412 



NA TURE 



I June 3. 1909 



metallic carbides and hydrides, and the electric furnace 

 is fully described. Three Bcitrcige zur Geschichte der 

 Nattirwisseiischaften, numbered xi., xii., and xiii., are 

 contributed by Prof. Eilhard Wiedermann, and a paper on 

 the emission-spectra of cadmium and zinc vapours jointly 

 with A. Pospielow. Papers on the atomic weights of 

 rhodium and of palladium are contributed by A. Hiitt- 

 Imger and by P. Haas, and papers on electrolysis by 

 Gutbier and by Herzog ; papers dealing with medical 

 subjects are contributed by de la Camp, by Griinbaum, 

 and by Jamin, and a mathematical paper appears under 

 the name of Noether. 



At the end of 1907 the society included fifty-one ordinary, 

 fifty-four honorary, and seventy-eight corresponding 

 members ; nine meetings had been held, and sixteen paper's 

 had been read and discussed. The " yield " of scientific 

 work will bear comparison with that of many societies 

 claiming a wider range of membership, but in view of the 

 large variety of topics discussed and the small number 

 of papers dealing with any one branch of science, it is 

 at least doubtful whether the publicity attained can be 

 sufficient to compensate for the heavy cost of setting up 

 and printing ; as a general rule, the disadvantages of 

 local publication are so serious as to outweigh the 

 advantages which arise from stimulating the local centres 

 of research. 



T 



THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF 

 APPLIED CHEMISTRY. 



HE seventh International Congress of Applied Chem- 

 istry was opened on Thursday, May 27, in the after- 

 noon, at the Royal Albert Hall by the' Prince of Wales, 

 who was accompanied by the Princess. A very large 

 gathering was present, and the Prince, who spoke as vice- 

 patron, the King being patron, offered in His Majesty's 

 name a most hearty welcome, and expressed the King's 

 pleasure that the foreign delegates would be able to visit 

 \\'ifidsor Castle. It is only recently that the Prince, as 

 president of the Board of Trade Committee to deal with 

 exhibitions, directed attention to the importance of scien- 

 tific progress, and at the opening of the congress he 

 accentuated the value of scientific progress in words of 

 such importance that we reproduce a portion of his speech 

 verbatim. 



" The main object which you all have in view is, 1 

 assume, to discuss in your numerous sections the ma.iy 

 topics of interest and importance that are continually 

 arising owing to the marvellous discoveries which ilie 

 science of chemistry, both pure and applied, is making 

 from day to day. Those interested in some special branch 

 meet in the different sections their confreres from other 

 lands to their mutual benefit. . . . These conferences, 

 whether of a scientific or of a more intimate character, 

 between men living in distant lands, all working for the 

 same object, although under different conditions, cannot 

 but be favourable to the progress of science and of the 

 industries to which many of you have devoted your lives, 

 as well as to the general peace of the worid.' I fully 

 appreciate the important part which chemistry plays in 

 a]most_ every branch of our modern industry. We all 

 recognise that without a scientific foundation no permanent 

 superstructure can be raised. Docs not experience warn 

 us_ that the rule of thumb is dead, and that the rule of 

 science has taken its place— that to-dav we cannot be 

 satisfied with the crude methods which were sufficient for 

 our forefathers, and that those great industries which do 

 not keep abreast of the advance of science must surely and 

 rapidly decline? On behalf of the Princess of Wales and 

 for myself, I offer our cordial greetings to the members 

 of the congress, and I earnestly trust that great results 

 may accrue from your deliberations. I now have much 

 pleasure in declaring the seventh International Congress of 

 Applied Chemistry open." 



Sir William Ramsay, in the course of his open'ng 

 address, said it is impossible to draw a hard-and-fast line 

 between scientific and technical chemistry. Above all, 

 chemistry is a practical science, although in recent venrs 

 it has more and more tended to become a branch of applied 

 malliematics. The chief difference between pure and 

 applied science consists in a satisfactory answer to the 



NO. 2066, VOL, 80] 



question — all-important to the technical chemist — " Will it 

 pay? " This, however, is irrelevant to the man of science. 

 On the answer to this question the success of a process 

 depends ; but in its essence applied and industrial chemistry 

 are one. This has hardly been realised in a practical way 

 on this side of the Channel or even on the other side of 

 the Atlantic. Our Continental friends have realised it and 

 acted upon it under the conviction that the industrial pros- 

 perity of a nation can best be advanced by an alliance 

 between the technical and practical workers, that is to 

 say, between the university and the factory. Such con- 

 gresses as the present can teach much, and if this lesson 

 be learnt, then a valuable national asset will have been 

 gained, ft is often said that science knows no country, 

 and the existence of this congress accentuates the proof 

 of the .saying. All the nations of the civilised world an; 

 represented, and have met together to discuss how best 

 to develop the special branches of chemistry to which the 

 members have devoted their lives. 



Prof. Wiley, of .\merica, said there is no more apt 

 illustration of the utility of chemistry than to say that if 

 its principles were unknown and unapplied, teeming millions 

 of the globe would be at this moment unclad and unfed. 

 Sanitation is a chemical problem ; pure food, pure air, 

 pure water, which ensure activity of mind and body and 

 cure disease, are also problems for the chemist. 



Prof. Armand Gautier, of France, said that in the develop- 

 ment of industrial science England and France are not 

 the only, but the great leading nations — ntvcr enemies, 

 but always rivals. 



Prof. b. N. Witt, replying for Germany, said the field 

 of applied chemistry extends in two directions. It includes 

 the analysis scientifically and the control of commercial 

 raw products, and also of finished products. It further 

 includes the advance of the chemical industries which are 

 concerned with them. The congresses promote friendly 

 feeling and noble rivalry, and as a consequence obtain the 

 patronage of the rulers of nations. 



Prof. Patcrno, of Italy, said that naturally the members 

 responded witn enthusiasm to an invitation from the country 

 which was the birthplace of Boyle, Black, Cavendish, 

 Priestley, Dalton, Davy, Faraday, Graham, and Woollas- 

 ton. Even in the noisy rush and turmoil of London life 

 scientific men know how to find the necessary tranquility 

 to carry out their scientific investigations. 



Prof. Arrhenius, in replying for other delegates of 

 foreign lands, spoke of England as the classical world of 

 applied chemistry. In this country, particularly in London, 

 successful efforts have been m.ide to improve hygiene by 

 the employment of chemical methods, with the result that 

 among the large cities of the world London has the lowest 

 death-rate. 



Later in the afternoon sectional meetings were held to 

 arrange the work for the succeeding days of the congress. 

 The organisation of the sectional work was a matter of 

 considerable difficulty owing to the large number of 

 papers sent in. This was notably the case in the sections 

 for organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and electro- 

 chemistry, in each case the number considerably exceed- 

 ing one hundred, while the actual time available for work 

 only amounted to iSh hours. 



In several cases, where the subject was of interest to 

 more than one section, joint meetings were held. A 

 special case of this was a joint meeting of five sections 

 (o discuss the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, when 

 Hofrath Prof. Bernthsen, Prof. Birkeland, and Dr. N. 

 Caro presented the subject from different points of view. 

 This particular discussion attracted great attention, not 

 only because of its enormous importance, but also because 

 Prof. Bernthsen's address was experimentally illustrated. 



The process of Birkeland and Eyde, in which the .arc 

 is drawn out into a thin disc bv the means of powerful 

 magnets, is well known, but that of the Badische .^nilin- 

 und Soda-Fabrik had not been previously described in this 

 country. An iron tube contains an insulated electrode at 

 one end and itself acts as second electrode. .At its forma- 

 tion the arc springs from the insulated electrode to an 

 adjacent part of the iron tube which is only a few milli- 

 metres away. .Air is, however, blown tnngentinlly or with 

 a rotary motion throusrh the tube. This carries the end 

 of the arc along the wall of the tube, so that it ends at a 



