THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 11 



remarkable as those possessing a more physical basis. The chemical 

 industries are so many and various that even a brief summary is beyond 

 me ; yet the whole of them are of comparatively recent origin. Quanti- 

 tative chemistry is little more than a century old. And the more modern 

 and more vigorous of the chemical industries depend on very recent 

 chemical research, as, for example, those which deal with dyes, explosives, 

 fertilisers, rubber, artificial silk and many other things. It is the same 

 story : the craft is based on science, and in this case very obviously so. 

 Chemical industries are based on scientific discovery, and lean on it the 

 whole time. 



It is natural to compare the condition of the newer industries with the 

 older industries known as basic because they have long constituted by 

 far the major portion of the country's industrial effort and are still pre- 

 eminent : coal and steel, cotton and wool. In some of these industries 

 there is serious depression. What has the fact to do with science and 

 scientific research ? 



It is obvious that we cannot say of any industry or craft that its 

 condition depends only on scientific knowledge and imagination. The 

 difl&culties of the coal trade are due in large part to the powerful cause of 

 competition. We had a good start in the knowledge of the existence of 

 our coal deposits and in the practice of working them, in the means of 

 distributing coal and in methods of making use of it. We reaped our 

 harvest. But as time went on other nations gathered way in pursuit of 

 us ; they also found coal deposits, they learnt how to work them and could 

 even improve on our practice because they could profit by our mistakes 

 to a greater extent than we ourselves. They had not so much old 

 machinery to scrap. Means of transit were developed in these countries ; 

 in fact we helped to develop them, as also the industries that used the 

 coal. Such conditions must inevitably have tended to diminish our lead. 

 The war acted suddenly and violently in the same direction. It is reason- 

 able, though deplorable, that the industry should find itself in diflSculties. 

 The situation is not wholly irremediable, though the older conditions can 

 never completely return. But at least a partial retrievement is possible, 

 and we know that various research organisations, some instituted by the 

 State and some due to private enterprise, are grappling with the question 

 involved. It is deeply interesting to see in what way the necessary efforts 

 are being made, and indeed must be made. 



Now, whatever is done, and in whatever way it is done, the results 

 of such endeavour, whether related to the coal or to any other industry, 



