July 15, 192 2 J 



NA TURE 



85 



a remunerative process of manufacture. It was, how- 

 ever, far from perfect, and for the next fifty years 

 Solvay ever strove to reach perfection, sparing neither 

 time nor money to make it approach the ideal. At 

 the time of his death, there are very few methods of 

 manufacture that have, so nearly reached the ideal as 

 the Ammonia Soda process. 



In 1873 Solvay granted a licence to John Brunner 

 and Ludwig Mond to work the process in England, and 

 Brunner, Mond and Co. started works at Winnington, 

 Northwich, in that year. From this business con- 

 nexion there sprang up a friendship among the three 

 men that lasted as long as their lives, and it is difficult 

 to decide whether Solvay or Mond effected thereafter 

 the greater number of improvements in the process 

 and apparatus. 



In the same year Solvay and Co. erected their large 

 works at Dombasle near Nancy, introducing all such 

 improvements in plant as experience at Couillet had 

 shown to be advisable. 



From this time onwards to 1914 few years passed 

 without some new works being erected to carry on the 

 manufacture ; in the United States in 1881, in Russia 

 in 1881, in Germany and Austria in 1885, and later in 

 Hungary, Spain, Italy, and Canada, until in 1914 

 there were scattered throughout the world twenty- 

 three separate works engaged in the Solvay Ammonia 

 Soda process, which were capable of producing nearly 

 2,000,000 tons of soda ash per year. 



With the growth of the Ammonia Soda process, the 

 production of alkali by the Leblanc method gradually 

 declined, until it reached the point where it had to 

 depend upon its chlorine products for its continued 

 survival, and of late years even this monopoly has been 

 seriously challenged by the electrolytic processes. In 

 1863 the world's production of soda, by the Leblanc 

 process, was 300,000 tons a year. In 1913, the total 

 production amounted to nearly 3,000,000 tons, of 

 which almost two-thirds was made by the Solvay 

 process, while the sale price had dropped to one- 

 quarter. The essential raw .materials for the Solvay 

 process are salt, limestone, coke, coal, and ammonia, 

 and in selecting sites for new works, Solvay was ever 

 careful to choose them as near as possible to the source 

 of supply of some of these. 



In seeking for a cheap and plentiful supply of 

 ammonia, Solvay was led to study the production of 

 coke, and eventually, in conjunction with Mr. Semet- 

 Solvay, he designed a bye-product coke oven which 

 yielded ammonia through the scrubbing of the gas 

 before its combustion for heating purposes. Many 

 thousands of these Semet-Solvay ovens have been 

 built in Belgium, France, England, Germany, the 

 United States, Italy, and Japan, and in 1913 they were 

 producing about 10 million tons of coke a year. 



In the midst of his immense industrial activities 

 Solvay was ever mindful of the welfare of his employees. 

 Working a process that must of necessity be continuous, 

 he was one of the first to reduce the hours of labour 

 from 12 to 8-hour shifts. He insured his workmen 

 against accidents, instituted savings-banks and retiring 

 allowances, provided them with medical attention, 

 built houses for them, and remitted the rent in cases 

 of long service or distress, made free grants of land for 

 culture, built schools and gave scholarships, and made 



NO. 2750, VOL. I 10] 



grants in aid of higher education both in Belgium and 

 abroad. 



On the occasion of the company's fiftieth anniversary, 

 a number of grants were made, among which were : 

 200,000 francs to the Universite du Travail, Charleroi, 

 500,000 francs to provide prizes every fourth year for 

 work on such contagious diseases as the poor are 

 specially liable to suffer from, 500,000 francs to the 

 University of Paris towards the Institute of Applied 

 Chemistry, 500,000 francs to the University of Nancy 

 to complete the Electrical Institute and found a chair 

 of electro-chemistry. In addition, their workpeople 

 received substantial concessions and bonuses. Ernest 

 Solvay's sympathies and interests were not confined 

 to his own workpeople, for he was absorbingly interested 

 in the intellectual and social advancement of mankind 

 in general. He published not only many treatises on 

 these subjects, but also from his immense wealth 

 financed or created numerous institutions for their 

 study ; e.g. the Solvay Society of Brussels and institutes 

 of chemistry, physics, physiology, and sociology. In 

 order to encourage the development of chemical and 

 physical science, by providing funds for research workers 

 and by holding conferences, he also inaugurated the 

 Solvay International Institutes of Chemistry and of 

 Physics, and endowed each with a capital of 1,000,000 

 francs. 



During the war, Solvay elected to remain in Brussels 

 in order that he might alleviate the suffering which he 

 foresaw would be the lot of the poor. He devoted 

 his energies and his fortune to this object throughout 

 the whole of the German occupation, and the city will 

 never forget his beneficence. Upon his return to the 

 capital, King Albert personally expressed his thanks 

 to him and created him a Minister of State. He was 

 also the recipient of many other honours. He was a 

 Grand Commander of the Order of Leopold, a Chevalier 

 of the Legion of Honour, a Doctor of the University 

 of Brussels, an honorary member of the Royal In- 

 stitution of London, and of the German, French, 

 American, and Dutch Chemical Societies, and a corre- 

 sponding member of the French Academy of Sciences. 



At the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the 

 formation of his company, he was presented by Prof. 

 Haller in the name of the French Institute with the 

 gold Lavoisier Medal, and by Prof. Appell with the 

 medal of the University of Paris. 



In private life Ernest Solvay's tastes were simple, 

 and he was ever happiest in his own family circle. 

 He attracted to his side many men of exceptional 

 ability and formed lasting friendships. By nature 

 he was generally optimistic, and h$ had a very keen 

 sense of humour. He was an ardent mountaineer, 

 and regularly his summer holidays were spent among 

 the Alps. He could climb vigorously at the age of 

 seventy-five, and abandoned the sport only a few 

 years prior to his death. John I. Watts. 



The Hon. V. A. H. H. Onslow. 

 Huia Onslow, son of the fourth Earl of Onslow, was 

 born in New Zealand in 1890, where his father was 

 Governor-General. Educated at Eton and Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, he met with a calamitous accident 

 at the close of his University career : an injury received 

 in diving left him paralysed below the waist, with no 



