58 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
improvement in the purity of the ammonium nitrate supplied. The 
manufacture of amatol and the modes of filling it into shell occupied the 
attention of a large staff of chemists attached to the factories, and an 
increase in knowledge of its chemical and physical properties led to 
improved methods of handling it. 
The Service propellent cordite required for gelatinisation in the 
course of its manufacture the solvent acetone, of which the supply ran 
short when the programme for propellents began to exceed all previous 
calculations. To meet this situation, cordite of the existing type was 
retained for Naval Service, but for Land Service a modification was 
introduced under the name of cordite R.D.B. (Research Department 
powder ‘B’). This propellent could be made without any alteration in 
the plant required for the manufacture of cordite. Instead of acetone 
the solvent employed was ether-alcohol, and instead of guncotton a lower 
nitrate of cellulose was used. The great factory at Gretna, also built by 
Mr. Quinan, manufactured cordite R.D.B. exclusively, and this soon 
became the only propellent made in this country for the Land Service. 
It was produced both by Government and by private firms in enormous 
quantities. The alcohol was made in the country from grain, and ether 
was produced from it, so that dependence on sea-borne solvent was 
reduced. It was this need for alcohol that led to the restrictions imposed 
on that liquid when used as a beverage. 
Numerous problems arose in connection with these manufactures as 
they developed and-.in the application of the explosives in the various 
types of ammunition, and these necessitated the study of the explosives 
in all their aspects. A large addition to the knowledge already existing 
was thus acquired on the more theoretical side of the study of explosives, 
and much of this has been made available by publication. 
As the demand on our resources increased, and the necessity grew for 
investigating every source of supply and possible alternative, it came to 
pass that nearly every professor of chemistry in the country was mobilised 
for investigation in this field and in that of chemical warfare, and much 
valuable work was done by them, both of a research and inspectional 
nature. 
For the manufacture of explosives and the operation of filling them 
into munitions of various kinds in the existing factories and the new ones 
which sprang up, a large staff of chemists, amounting to about 1,000, 
was required, and in this way many chemists whose earlier work lay in 
quite other directions, such as at the universities or in teaching posts, 
received an insight into technology and took control of workmen. 
During the war itself, instructional work in this subject was not 
wanting, for current progress in the factories under his control was dis- 
cussed in a systematic manner by Mr. Quinan with representatives of his 
staff, a course which led to important improvements. Although most of 
these war-time plants for the manufacture of explosives have been 
dismantled, much of the technical experience gained has been saved, and 
will be found incorporated in a series of memoirs (Technical Records of 
Explosives Supply) published by H.M. Stationery Office. The information 
set forth in these volumes is in a form which has a much wider appeal than 
to the explosives technologist only, and their study is commended to those 
who take up the subject of chemical technology in any of its aspects. 
