366 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1294 



scientific court of appeal and advice for all ques- 

 tions involving the physical properties of matter, 

 the strength and quality of materials, gauges and 

 standards. During the war it rendered invaluable 

 service. In the financial year ending in March, 

 1918, the Ministry of Munitions alone paid it 

 £42,000 for work done, and when it is remembered 

 that the expenditure was not on manufacture, but 

 merely on examining and testing, some measure of 

 its service may be gained. Until last year the 

 Eoyal Society was the governing body of the lab- 

 oratory, and conducted its affairs with the assist- 

 ance of a general board of thirty-six members, of 

 whom twelve were nominees of industrial and com- 

 mercial institutions. It was an almost ideal com- 

 bination of science and industry, and Sir Richard 

 Glazebrook gained the respect and admiration of 

 his theoretical and practical masters. But the 

 financial responsibility was heavy and increasing, 

 and from April 1, 1918, the Department of Scien- 

 tific and Industrial Research took over the burden. 

 Fortunately under the new arrangement the de- 

 partment assumes only the control necessary for 

 an accounting authority. Sir Richard will hand 

 over to his distinguished successor. Professor 

 Petavel, not only an institution of great and grow- 

 ing usefulness, but a tradition of harmonious co- 

 operation between science and industry. He has 

 provided the new Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research with a working organization 

 sufficient to justify their existence, and with a 

 model on which we may suppose that their most 

 successful creations, the Industrial Research Coun- 

 cils, have been formed. 



THE DYE INDUSTRIES 



During the course of its sessions at Phila- 

 delphia the Dye Section of the American 

 Chemical Society, unanimously passed the fol- 

 lowing resolutions: 



"Whereas, The manufacture of dyes from coal 

 tar distillates involves the same general processes 

 and materials used in the manufacture of explo- 

 sive and poison gases for military use, 



Sesolved, That the question of the importation 

 of dyes and of intermediates from which they may 

 be made is a military question, 



Besolved, That the importation of such dyes, the 

 bases from which dyes are made or the intermedi- 

 ate products produced in the manufacture of such 

 dyes is a menace to the possible future defense of 

 our country, for the reason that such importations 

 foster and support in foreign countries which 



would furnish an enemy with essential munitions 

 of war. 



Resolved, That insofar as dyes or intermediates 

 or coal tar distillates are allowed to be imported 

 in time of peace, such importations prevent or dis- 

 courage the establishment, development and main- 

 tenance of an industry that is essential to national 

 defense in time of war, 



Besolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sub- 

 mitted at once to the advisory committee of the 

 American Chemical Society for such action as in 

 its judgment the circumstances merit, with the 

 suggestion that copies be sent to the President of 

 the United States and the chairman of appropri- 

 ate committees of the Congress. 



Whekeas, The American armies were factors in 

 the victorious completion of the Great War vs. 

 Germany, and 



Whereas, The allied governments are placing 

 corps of skilled chemists to oversee operations in 

 the dyestuff plants in the occupied areas of Ger- 

 many, and 



Whereas, The American dyestuff industry is 

 very much in need of any information that can be 

 obtained to assist the development of this indus- 

 try, 



Now, therefore, be it resolved. That it should be 

 brought to the attention of the President of the 

 United States and an urgent request made that we 

 have our share in the operating control of these 

 factories and that we should have qualified repre- 

 sentatives stationed there, the information gained 

 to be used for the benefit of American industry. 



Be it further resolved. That this tentative reso- 

 lution be submitted at once to the Committee on 

 National Policy of the American Chemical Society 

 for such action as they think the circumstances 

 merit. 



Whereas, We find at the head of the laundry 

 list of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel the following 

 notice : ' ' Owing to dyes now being used, we wU! 

 not assume any responsibility in the laundering of 

 guests' apparel," and 



Whereas, We find the similar lack of confidence 

 in American dyes expressed by the department 

 stores. 



Now, therefore, ie it resolved, That the Dye 

 Section views with great disapproval the expres- 

 sion of any such misleading statements as to the 

 quality of the American dyes, 



Resolved, That this tentative resolution be sub- 

 mitted at once to the Committee on National Pol- 



