that the resulting experi- 
ments, taken in conjunction with recent work in the 
same field,» may help to decide whether these 
“organisms ”’ are in reality alive or merely colloidal 
simulacra. 
Because of the great importance attached to the 
particular sample of sodium silicate employed, I pro- 
cured two of the samples used by Dr. Bastian himself, 
as well as a third preparation—a o-o1 per cent. col- 
loidal solution—specially made for me by Griibler. 
More than a hundred of the same tubes as used by 
Dr. Bastian were filled with his two solutions, and 
were sterilised at various temperatures from 100° C. 
to 130° C., and for various periods of time. 
After they had been kept in the incubator for 
about two months they were exposed to a northern 
light for from two to three years. In order to ex- 
amine the tubes the necks were cut with a white-hot 
glass point, and elaborate precautions taken to ensure 
sterility while transferring some of the centrifugalised 
deposit to the subcultivating media. At the same time 
films were made -from each deposit and examined 
microscopically. The precautions mentioned consisted 
in carrying out all operations under cloths steeped in 
disinfectant and in an atmosphere that had been 
sprayed with a steam atomiser containing 4 per cent. 
lysol. 
Three fluids were employed for the subcultures: 
(a) ordinary nutrient broth, (b) Dr. Bastian’s am- 
monium tartrate and sodium phosphate solution, -and 
(c) “tryptic broth,’”? a special medium recently de- 
scribed by S. W. Cole and the writer. This medium 
contains a considerable amount of tyrosine, as well as 
other amino-acids, and was adopted after Dr. Bastian 
had stated that the presence of tyrosine very greatly 
increased the growth of his ‘‘organisms.” 
The subcultures were incubated for two periods of 
ten days, first at room temperature, and then in the 
incubator, but only one tube out of the hundred 
showed a visible growth, even under the microscope. 
I have no doubt that this growth was due to an acci- 
dental infection during the process of subcultivation, 
because the tube was one of a few that were opened 
soon after they had first been sealed, and without the 
elaborate precautions afterwards used. I am, more- 
1 Nature, January 22, 1974, p. 579. 
2 Benjamin Moore and J. A. Webster, Proc. Roy. Soc., B. 693, p. 163, 
October, r9r3; and Benjamin Moore, Proc. Roy. Soc., B. 609, p. 27, July, 
tors. 
pd 
3 Lancet, July r, 1916, p. 9. 
