APRIL 15, 1915] 
NATURE 
175 

out much further purification, but even in these 
eases much time is saved by the previous elimina- 
tion of the grosser forms of impurity. To those 
who were in their early days limited to chemicals 
produced in this country, the standard of purity 
attained by the German manufacturer came as a 
revelation, and the study of prices made it clear 
that the enormous advantage gained by the use 
of the German materials was obtained at no un- 
reasonable cost. The standard set by the Ger- 
. man makers has not even been aimed at by our 
own countrymen, and the words “ pure,” “ puriss,” 
and ‘“‘absolutely pure, for examination purposes ” 
on the labels, are ludicrously misused. Want of 
method, want of care, and the employment of 
workmen instead of chemists in the preparation 
are at the bottom of the failure. 
With regard to drugs, it has been stated that 
some eight hundred different medicinal prepara- 
tions have been patented within recent years by 
German chemists, and although this is probably 
an exaggeration, it is certain that a very large 
number of such substances have been prepared, 
and that many of them have been found of suffi- 
cient value from the physiological point of view 
to warrant their retention as commercial products. 
In these days when the relationship between 
chemical constitution and physiological action is 
fairly well understood, it is clear that the dis- 
covery of an organic structure which has valu- 
able physiological action will lead to the pre- 
paration of large numbers of others differing but 
slightly in composition, and that these will find 
their way into patent literature mainly in the | 
| adapted, and then the thing is done. 
hope of their being useful, and, incidentally, to 
retain the field for further investigation. Such 
was the case of salvarsan, and since the dis- 
covery of that substance by Ehrlich, the patent 
literature has teemed with specifications dealing 
with the preparation of organo-metallic deriva- 
tives of almost every conceivable description. The 
antipyretics, again, of which phenacetin and 
aspirin may be quoted as types, belong to de- 
finite groups of organic compounds, the other 
members of which possess more or less important 
properties, depending on a slight change of struc- 
ture the nature of which is not definitely under- 
stood. 
There is another class of drugs of which the 
Germans have made a special study, those which 
are obtained from vegetable sources. In looking 
through their descriptive catalogues (in English) 
which are largely circulated among medical men 
in this country, one is struck by their far-reach- 
ing enterprise in this direction. Their travellers 
have gone to the ends of the earth to investigate 
native diseases and the local remedies which are 
used for their treatment. So long ago as 1850, 
Schweinfurth, in his journeys in central Africa, 
compiled a list of such remedies and brought home 
specimens of plants from which they were made. 
In Germany a large trade is now done in the 
extracts from vegetable sources collected from 
the remotest corners of the globe, many of them 
British possessions. The medicines are sold in 
NO-23725) VOL. 95]| 

| the other 
elegant and even attractive form, and those whose 
memories go back to the pre-tabloid days may 
well envy the younger generation. It would not 
be just to underestimate the work done by certain 
firms in this country in the same direction, but 
in the number of the drugs and the enterprise 
shown in collecting new ones, we are, without 
doubt, behind our enemies. 
In these matters of fine chemicals and drugs, 
both synthetic and natural, it is an arguable 
question whether the trade should be left as it is. 
On one hand it might be said that the work is 
admirably done by the German manufacturers in 
both branches; they have large and capable staffs 
and works excellently fitted for the purposes for 
which they were built; should not these parti- 
cular manufactures be left in their hands? On 
hand, we have a sense of humiliation 
that we should be, in any conceivable juncture, 
dependent on those who are at present our 
enemies. Certain allied manufactures, e.g., heavy 
chemicals, are still left largely in our hands, but 
if we yield in the smaller trades, is it not likely 
that they will succeed in wresting from us the 
larger source of profit? There can be no con- 
vention or agreement in these matters; each 
country will make what profit it can in the most 
convenient direction. ‘‘Capturing the Enemy’s 
Trade” makes a good newspaper heading, but it 
is painful to read the many impracticable sugges- 
tions which have been made on the subject since 
the beginning of the war. Many people seem to 
have the idea that all that is wanted is that a 
works shall be built, or even a derelict factory be 
No thought 
is given to the years of patient research, the long 
| training of the workers, and the period which 
must elapse before even the raw materials could 
| be collected. 
In the particular directions with which this 
article is concerned there is no doubt that the 
thing can be accomplished in time. In one labora- 
tory of university rank the manufacture of three 
synthetic drugs in large quantities has been car- 
ried on since the opening of the war, and the 
resulting products have been handed over to the 
naval hospitals which were in urgent need of 
them. The preliminary investigation in this piece 
of work occupied a staff of seven experienced 
workers, under the direction of the professor, two 
whole months before the details of the processes 
could be mastered. The results not only gave to 
the naval service what was wanted at the moment, 
but they enabled the details of the processes to 
be handed over, through a committee of the Royal 
Society, to three manufacturers who will produce 
the drugs on a large scale. In a similar way 
the laboratory of another institution has suc- 
ceeded in working out the process of making a 
natural drug from its plant sources. These in- 
stances illustrate the magnitude of the task which 
is before us, and the amount of highly specialised 
jabour which must be employed on the problems. 
It is only courting failure if the conditions neces- 
sary are not realised before a start is made. 
