362 



NA TORE 



[February 16, 1899 



That the vaunted supremacy of Germany in chemical 

 industry is not a mere political cry, prompted by patriotic 

 bias, appears with stern reality in every speech or resolu- 

 tion recorded in the pages before us. Neither is there 

 any hesitation in assigning this supremacy to its true 

 causes ; to State recognition of science and to the associa- 

 tion of science with industry. The statement of Dr. 

 Duisberg, adopted by the Ocrman Chemical Union at 

 their Hamburg meeting, and presented to the Ministry, 

 contains the following statements : — 



" Die chemische Industrie Deutschlands, eine Quelle 

 unseres Nationalwohlstandes, ist Dank den vereinten 

 Bemiihungen von Wissenschaft und Technik und Dank 

 der Unterstiitzung, die ihr immer von Seiten der Reichs- 

 und Staatsregierungen zu Theil geworden, auf eine Hohe 

 gelangt, die den Neid aller nut uns auf dam Weltmarkte 

 concurrirenden Nationen hervorgerufen und diese veran- 

 lasst hat, zur Hebung dieser Industrie und dieserW'issen- 

 schaft grossere Anstrengungen als bisher zu niachen. . . . 

 Es hiesse an unserer Nation Frevel begehen, wollten wir 

 stehen bleiben und nicht AUes einsetzen, um im Wett- 

 kampfe der \'6Iker auf chemischem Gebiete stets an der 

 Spitze zu sein." 



The same point, the marching of the men of science 

 hand in hand with the technologists, is insisted upon by 

 Dr. Bottinger in the speech already referred to, and this 

 authority makes the further statement that (presumably 

 in Germany) the want of technical chemists is even now 

 perceptible. In a former speech Dr. Bottinger told the 

 country that the total value of the exports of chemical 

 products amounted in 1896 to 340 million marks : he 

 pointed out that the larger portion of the raw materials 

 used in preparing these finished products were imported 

 into Germany from foreign countries, and he adds this 

 very significant remark : — 



" Diese Industrie ist eigentlich urspriinglich keine 

 deutsche gewesen. Ein grosser Theil dieser Industrie 

 hat zuerst in England und Frankreich e.\istirt, sie ist dann 

 aus jenen Landern — besonders derjenige Theil, der sich 

 auf die hohere, auf die rein organische Chemie bezieht — 

 zu uns heriibergegangen, und wird ausschliesslich oder 

 fast ausschliesslich heute von uns der Weltmarkt mit 

 deren Producten versorgt." 



While unanimity prevails as to the desirability of 

 founding chairs of technical chemistry in the German 

 universities, the decision of the other question, the 

 establishment of State examinations for technical chemists, 

 is for the present deferred, since there is a division of 

 opinion on this subject. Many of the professors of the 

 universities and technical high schools have expressed 

 their views, and it is obvious that the point will be a 

 difficult one to settle when we find such names as those 

 of Ostwald, .A. v. Baeyer and Otto Witt, who are opposed 

 to the examinational scheme, confronted by the names of 

 Duisberg, Bottinger, Holtz, Lunge, &c., who are in favour 

 of it. 



Not the least striking feature of the speeches recorded 

 m this pamphlet is the earnestness of the plea, put forward 

 more especially by Dr. Bottinger, on behalf of the great 

 national importance of chemistry, and the direct relation- 

 ship of this science to various ministerial departments of 

 the Imperial Legislature. The speaker even allows him- 

 self to be carried away by a poetical simile in comparing 

 the unobtrusiveness of the chemist, as contrasted with 

 NO. 1529, VOL. 59] 



his importance, to the aroma of the violet which flowers 

 in concealment but delights man with its fragrance. He 

 quotes also the sayings of English statesmen like Lords 

 Beaconsfield and Roseberv', and Mr. A. J. Balfour, who 

 have at various times called attention to German su- 

 premacy in the chemical industries. Reference is made 

 also, to an article in the North American Rerneu; the 

 writer of which states that the nation which possesses 

 the best chemists is bound in the long run to come to the 

 fore-front. Dr. Bottinger distinctly suggests a falling^ 

 off in German activity in the domain of inorganic 

 chemistry : — 



"Tiichtige anorganische Chemikermuss man heute be', 

 uns, ich mochte fast sagen, mit der Lanterne suchen ; sie 

 zu finden, ist oftmals vergeblich" (p. ^;^). 



He deplores the migration of American students from 

 the German high schools to Paris to learn this branch of 

 the science ; he even laments that the discovery of argon 

 and helium did not proceed from one of their own labor- 

 atories, and he takes genuine alarm at the incursion made 

 by the .\mericans into the manufacture of astronomical 

 instruments, although, as he concedes, the glass for the 

 lenses is of German make. 



That Germany has taken alarm at the progress being 

 made in other countries is manifest on every page of the 

 pamphlet before us. The writer of this notice is inclined 

 to believe that Dr. Bottinger and others take a pessi- 

 mistic view of their own position ; but the policy of " fore- 

 warned, forearmed" is obviously the moving principle of 

 the present agitation. That which is of most import- 

 ance to us here is the lesson conveyed by the manner 

 in which our rivals propose to meet the competi- 

 tion which threatens the supremacy of their chief 

 industry. They are urging the Government to 

 establish chairs of technical chemistry in their uni- 

 versities. In this country there is a very widespread 

 notion that technical chemistry cannot be taught in 

 educational institutions at all. The leading chemical 

 nation in the world has come to a difi'erent conclusion. 

 If our chemists are anxious to know what this technical 

 chemistry is, we commend to their notice a statement in 

 the memorial of the German Chemical Union : — 



" Technical chemistry as a branch of general chemistry 

 is not, as is often erroneously supposed, the transference 

 of chemical science to practical applications, but it is a 

 science in itself . . . the flowering and thriving of which 

 we owe to German chemical industry." 



Dr. Duisberg and others lay it down as a general 

 principle that the students of this subject should not be 

 taken too deeply into all the details of technology, but 

 that they should possess a general knowledge of raw 

 materials, apparatus and processes ; that they should be 

 made to appreciate the diflTerence between laboratory 

 and factory operations ; that the chemistry of technical 

 processes should be taught in special courses of lectures, 

 and the construction of plant illustrated by exact drawings 

 and by inspection of works. 



There are many other points in this compilation of 

 Dr. Fischer's, which are full of significance for our own 

 country ; but enough has been culled from the 

 pamphlet to show which way things are going in 

 Germany. We could, I am afraid, supply our Teutonic 



