PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 385 



atmospliere of a living room is so rapidly absorbed by the ceiling that its 

 harmful effects are nullified. 



As the outcome largely of the work of the Joint Committee appointed in 

 1907 by the Institution of Gas Engineers and the University of Leeds, of which 

 I was a member, to investigate gas-fire problems, the manufacturers of these 

 appliances have paid much more attention than formerly to the scientific aspects 

 of construction so far as to ensure the best combination of radiant and ventilat- 

 ing effects, and nearly all the larger firms have now their scientific staffs busily 

 employed in making further advances. Prominent among the pioneers in 

 scientific gas fire construction has been Mr. H. James Yates, who will to-morrow 

 enlighten you as to some of the most recent improvements. I can, however, 

 from personal knowledge, testify to the enterprise shown by most of the leading 

 manufacturers, and that their combined efforts have resulted in a very efficient 

 and perfectly hygienic domestic gas-fire. A Committee appointed by the Institu- 

 tion of Gas Engineers, upon which scientific men are largely represented, is 

 now considering the adoption of a standard method of testing the radiant effi- 

 ciencies of gas-fires, so that no one can say that the gas industry is not 

 making every effort to put its affairs upon a thoroughly scientific basis. 



Passing on to the metallurgical and allied industries, who, of course, are 

 large consumers of fuel, there is much here to be done in improving the 

 construction and operation of furnaces in order to check the waste of fuel, but 

 of these details there is no time to treat, and one instance of the possi- 

 bilities of vei-y large economies as the result of scientific control must suffice. 

 It is, perhaps, common knowledge that the most economical arrangement of 

 plant for the manufacture of iron and steel is one in which the by-product 

 coke-ovens, blast-furnaces, steel-furnaces, and rolling-mills are brought together 

 on one site and under one organising direction, so that the surplus gases from 

 the coke-ovens and blast-furnaces may be utilised to the fullest extent. My 

 relative, Mr. T. C. Hutchinson, of the Skinningrove Iron Co., who has devoted 

 many years of anxious thought and practical study to this important problem, 

 ventured some few years ago to predict that with the most approved type and 

 arrangement of plant working imder strict scientific control by competent 

 chemists it would soon be possible to make finished steel rails or girders from 

 Cleveland ironstone with no further consumption of coal than is charged into the 

 by-product coke-ovens for the production of the coke required for the blast- 

 furnace, and all subsequent e.xperience at Skinningrove has fully demonstrated 

 that his prophecy can be fulfilled in everyday practice. Of course, it means a 

 constant watchful control by a well-paid and competent scientific staff under 

 efficient leadership, arid in Mr. E. Bury, an old Owens College student, trained 

 in an atmosphere of 'gas and combustion,' we have .ound the very man for 

 the work. 



It is, perhaps, unnecessary, even had time permitted, for me to multiply 

 instances of possible economies in other important directions, such, for instance, 

 as power-production and the heating of domestic apartments. There is probably 

 no direction in which equally good results would not accrue with proper scientific 

 application and control as those already cited as having been reached or realis- 

 able in the direction of carbonisation, or in the iron and steel industry. To- 

 morrow we are to discuss the important subject of Smoke Prevention, in which 

 many Manchester public men are showing an active interest, so that there will 

 be further opportunity of referring to the matter again. 



But may I, in conclusion, appeal in all seriousness to chemists and scientific 

 men generally to take up this important matter effectively as a public duty at 

 this crisis in the country's affairs ? I would suggest that the Government be 

 memorialised with a view to the establishment of a central organisation for the 

 supervision of fuel-consumption and the utilisation of coal somewhat on the lines 

 of the existing alkali works inspection which has been so beneficial to chemical 

 industry. And in connection with such an organisation there might be under- 

 taken a much-needed systematic chemical survey of British coal-fields, as well 

 as experimental trial of new inventions for fuel economies. There would cer- 

 tainly be no lack of important work of such a properly organised Department of 

 the State, and there can be no doubt at all that the results of its activities 

 would be, not only a very large direct saving in our colossal annual coal-bill, but 

 also a purer atmosphere and healthier conditions generally in all our large 

 industrial areas. 



1915. c c 



