56 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
that when the demand came for enormously increased quantities of pro- 
pellents, new factories, such as that of Gretna, took up the manufacture 
on lines already well established. 
Safety in manufacture had also been closely studied, and precautions 
introduced that commended themselves to private firms. It may be said 
in this connection that the application of the Explosives Act of 1875 by 
the Home Office Inspectors of Explosives has been of much benefit to the 
explosives trade in reducing casualties. Perhaps in no other country are 
precautions taken to such an extent as in Great Britain, so that to visitors 
from abroad they sometimes appear unnecessary and vexatious, but 
experience has shown that the policy is sound, especially as it brings into 
all sections of the work an atmosphere of carefulness and responsibility, 
with an eventual gain in health of the workmen and freedom from accidents. 
Research on explosives before the war was carried out at the Royal 
Gunpowder Factory and at the Research Department, Woolwich. At 
the former establishment, the chemistry of the products manufactured 
was investigated, especially with regard to the mode of decomposition of 
guncotton, of nitroglycerine, and of cordite; their respective rates of 
decomposition at different temperatures were determined, a subject 
bearing on their behaviour on storage. Knowledge of this kind is essential 
in a Service such as ours, on account of the extremes of temperature from 
tropical to frigid to which explosives may be subjected in stations through- 
out the Empire. 
At Woolwich an experimental establishment had been set up on the 
instigation of Lord Haldane to deal with explosives and metals used in 
gunnery. Here the study of the chemical and explosive properties of 
all types of explosives was undertaken and methods were developed for 
determining their stability and sensitiveness. This knowledge found 
application in laying down criteria for the choice of explosives for use in 
a Service whose demands are exigent on account of the drastic conditions 
above mentioned, affecting both storage and the design of mechanism 
containing explosives. So far as the subject-matter is not considered to be 
confidential, this work has been published in scientific journals, so that it 
is available in connection with the study of the theory of explosive 
substances. 
A new phase was entered with the declaration of war, and ultimately 
all chemical help was mobilised for the defence of the realm. A nucleus 
existed at Woolwich, where the small staff of eleven chemists had been 
occupied in the study of explosives and their application. In two directions 
this experience proved of importance, for it enabled immediate answers 
to be given to questions which would otherwise have necessitated pro- 
tracted storage trials, and it afforded the staff the training necessary to 
qualify them to meet the fresh demands that became urgent on the 
outbreak of hostilities. 
After the beginning of the war the increase of work imperatively 
called for a larger staff, and more chemists were appointed, until at the 
beginning of 1917, the home supply being exhausted, permission was 
obtained to withdraw from France members of the Special Brigade, R.E., 
of whom more than thirty were transferred to the Department. Finally, 
the chemical staff numbered 107 chemists and physicists distributed in an 
organisation which had been gradually evolved, comprising sections for 
