428 

NATURE 
[JUNE 17, 1915 

probably unaware of this, proposed that the name | 
michron be given to the millionth of a second, while 
he suggested that the micrometre be termed the 
nuicrom. 
Similarly, many years ago Sir Benjamin Brodie 
attempted to induce the chemists to rationalise their 
nomenclature by re-naming CO carbonous oxide, and 
taking the name carbonic oxide for CO,. 
Had either of these proposals even partially 
materialised, it would undoubtedly have led to great 
confusion. 
While to some extent I agree with Dr. Guillaume’s 
remarks regarding the English use of ‘ specific,” I 
do not think he strengthens his general case by re- 
ferring to “‘ puissance massique,’’ which, to my mind, 
conveys only the haziest sort of meaning. 
I might point out that, according to a view I have 
heard frequently expressed, the general introduction 
of the metric system into England has been hindered 
by prejudice against what is considered the un- 
necessary number of names of units appearing in 
the usual books dealing with the subject. It may be 
desirable to have these for rare use, but it is surely 
inadvisable to mention them in the school books as if 
they were current. Thus, for example, among 
measures of length, one is accustomed to think in 
metres, centimetres, or millimetres, and of greater 
lengths in kilometres. The decimetre is rarely used 
except in connection with the litre, and the decametre, 
hectometre, and myriametre practically never. 
In conclusion, I think I represent the views of 
readers of Nature when I say that many of them 
will be glad to buy the French Physical Society’s 
useful volume, if it is only to be able to get rid from 
their library table of one or other of the editions of 
its well-known predecessor, written in the language 
of the Huns, which at the present moment they are 
unable to tolerate. J. A. Harker. 
Teddington, May 25. 

University Appointments in War Time. 
I VENTURE to direct attention to the advertisement 
for a professor of organic chemistry in the University 
of Liverpool. It appears to me, and I believe many 
share my opinion, that this is a very inopportune 
moment for filling a university chair when eligible 
men are away on active service. It may seem un- 
fitting to criticise the internal policy of another univer- 
sity, but it is a matter which closely affects many who 
have no connection with the University of Liverpool. 
Professors of chemistry and others are being solicited 
for testimonials by candidates, and in many cases such 
requests cannot be granted except by doing a grave 
and irreparable injustice to more highly qualified men 
who have responded to the country’s call for volun- 
teers in the present national crisis. I trust that the 
University of Liverpool will in this matter follow the 
same course as has been pursued by the University 
of Birmingham in the case of the vacant chair of 
physics, and postpone the appointment of a professor 
until after the termination of the war. 
Percy F. FRANKLAND, 
(Dean of the Faculty of Science). 
The University, Birmingham, June 12. 
Velunteers for Scientific Work. 
Civitians of all grades are being enrolled as volun- 
teer workers in our ammunition factories. Are there 
no Government chemical factories where persons of 
a certain amount of scientific training could render 
NO. 2381, VOL..95] 



voluntary aid towards the production of chemical 
munitions of war? There must be many who, like 
myself, are beyond the fighting age, whose skilled 
labour might be of use at the present juncture. 
EpWARD HERON-ALLEN. 
Large Acres, Selsey Bill, Sussex, June 12. 

SCIENTIFIC METHODS IN INDUSTRY. 
Pee publication of this volume is opportune, 
for it presents data which will tend to focus 
attention still further upon the present unsatis- 
factory recognition of science by the Government 
and manufacturing interests of this country. 
A state of war has disclosed this in detail; 
and demonstrated that a nation which is ill- 
prepared against industrial expansion in the 
modern sense, finds itself in an inferior position in 
times of war. For reasons which are still some- 
what obscure, the British manufacturer has shown 
in the past a distinct preference towards those 
industries which develop best on lines of empiri- 
cism. Many have held that this is a defect; the 
present position has proved this to the hilt. Our 
manufacturers have surrounded themselves with 
an atmosphere which demands their whole attention 
in directing their ventures as they exist, manu- 
facturing articles which depend upon a market 
already existing and the low selling price which 
always goes with such conditions. If empiricism 
were the only law of manufacture (as it was some 
fifty years ago) they would by their application 
outdistance all competitors. 
It has been to Germany’s credit that she 
realised the great driving force behind this 
system as it has been practised in the northern 
part of these islands, and that to turn the shield 
concentration in other directions was demanded, 
where some new factor could be introduced and 
the methods of empiricism were useless. British 
methods were not so much improved upon as 
superseded; scientific supervision and investiga- 
tion were the beginning and end of this develop- 
ment; industries were built up which could not 
even have been started under the old régime ; 
industrially useful products were in the scientific 
sense in many cases created, and then introduced 
into commerce. The older method of improving 
existing manufacture by empirical methods gave 
place to a new system. Thus the British 
manufacturer found himself face to face with the 
German industrialist, who had already convinced 
the German banks that he was working for a new 
era, where profits would be large and developments 
world-wide. To-day we have to consider a posi- 
tion where many of these new industries (by chance, 
or design) have been of the first importance in the 
time of war. The manufacture of large quanti- 
ties of ammonium nitrate and nitric acid from 
synthetic ammonia (or the nitrogen of the air), 
has made Germany free from outside supplies 
of nitrates, and thus to some extent counteracted 
1 ‘First Principles of Production. A Study of the First Principles of 
Production and the Relation of Science to Industry.” By J. Taylor Peddie- 
Pp. 231. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915.) Price 5s. net. 

