18 REPORT— 1898. 



discoveries awaiting the ingenuity of chemists. It is certainly deeply 

 important in its practical bearings on the future welfare and happiness 

 of the civilised races of mankind. This unfulfilled problem, which so far 

 has eluded the strenuous attempts of those who have tried to wrest the 

 secret from nature, differs materially from other chemical discoveries 

 which are in the air, so to speak, but are not yet matured. The fixation 

 of nitrogen is vital to the pi'Ogress of civilised humanity. Other dis- 

 coveries minister to our increased intellectual comfort, luxury, or con- 

 venience ; they serve to make life easier, to hasten the acquisition of 

 wealth, or to save time, health, or worry. The fixation of nitrogen is a 

 question of the not far distant future; Unless we can class it among 

 certainties to come the great Caucasian race will cease to be foremost in 

 the world, and will be squeezed out of existence by races to whom wheaten 

 bread is not the staff of life. 



Let me see if it is not possible even now to solve the momentous 

 problem. As far back as 1892 I exhibited, at one of the Soirees of the 

 Boyal Society, an experiment on ' The Flame of Burning Nitrogen.' I 

 showed that nitrogen is a combustible gas, and the reason why when once 

 ignited the flame does not spread through the atmosphere and deluge the 

 world in a sea of nitric acid is that its igniting point is higher than the 

 temperature of its flame — not, therefore, hot enough to set fire to the 

 adjacent mixture. But by passing a strong induction current between 

 terminals the air takes fire and continues to burn with a powerful flame, 

 producing nitrous and nitric acids. This inconsiderable experiment may 

 not unlikely lead to the development of a mighty industry destined to 

 solve the great food problem. With the object of burning out nitrogen 

 from air so as to leave argon behind, Lord Rayleigh fitted up apparatus 

 for performing the operation on a larger scale, and succeeded in effecting 

 the union of 29 '4 grammes of mixed nitrogen and oxygen at an expendi- 

 ture of one horse-power. Following these figures it would require one 

 Board of Trade unit to form 74 grammes of nitrate of soda, and therefore 

 14,000 units to form one ton. To generate electricity in the ordinary 

 way with steam engines and dynamos, it is now possible with a steady 

 load night and day, and engines working at maximum efl&ciency, to pro- 

 duce current at a cost of one-third of a penny per Board of Trade unit. 

 At this rate one ton of nitrate of soda would cost 261. But electricity 

 from coal and steam engines is too costly for large industrial purposes ', 

 at Niagara, where water power is used, electricity can be sold at a profit 

 for one-seventeenth of a penny per Board of Trade unit. At this rate 

 nitrate of soda would cost not more than 51. per ton. But the limit of 

 cost is not yet reached, and it must be remembered that the initial data 

 are derived from small scale experiments, in which the object was not 

 economy, but rather to demonstrate the practicability of the combustion 

 method, and to utilise it for isolating argon. Even now electric nitrate 

 at 51. a ton compares favourably with Chili nitrate at 71. 10s. a ton ; and 



