UTAH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 165 
more than a million dollars to experimentation before it was 
rewarded with Knietsch’s contact method for producing 
sulphur trioxide and sulphuric acid of any desired strength. 
Similarly the inevitable exhaustion of Chili nitrate deposits 
within a generation stimulated efforts to convert atmos- 
pheric nitrogen into nitrates and ammonium compounds, 
with the result that the problem was solved shortly before 
the present conflict in Europe began. . 
Our early American researches had to do chiefly with 
utilitarian aims. Even astronomy was cultivated because 
of its connection with navigation. Agricultural experimen- 
tation, medical research and other branches of scientific 
activity might be mentioned in illustration. In later years 
the same trend is observable. Moissan’s epoch-making dis- 
coveries in France with an electric furnace of small dimen- 
sions were followed by the production of electrochemical 
substances of great importance here in America. More 
recently the formation of alloy steels, the utilization of 
rarer metals, the preparation of plastics, etc. exemplify the 
same thing. 
Under present market conditions business men have 
turned to the American chemist and manufacturer with 
demands for certain products in quantities unheard of here- 
tofore. The most notable instances, perhaps, are the calls 
for potash and nitrogen fertilizers, and the amount of ac- 
tivity among research men to produce these materials at 
reasonable cost can be appreciated only by those who are 
in touch with the situation. And very striking, too, are 
the demands for coal tar products. Unfortunately those 
who are clamoring loudest seem to think it possible for the 
American scientist and engineer to create overnight and 
in the face of all the difficulties involved in patent rulings 
a complicated industry that has been developed in Germany 
only through the concentrated work of scientists and manu- 
facturers during the past two generations. Not only is it 
necessary for us to change the method of distilling coal, 
but there must be brought about such interdependence of 
companies handling special products that co-operation will 
