402 



NA TURE 



[June 3, 1909 



shown through part of the huge works, to see the whole 

 of which several days would be required. These works 

 were founded in iSfas for the manufacture of colouring 

 matters and other derivatives extracted from coal tar. In 

 that year there were only thirty workpeople. In 1870 

 there were S35 ; in 1885, 2377 ; in 1895, 4450. Now there 

 are Sooo. They employ, moreover, some 200 trained 

 chemists, 100 engineers, and more than 700 mercantile 

 clerks. The area of the site of the factory is about that 

 of the City of London. On one side of it is the Rhine, 

 so that there is easy transport for the coal (they use 1000 

 tons a day) to drive their 370 steam engines, and for the 

 pyrites (of which they use 100,000 tons a year), and 

 other raw materials required. 



This is not the place for a full account of the progress of 

 discovery in this branch of chemistry, but each discovery 

 in turn has been utilised and turned into gold. Their staff 

 of trained chemists are continually adding to their store of 

 knowledge, and are provided with well-equipf>ed labora- 

 tories. To the benches are distributed hot and cold water, 

 compressed air, vacuum and electrical power. The com- 

 mercial value of their discoveries is safeguarded by a 

 patent department having some seventeen assistants. They 

 hold more than 1200 patents, and take out on an average 

 about two a week. 



The Badische Anilin- und ,Soda-Fabrik has already 

 decided on a site at Birkenhead, but as it is only 

 one out of a dozen German chemical companies which 

 have during the past five years paid dividends of 

 from 10 per cent, to 35 per cent, per annum, there 

 appears to be good reason for bringing to the notice of 

 the directors of these companies places in the United 

 Kingdom which are specially suited to these in- 

 dustries. 



There can be no doubt that before the directors of 

 successful foreign companies attempt to establish in- 

 dustries in the United Kingdom, they will make 

 exhaustive investigations as to the general industrial 

 conditions in this country and as to the special con- 

 siderations relating to their particular industries. The 

 deputation discusses at some length the industrial 

 conditions in Germany, and, in order to compare the 

 industrial conditions there and here, reference is made 

 to the recently published Board of Trade report (Cd. 

 4032, 1908) on the condition of the working classes 

 in Germany. This question is so directly before the 

 public to-day that there is no necessity to discuss the 

 matter here, but it is of interest to know that Dr. 

 VValther Rathenau, one of the leading industrial 

 authorities in Germany, in his " Reflexionem," re- 

 marks that, speaking of the chemical industry, 



the reason the Germans have so far surpassed us is 

 because English science is not strong enough to direct 

 the numerous ramifications of the source of the " black 

 art " into the technical stream, and because English 

 industry has not the army of trained workers which is 

 annually recruited from the German high schools. The 

 same difficulties, he remarks, are encountered by the 

 electrical industries in England. 



The other conditions which are considered of import- 

 ance in deciding the question of the establishment of 

 a chemical industry are stated to be : — 



(i) The cost of motive power. 



(2) The price of coal, alkali, and acids. 



(3) The availability of salt or brine. 



(4) The price of land and the amount of taxes. 



(5) The supply of water and provision for discharge 

 of effluent. 



The deputation appears to have considered fairly 

 fully the various conditions necessary to the successful 

 establishment in Ireland of industries such as the 

 electrical and chemical industries, and it is of 

 opinion that there is no reason why such industries 

 should not be profitably carried out there. 



When the deputation made its report, the Comp- 



NO. 2066, VOL. 80] 



troller's first decision under Section 27 (in the case 

 of an application for the revocation of Hatschek's 

 patents No. 6455 of igoo and No. 22,139 of 1900) was 

 under appeal, and it was doubtful what interpretation 

 of the section would finally prevail. Since then, how- 

 ever, Mr. Justice Parker lias delivered judgment in the 

 appeal, and there can be no further doubt that a 

 patentee who manufactures exclusively or mainly 

 abroad runs a very grave risk of having his patent 

 revoked. Patentees will therefore be more inclined 

 than they have been to manufacture here, and in order 

 to direct those who may benefit by this inclination, we 

 give the general conclusions arrived at by the deputa- 

 tion, viz. : — ■ 



(i) The first is that, if reasonable facilities are offered, 

 there is a strong probability that manufacturers in certain 

 industries will find it to their interests to sat up branches 

 of their works within the United Kingdom. 



{2) In the next place, in order to attract such manu- 

 facturers to any particular part of the United Kingdom, 

 it will be necessary for those interested in the industrial 

 development of any given city or locality to themselves 

 make special and persistent attempts to bring before par- 

 ticular firms the facilities and advantages which the 

 localities in question have to offer. In other words, it 

 will not be enough to send circulars — even those trans- 

 lated into good German — to our Consular representatives 

 abroad. VVe saw a large pile of these from various 

 municipalities on the table of one of the large Consulates 

 "in case of inquiry." There had been no inquiries. It 

 needs to be recognised that the matter is one into which 

 the keenest competition enters, and in regard to which 

 only persistent efforts on the part of the competing locali- 

 ties themselves will produce results. 



(3) There is a third general conclusion which we believe 

 to be of considerable importance. It seems clear that 

 the effects of the working of the Patents and Designs 

 .\ct will not be immediate, but gradual and continuous. 

 It is already evident that a number of foreign manu- 

 facturers will establish branches of their business in the 

 United Kingdom, and will so maintain their patent rights. 

 But many manufacturers will doubtless prefer to sacrifice 

 their patents rather than take this course. The inventions 

 contained in patents which will be revoked as a con- 

 sequence become public property, and may be utilised by 

 any enterprising person. Given the necessary enterprise, it 

 will be possible to build up new industries, whilst existing 

 industries may derive benefit from the freedom to utilise 

 inventions in cases where the covering patents are not 

 being worked to such an extent in the United Kingdom 

 as to comply with the Act. 



DR. VO}^ KEUMAYER, For.Mem.R.S. 



THE news of the death, on May 24, at Neustadt, 

 in the Bavarian Palatinate, of Excellency Georg 

 Balthasar von Neumayer was received with genuine 

 regret by a world-wide circle of scientific men, 

 to a very large number of whom he was personally 

 known for his sterling qualities, the warmth of his 

 friendship, his genial urbanity, and his kindly disposi- 

 tion, more especially towards young men entering 

 upon a scientific career. To these he was the fatherly 

 counsellor who gave them every encouragement to 

 prosecute their studies in the broadest possible manner, 

 for he had long ago realised that science had entered 

 upon a new era of marvellous progress. The foreign 

 visitor to German scientific gatherings has always been 

 struck by the imiversal reverence for the name of Neu- 

 mayer, for there have been very few of the savants of 

 the fatherland during the past half-century who have 

 not been influenced, more or less, by the great person- 

 ality who is now no more. 



Dr. von Neumayer was born at Kirchheimbolanden. 

 in the Palatinate, on June 21, 1826, so that at the 

 time of his death he was within a few weeks of com- 

 pleting his eighty-third year. From his early youth he 



