Marcu If, 1915] 
NATURE 
49 

& 
Annual value of dyestuffs used in England 2,000,000 
on trade in which these dyes are 
employed ot me 3 see +++ 200,000,000 
Workmen dependent on this trade 1,500,000 
Total value of dyestuffs imported (1913) ... 1,892,055 
- oh 5 trom Germany 1,730,821 
Thus less than 1/1oth of the annual value of the 
dyestuffs consumed in England is produced in this 
country. Thus, by controlling the dyestuff industry, 
Germany indirectly holds in her grip the much larger 
textile industry. 
The manner in which the coal-tar colour industry 
has extinguished the cultivation of madder more 
especially in France, since 1870, and has caused the 
cultivation of indigo in British India to dwindle 
almost to nothing since 1897, are now well-known 
facts in commercial history. They will be fully 
appreciated by a study of the following figures :— 
At the time of the discovery of artificial alizarin 
(the dyestuff contained in madder) in 1869, the total 
production of natural alizarin amounted to between 
500 and 750 tons (2,250,000l.), and in 1870 France had 
50,000 acres under madder cultivation. 
The production of artificial alizarin was 
Tons 
In 1873. ... ee oak is on ia 100 
LS7iv ess So Bs 750 
1884 ... a55 noe Fe : 1350 
1900 : 2000 
(4/5ths of this produced in Germany). 
Again, with regard to indigo, in 1896 the world’s 
production of plantation-indigo was valued at about 
4,000,0001., of which four-fifths were obtained from 
British India. 
Export of Indigo from British East Indies. 
. 
eG 
1896 200 neo 096 3,509,670 
1899 60 ee dpe Fa Ss 1,980,319 
IGOz we Se oe bz sis 1,234,837 
1905 sot cao aoc 556,405 
1g038 a are ae 424,849 
TOW ss 225,000 
1913-14 ... cee 52 me 
Since the introduction of artificial indigo the price 
of indigo has been reduced by more than one-half, but 
since the outbrealx of the war the price of indigo has 
advanced by 350 per cent. ; 
Much inconvenience has been experienced also in 
the shortage of artificial drugs and consequent high 
prices, more especially at the beginning of the war, 
as even the simplest of these products were almost 
exclusively made in Germany. The manufacture of 
some of these is, however, now being successfully 
carried on in England. i 
Again, the shortage of organic chemicals required 
for research purposes, which practically all come from 
Germany, is occasioning most serious difficulties in 
our university laboratories. 
For the manufacture of dyestuffs and similar 
synthetic products Germany was formerly largely de- 
pendent on England for the raw material—coal tar. 
But in this case, again, the ambition of Germany to 
become in all respects independent and self-contained 
has led her in recent years to make the most 
strenuous efforts to recover the maximum amount of 
coal-tar both from the manufacture of gas and from 
coke-ovens, which endeavour has been assisted by 
the enormous growth in her iron and steel industries. 
Thus in 1897 Germany obtained only 52,000 tons of 
coal-tar from coke-ovens, whilst in 1908 she obtained 
no fewer than 632,400 tons from that source, besides 
300,000 tons from the manufacture of gas. Thus at 
NO. 2367, VOL. 95| 
60,900-70,000 



: the present time the German output of coal-tar about 
equals, if it does not exceed, that of England. 
The German production of artificial perfumes is 
said to amount to a value of about 2,500,000l. 
annually. In this department of applied chemistry, 
again, one of the first steps was made by the late 
Sir William Perkin, by the synthesis in 1868 of 
coumarin, the much-valued odoriferous principle of 
woodruff (Asperula odorata). 
The great magnitude of the German coal-tar colour 
industry may be gathered from the fact that the two 
groups into which the principal firms are associated 
have at the present time a total share-capital of about 
12,000,0001., on which a dividend of about 28 per cent. 
is paid. In 1912 Germany produced dyestuffs to the 
value of 12,500,0001., of which to the value of 
10,000,000l. were exported. 
The proposal of the Government to assist the 
British coal-tar colour industry is being watched with 
the greatest interest both by manufacturers and 
chemists. The problem of relieving the immediate 
shortage during the war must be carefully distin- 
guished from the later problem of securing the 
independence of the home-industry after the war by 
greatly increasing the British output. The realisation 
of the latter object will be attended with the greatest 
possible — difficulty. The industry will require 
“nursing”? for a great many years. The under- 
taking must be possessed of such elasticity that it 
can ramify into other branches of chemical or other 
industry whenever advantageous opportunities arise 
for such departures. Chemists must form an integral 
part of the directorate, which must be prepared to 
spend large sums of money on judiciously conceived 
and well-organised research, for which the sum of 
1o0,oool. in ten years, hitherto mentioned by the 
Government, is ridiculously inadequate. The under- 
taking must, moreover, be freed from all hampering 
legislation with regard to restrictions in the use of 
alcohol, ether, chloroform, and other chemicals. In 
short, the rehabilitation of the industry in this country 
will not be effected by following the precept ‘‘ business 
as usual,” but by pursuing a policy which is quite the 
reverse of what is implied by that undignified phrase. 

BRITISH ASSOCIATION DISCUSSION OF 
THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 
N outstanding feature of the Melbourne meeting 
of the British Association was the joint debate 
by Sections K and D (Botany and Zoology) on the 
nature and origin of species. Prof. F. O. Bower, 
President of Section K, took the chair. 
Dr. A. B. Rendle pointed out the need of a work- 
ing unit for the classification of the world’s flora. A 
working systematist or monographer recognised 
certain characters common to a number of individuals 
as limiting varieties, species, and genera from one 
another. Such expert work was difficult, and in- 
clined to be at times individualistic, but was neces- 
sary if systematic botany was to exist. Dr. Rendle 
showed himself a thorough supporter of the well- 
known Darwinian explanation of the origin of species 
by natural selection. The living organism is emin- 
ently adapted to its environment or is epharmonic. 
Slight gradual changes in the organism due to in- 
ternal causes, influenced or not by slight changes in 
environment, accumulate and become inherited. If 
these changes are pronounced, e.g., sports or mon- 
strosities, they are likely to be detrimental to the 
individuals possessing them. To grow plants under 
alien conditions generally requires care and freedom 
from competition. He thought experiments con- 
