*8 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
from the Development Fund of the Act of 1909, it was possible to make 
increased grants owing to the money received under the Corn Production 
Acts (Repeal) Act, 1921. The special fund enabled grants to be made for 
additional research, as, for example, the extension of the advisory scheme 
in connection with agricultural research, the provision of scholarships for 
children of agricultural workers, and the endowment of a Chair in Animal 
Pathology at Cambridge. In order to prevent overlapping and to secure 
co-ordination, the Development Commissioners are working in consultation 
with the Medical Research Council and the Department of Scientific and 
Industrial Research. 
It may be said that the greater part of the work on agricultural chemis- 
try since the war has been of a fundamental nature, the results of which 
have not yet become capable of translation into agricultural practice, 
although they may be expected to exert ultimately a powerful influence 
on farming. 
Other Activities. 
In addition to the activities that have been grouped under the respec- 
tive headings, there are many others bearing on State problems which 
have occupied the attention of chemists. 
Thus, expeditions, such as that of the Challenger, have been fruitful in 
results of chemical work. The investigations of Dittmar on the composi- 
tion of sea-water and of Murray on mineral phosphates may be recalled 
in this connection. 
For data on the chemical composition of rocks the Geological Survey 
is indebted to the work of Percy, Dick, and Pollard, and for work on the 
formation of igneous rocks to Teale, Harker, and Flett. The remarkable 
experiments of Sir John Hall on rock-formation at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century have been described in a recent British Association 
address. On several occasions the choice of building-stone, especially for 
the Houses of Parliament, has been before groups of geologists and chemists, 
especially with respect to the action of atmospheric impurities, and although 
the causes of decay are fairly clear, its arrest still forms a difficult problem. 
The difficulties in selecting colours sufficiently fugitive to prevent the 
removal of obliteration marks from postage and fiscal stamps were to a 
large extent solved by the activities of Warren de la Rue. 
Investigations on such matters as the above for various Departments 
of State form part of the work of the Government Laboratory, which in 
addition, during the war, had to advise concerning the conservation of 
materials, the control of imports and exports by the War Trade Depart- 
ment, and on the nature of contraband goods. 
Organised Applied Research. 
In the middle of 1915, at a time when our shortage of many essential 
materials brought out the need for the application of more scientific 
methods to our industries, if we were to succeed in competition with other 
countries after the war, the Department of Scientific and Industrial 
Research was founded. It set out to assist firms in an industry to co- 
operate with one another and employ a staff of scientific men to solve 
their problems and develop their industry, to assist other Government 
Departments desirous of having investigations carried out, to organise 
