Septkmber io, 1908] 



NA TURE 



451 



the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in a 

 more prominent position tlian tliat wiiicli lliey now occupy 

 in tile world of commerce. 



The subject is not new ; it has been dealt with by many, 

 but principally by^ those more directly interested — promi- 

 nent members of tlie Society of Chemical Industry, who are 

 far better qualified to express opinions on commercial 

 matters than am I. It is perhaps presumption on my part 

 to attempt to add anything to what has been said by such 

 leaders of industrial chemistry, but I propose to deal with 

 the subject from a very different standpoint — namely, from 

 that of the teacher in the class-room and laboratory. Even 

 if I fail to make a single suggestion of immediate practical 

 value, the question is one of such magnitude and so many- 

 sided that I feel justified in bringing it under the notice 

 of this Section. It is not merely a matter of money, of 

 a few millions or of a few tens of millions sterling. There 

 are few branches of industry to which chemistry, in one 

 way or another, is not of supreme importance. Whether 

 we look to the great shipbuilding interests, dependent on 

 the progress of metallurgy ; to our cotton and linen trades, 

 where cellulose reigns supreme ; to our dye-houses or to 

 our breweries, or to any other industry, great or small, 

 there do we find problems in chemistry awaiting solution, 

 and the nation which solves them will not only progress in 

 civilisation and contentment, but will also justly claim to 

 have taken a leading part in the advancement of science. 



It is not then in any grudging spirit of envy that we 

 approach this question ; recognising the splendid work of 

 men of other countries, rejoicing in the services which 

 they have rendered to the world at large, our only desire 

 is not to lag behind in the general intellectual and indus- 

 trial advance of nations. 



It is unnecessary to trouble you with any detailed com- 

 parison of the position which we occupy to-day with that 

 which we have taken in the past. The fiftieth anniversary 

 of the epoch-making discovery of mauve was held only two 

 years ago, and the proceedings are still fresh in our recol- 

 lection ; the pEeans of congratulation addressed to the dis- 

 coverer (now, alas ! no longer with us) were marred by a 

 plaintive note, a note of lamentation over our lost indus- 

 tr\", the manufacture of dyes. The jubilee of the founder 

 of the colour industry in this country was also the occasion 

 for pronouncing its funeral oration. If this were the full 

 extent of our loss we might bear it with equanimity ; but 

 it is not so much what has already gone as what is going 

 and what may go that are matters of such deep concern. 

 Those who doubt the seriousness of our condition may find 

 statistical evidence, more than sufficient to convince them, 

 in the technical journals and in the Board of Trade reports 

 of recent years. 



The facts there disclosed show that in the manufacture 

 of ** fine chemicals," including perfumes, alkaloids, and 

 crude coal-tar products, as well as dyes, the decadence of 

 our industry is far advanced ; in the case of heavy chemicals 

 our position, perhaps, is not quite so serious at the present 

 moment, but the future is dark and threatening. Chemical 

 industries are so intimately connected and dependent on one 

 another that the fate of one may determine the fate of 

 all ; the by-product of one process is often the raw material 

 of another. Who, then, can deny that the patience, per- 

 severance, and high scientific skill, which have built up 

 the colour industry abroad, if applied, as they have been 

 and are being applied, to the manufacture of heavy 

 chemicals, will not soon defy all competition from less 

 progressive countries? 



Such a possibility is full of national danger. It has been 

 pointed out — and the prophecy cannot be regarded as un- 

 duly pessimistic — that from present indications a time will 

 arrive when we shall be dependent on outside sources, not 

 only for our food-supply, but also for our means of self- 

 defence. When nitrates are exhausted, when nitric acid 

 and ammonia are prepared from the components of the 

 atmosphere, when all chemical industries have been so 

 highly developed abroad that they have completely vanished 

 from these Islands, and when their loss has reacted on all 

 our other important industries, then, indeed, shall we feel 

 the pinch of poverty ; then, indeed, must we submit to 

 national decay. 



Is it possible to remedy the present unsatisfactory state 

 of affairs, and to guard against an ominous future? 



NO. 2028, VOL. 78] 



During the Perkin Jubilee celebrations Prof. Carl Duis- 

 berg answered this question, in so far as it concerns the 

 coal-tar colour industry, by an uncompromising negative. 

 In an able and interesting speech he pointed out that, 

 although the Briton is in general a practical man, he is 

 lacking in patience, in the power of waiting for success ; 

 he expects to be compensated in hard cash, and at once, 

 for his work or for his capital outlay. The German, on 

 ihe other hand, is primarily a theorist possessing endless 

 patience, and works without any immediate prospect of 

 pecuniary reward ; he has now learnt to be practical as 

 well, but not at the expense of his ideals. It is to this 

 happy combination of qualities that Prof. Duisberg ascribes 

 the success of his countrymen in the coaUtar colour in- 

 dustry — a success which lie considers we are powerless to 

 emulate, with which it would be futile for us to try and 

 compete. 



With this view that our chemical industries must submit 

 to gradual extinction, even when it is held by so high an 

 authority, we cannot and must not agree ; if one nation 

 can learn to be practical, we — the four nations of these 

 islands — one or all, can learn to be plodding and patient, 

 and to appreciate the importance of theory. We may be 

 encouraged in our efforts to do so by the opinions of 

 others, countrymen of Prof. Duisberg, eminent in pure or 

 applied science. Prof. Ostwald, discussing this subject, 

 said that he was sure the difliculties were considerable 

 only in the beginning,' while Prof. Lunge, in an address 

 to the Royal Institution," made use of the following words : 

 " Seeing that in pure science the people of Great Britain 

 have never lagged behind any other nation, and that, on 

 the contrary, the land of Newton and Faraday has been a 

 beacon to all others at more than one epoch, there is 

 absolutely no valid reason why she should now, or at any 

 other time, be behind any other in the combination of 

 science with practice." 



Here, indeed, is encouragement, and from one who has 

 had ample opportunity for studying the conditions which 

 obtain in this country. Surely, therefore, we ought to 

 have some confidence in ourselves and try our best to regain 

 a strong and healthy position rather than fold our hands 

 in a spirit of hopeless resignation. 



The new Patent Act which came into force this year, 

 and for which the country is so much indebted to the 

 strenuous advocacy of Mr. Levinstein and Sir Joseph Law- 

 rence, seems to many to have inaugurated a new era, and 

 to have removed one of the principal causes of the decline 

 of our chemical industries ; If this bo so, it is all the more 

 important that the representatives of chemical science should 

 be ready and willing to join hands w'ith the manufacturers 

 in order to assist in the process of regeneration. 



The principal changes which have been introduced by 

 the new law are, of course, familiar to all. The most 

 important one, which came into operation on August 28 

 last, is that which requires that the article or process which 

 is protected by the patent must be manufactured or carried 

 on to an adequate extent In the United Kingdom after the 

 expiration of four years from the date of the patent. If 

 this condition is not fulfilled, any person may apply for 

 the revocation of the patent. 



Some of the results of this amendment, and some indi- 

 cations of the great industrial changes which it will bring 

 about, are already obvious. Foreign firms or individuals 

 who hold British patents and who have not sufficient 

 capital to work them in this country, or who do not think 

 they are worth working here, are attempting to sell their 

 British patent rights. Others are building or buying works 

 in Great Britain, and it has been estimated that in the 

 immediate future a sum of at least 25.000,000/. of foreign 

 capital will have been thus invested in order to comply 

 with the new law. 



We need not stop to consider the economic effects of this 

 transfer of capital on the general trade of this country, 

 but we may well pause a moment in order to try and 

 forecast the consequences of these new conditions in so far 

 as they concern our chemical industries. 



The prospective establishment of branches of two of the 

 largest German chemical works at Ellesmere Port and at 

 Port Sunlight respectively are already matters of common 



1 Jctur't. Soc. Chciii. Fnti., 1906, loig. 



2 March 15, 1907. 



