ae ————=— 
5 ok ae 
f 
B.— CHEMISTRY. 59 
In addition, factories for the production of substances not in them- 
selves explosive equally required the services of chemists, and many were 
employed in the production of such substances as methyl alcohol, acetone, 
and acetic acid. 
Instruction in chemistry is provided by the Fighting Services for 
Naval and Marine cadets at Dartmouth, and for Army cadets at the Royal 
Military Academy and the Royal Military College, Camberley. For 
selected officers, both of these Services have a professorial staff for 
providing systematic courses in theoretical and practical chemistry, with 
special reference to Service applications, at the Royal Naval College, 
Greenwich, and at the Artillery (formerly the Ordnance) College, Woolwich. 
Defence—Chemical Warfare. 
While our well-developed position of the great inorganic chemical 
manufactures was a source of strength when the demand came 
during the war for an enormous production of ammonium nitrate, for 
example, our neglect to foster a great organic chemical industry led to 
dangerous delays and improvisations. This was apparent from the 
beginning when several universities had to co-operate to produce a 
sufficient supply of local anesthetics, and when presently our lack of 
dyes, photographic developers and sensitisers revealed our former 
dependence on foreign supplies. In November 1914 the Royal Society 
had set up a Committee to assist the Government, and this became an 
Advisory Committee.when, after May of the following year, the gas attack 
caused the British Government, which up till then had scrupulously 
refrained from its use, to retaliate with that weapon. Special companies 
were created of chemists whose work often had little of a chemical aspect, 
but many of these men, in twelve to eighteen months, had to be withdrawn 
for research and control of plant. Chemical advisers were appointed to 
the armies and for liaison purposes, a central laboratory for rapid 
identification was established in France, and co-operation was effected 
with the physiologists. At home assistance was afforded to chemical 
contractors, and the manufacture of respirators to meet needs rapidly 
becoming more complex was carried out with great vigour and efficiency. 
The increasing importance of gas warfare led to a proving ground at 
Porton being acquired, when the research which had been carried out at the 
Imperial College at South Kensington became centralised there. As the 
final proof of explosive projectiles is carried out at Shoeburyness, it was 
now possible on this new proving ground to settle questions relating to 
the filling and correct performance of chemical shell, thus enabling the 
Chemical Warfare Designs Committee to recommend ammunition to meet 
the needs of a situation which was continually developing, until the 
proportion of chemical shell compared with high-explosive shell was 
finally a large one. 
In the ramifications of this work all the chemical skill in the universities 
not already applied to explosives was mobilised, since the demand for new 
designs involved the manufacture of new substances for shell, bombs, and 
grenades, new smoke and incendiary compositions, and continuous research 
and experimental work both on the offensive and defensive sides. 
