48 
NATURE 

introduced, and notably that depending on the produc- 
tion of water-gas (consisting of equal volumes of 
hydrogen and carbon monoxide) from steam and coke 
at a red-heat, the carbon monoxide being subsequently 
separated from the hydrogen by liquefying it by means 
of the low temperature apparatus of Carl von Linde, 
of Munich. 
The discovery of incandescent gas lighting by the 
Austrian, Count Auer vy. Welsbach, and of the metallic 
filament incandescent electric lamp by the same in- 
ventor in 1903, as well as the improvements in the 
latter effected by Siemens and Halske in 1905 and 
1906, have led to the production of these commodities 
on a very large and increasing scale in Germany, 
thus :— 
Igtt Igt2 
Incandescent gas mantles .. 126,000,000 135,000,000 
Metallic filament electric lamps 47,000,000 76,000,000 
Carbon filament lamps (production 
diminishing) 25,000,000 21,000,000 
The following comparison of the estimated con- 
sumption of incandescent gas mantles in different 
countries for the year 1912 is interesting (Vivian B. 
Lewes) :— 
Germany ... 100,000,000 Belgium... 3,500,000 
America... 60,000,000 Italy 3,000,000 
England ... 38,000,000 Russia 1,500,000 
France 16,000,000 
Ammonia, Nitrates, and Fixation of Free Nitrogen. 
During the past century the world’s supply of 
ammonia has been almost exclusively obtained as a 
bye-product in the manufacture of gas, and latterly 
also from coke-ovens. So backward was Germany in 
the production of ammonia that as late as 1874 the 
ammoniacal liquor of their gasworks was allowed to 
run to waste. All the more remarkable is the state of 
affairs revealed by the following figures :— 
Tons 
In 1890 the world’s production of sulphate of ammonia 210,000 
1900 Led ” 3” ” 500,000 
Ig12 ” ” ” ” 1,330,000 
1910 Germany’s “. on 95 300,000 
IgI2 ” » ” ” 400,000 
The principal use of sulphate of ammonia is as a 
nitrogenous manure, as which it competes with Chile 
saltpetre (sodium nitrate). 
Sulphate of ammonia contains 20°5 per cent. nitrogen 
Chile saltpetre (sodium nitrate) 15 “A " 
It has already been pointed out that Germany 
imports 650,000 tons of Chile saltpetre for manure, 
hence by increasing their output of sulphate of 
ammonia they have been rendering themselves less 
dependent on foreign products (nitrate from Chile and 
sulphate of ammonia from England). 
As is well known, one of the most important 
problems at the present time is to provide the world 
with nitrate when the deposits in Chile shall have 
been exhausted. The problem is bound up with the 
still wider one of the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. 
This again, as is well known, is now accomplished on 
a large scale by the production of nitric acid from 
atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen by means of the 
electric furnace of Birkeland and Eyde, or by the 
production of calcium cyanamide by passing atmo- 
spheric nitrogen over heated calcium carbide. Both 
these processes involve the use of the electric furnace, 
in the former for effecting the union of the 
nitrogen and oxygen, and in the latter for the pre- 
liminary production of the calcium carbide. Abundant 
water-power being necessary for the economic opera- 
tion of the above processes, Norway has become their 
chief centre, whilst Germany has sought other means 
of nitrogen- “fixation which could be carried on within 
NO. 2367, VOL. 95 | 


[Marcu 11, 1915 

her own territories. The synthesis of ammonia from 
hydrogen and atmospheric nitrogen under a pressure 
of 200 atmospheres and at 500° C. in the presence of 
a catalyst, has been successfully worked out by Haber 
in conjunction with the Badische Anilin und Soda- 
fabrik, and a plant capable of yielding 130,000 tons of 
sulphate of ammonia per annum was to have been 
ready in 1915. The second step in the German pro- 
gramme was to convert the ammonia into nitric acid 
by burning it in air in the presence of a catalyst. In 
this way it is hoped to make Germany independent 
of foreign countries for the nitrate required in the 
manufacture of explosives. It is asserted that this 
independence Germany has actually secured at the 
present moment. 
Potash Salts. 
The unique deposits of potash salts discovered at 
Stassfurth in 1857 have been exploited on an increas- 
ing scale and have furnished practically the whole 
world with potash; the output of crude salts was in 
Tons L 
TOSI. 2,000 
TOIZ) ace II,000,000 (8,8co,000) 
In 1911 America alone took potash salts to the value 
of 3,000,000l. 
Explosives. 
Of the modern high explosives, gun-cotton was dis- 
covered by Schoenbein and by Boettger in 1846. The 
manufacture of nitroglycerine (discovered by Sobrero 
in Paris in 1847) was first realised by the Swede, 
Alfred Nobel, in 1862, and it was Nobel who first 
adapted these powerful explosives for ballistic pur- 
poses. Trinitrotoluene, of which so much has been 
heard recently, was first proposed for filling shells by 
Haessermann in 1891. It is said to be surpassed, 
both as regards safety and disruptive effect, by 
tetranitro-aniline discovered in England by Dr. 
Fluerscheim. The great magnitude of the German 
explosives industry is seen from the following 
figures :— 
Tons 
Total German production of explosives 40,000 
or about 1/1oth of the estimated world production. 
& 
Germany exported in 1908 to the value of 
IgI2 . 
Artificial Silk. 
This remarkable industry, originated by Count 
Chardonnet in France in 1891, has also been largely 
developed on German soil. The German production 
amounts to about 2000 tons annually (1,200,000l.) out 
of a total world production of about 7ooo tons. 
French, German, and British patents have largely 
contributed to the success of this industry. 
1,000,000 
3,000,000 
” ” 
Industries Dependent on Synthetic Organic 
Chemistry. 
It is in respect of these industries that the world 
is learning that Germany holds the undisputed 
supremacy. It is in Germany alone that manufac- 
turers have been found prepared to embark their 
capital and undertake industrial enterprises of the 
first magnitude on the advice of the organic chemist. 
The success which has been achieved by the German 
manufacturers of artificial dyestuffs, drugs, and per- 
fumes, and the hegemony which they have secured 
in this branch of industry, has been the frequent 
subject of warning by professors of chemistry in this 
country for upwards of a generation. The serious- 
ness of the situation which has arisen through the 
neglect of those warnings is seen from the following 
} figures : i 
