620 
NATURE 
[AUGUST 5, 1915 

tion of new knowledge as the appreciation of its 
value, and the necessity of employing scientific 
methods in all departments of the national 
executive. We regard the Government scheme 
as a measure of acknowledgment of the principles 
of State responsibility and guidance advocated by 
the guild; and the only regret is that action on 
these lines was not taken long ago, as it would 
have been if we had been governed by far-seeing 
statesmen instead of party politicians. The con- 
sequences of Government recognition will cer- 
tainly be that science will secure increased atten- 
tion in the thought of the nation generally, and 
will receive more sympathetic consideration from 
the industrial world. 
The country, as a whole, will be influenced by 
the lead of the Government. “It appears incon- 
trovertible that if we are to advance or even 
maintain our industrial position, we must as a 
nation aim at such a development of scientific and 
industrial research as will place us in a position 
to expand and strengthen our industries and to 
compete successfully with the most highly 
organised of our rivals.” The attitude of mind of 
the British people, as a nation, towards science, 
and public estimation and appreciation of its 
value, must undergo a profound change. It is for 
the purpose of effecting this change and directing 
the resulting activity that the Government has 
established a permanent organisation for the pro- 
motion of industrial and scientific research. 
The main channels of activity of the organisa- 
tion, of which the advisory council of seven experts 
is the most important part, will apparently lie in 
three directions. First, the advisory council will 
act as scientific advisers to all Government depart- 
ments concerned with or interested in scientific 
research; secondly, the advisory council, with the 
co-operation of the various scientific societies, will 
consider the application of science to industry, and 
will seek to enlist the interest of manufacturers ; 
thirdly, the advisory council will advise the Board 
of Education as to steps which should be taken 
for increasing the supply of workers competent to 
undertake scientific research. 
With regard to relations between the manufac- 
turers and the advisory council, it is sincerely to 
be hoped that the former will lend their utmost 
assistance to the scheme, which is devised largely 
in their interests. 
On the educational side the work of the advisory 
council will be of the greatest importance. As 
has recently been emphasised by Dr. Beilby, “our 
colleges have two distinct functions to perform, 
and it is best that this should be clearly recog- 
nised, first to allow the future leaders in applied 
science to come naturally to the top during their 
training, and secondly, to prepare a large number of 
well-trained professional men for the organisation 
and development of industry.” How best to secure 
these two classes of men in adequate numbers, 
and, more important perhaps, how to induce an 
adequate number of the right kind of men to 
enter the chemical profession, will require careful 
consideration on the part of the advisory council. 
NO, 2388, VOL. 95] 

It may, however, be hoped that the council will 
not pin its faith too much to bursaries and scholar- 
ships, but will rather seek to create inducements 
in the shape of posts which are adequately re- 
munerated, more highly remunerated certainly 
| than has been the case in the past. 

MODERN PROCESSES OF MANUFACTUR- 
ING HYDROGEN FOR AIRSHIPS. 
N the Revue Générale des Sciences for June 15, 
M. A. Fournois reviews the earlier methods 
for the preparation of hydrogen for balloons, and 
describes in some detail the more modern pro- 
cesses for its manufacture, especially those 
adapted to field use. The large amount required 
in the present campaigns can be conjectured from 
the capacity of the latest type of Zeppelin, which 
is stated to be some 30,000 cubic metres. 
Many of the earlier processes now possess little 
beyond theoretical interest. The well-known zinc- 
sulphuric acid reaction always presented diffi- 
culties in the transport of materials, of which large 
amounts were required. The dangers attendant 
to the transport of the acid were largely overcome 
by absorption with acid sodium sulphate, the solid 
material being dissolved as required, but some 15 
kilos. of the mixture were necessary for the pre- 
paration of one cubic metre of the gas. 
The electrolytic production was a great advance, 
although the process was naturally expensive, and 
only possible at fixed generating stations. When 
the preparation of chlorine by the electrolysis of 
salt solutions was developed, hydrogen, being a 
by-product, was available at a cheaper rate. Such 
gas must always be supplied compressed in the 
usual gas cylinders, and here again transport 
difficulties arose, to say nothing of the dangers 
inherent to the transport of gas at 150 kilos. 
pressure into the field. One of the ordinary 
waggons will carry only some 13 kilos. of 
hydrogen—a small proportion of the total weight 
of the load—and this is roughly only one- 
hundredth of the gas required for an ordinary 
dirigible. 
Naturally therefore great attention has been 
directed during the last few years to methods of 
preparation suitable for field use. The most 
successful of these have been the action of water 
on calcium hydride (CaH,) (hydrolite), and the 
action of caustic soda on ferrosilicon or silicon 
itself. 
Hydrolite is an expensive material—about five 
francs per kilo.—but the total cost of the outfit 
for 50,000 cubic metres is given as only about 
one-third of the cost of the gas in cylinders, one 
vehicle sufficing for the transport of the hydro- 
lite plant, as against twelve required for gas 
cylinders. A vehicle carrying six generators gives 
an output of 500 cubic metres per hour. 
In the ferrosilicon process the fine material falls 
into caustic soda, which is covered with a layer 
of hydrocarbon oil to prevent frothing. A base 
plant has an output of 1500 cubic metres per 
hour; a field plant, comprising two waggons, 400 
cubic metres. 

