March 26, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



323 



The cause, here as in Eussia, is the glorifica- 

 tion of " labor " — apparently synonymous with 

 cessation of labor, at any rate for a price pro- 

 portioned to its value. 



When a professor does not actually " quit 

 his jdh" the public supposes he is giving the 

 same service as formerly. In fact he may 

 be simply meeting his classes as before, some 

 ten or twenty hours in the week; the rest of 

 his active time, which should be spent in prep- 

 aration, study and research, is under present 

 conditions too often dissipated in chores of 

 house and garden, for which " help " is no 

 more to be had. In effect the professor has 

 " quit his job," for half time and in that 

 half is situated somewhat like Professor 

 Pavlov. 



The irony of it is that the professor is the 

 last man in the world to shirk his professional 

 work, which is also his pleasure; but the topsy- 

 turvy economics of the day are forcing many 

 to do so. 



A Member of the Exploited Classes 



QUOTATIONS 



NITROGEN FROM THE AIR AND THE BRITISH 

 GOVERNMENT 



The report of the Nitrogen Products Com- 

 mittee has at last been allowed to emerge from 

 the seclusion of the government pigeon-hole, in 

 which it has reposed, in type, for at least seven 

 months. It is a voluminous document of over 

 350 pages, containing the results of nearly 

 three years' work, largely voluntary, on the 

 part of a number of scientific men, who in 

 that i)eriod explored in great detail the statis- 

 tical and economic aspects of the nitrogen 

 problems and also supervised much experi- 

 mental research. The latter was devoted espe- 

 cially to the Haber process for the synthetic 

 manufacture of ammonia by the direct union 

 of its elements, nitrogen and hydrogen — a 

 process which, coupled with the oxidation of 

 the ammonia to nitric acid, undoubtedly en- 

 abled Germany, cut off from supplies of ni- 

 trate from Chile, to continue the war longer 

 than would otherwise have been possible. The 

 general principles of that process were fami- 

 liar enough in this country, but acquaintance 



with the technique of its operation was con- 

 fined to Germany. However, the committee 

 made such progress towards remedying this 

 deficiency that in their report they feel justi- 

 fied in recommending the immediate estab- 

 lishment of the process on a " commercial 

 unit " scale in this country and its extension 

 up to a minimum of 10,000 tons of ammonia 

 annually. 



For this purpose they suggest the utiliza- 

 tion of a factory at Billingham-on-Tees. The 

 Explosives Department of the Ministry of 

 Munitions decided to start this factory in a 

 hurry, and perhaps in advance of the tech- 

 nical knowledge available at the time, towards 

 the end of 1917; but their attitude towards 

 it was somewhat Laodicean, and it has not 

 been finished. Its completion would cost a 

 considerable sum, but the committee's view is 

 that, as a matter of national insurance, we 

 ought to be in a position to manufacture ni- 

 trates artificially in this country, since, from 

 the military aspect, we cannot afford the risk 

 of being dependent on saltpeter imported from 

 Chile for the nitrogen compounds which are 

 indispensable for modern high explosives. 

 Perhaps the best solution would be for private 

 enterprise to take over and equip the factory, 

 with some measure of government control and 

 interest; and the appearance a few weeks ago 

 of an advertisement inviting offers for it sug- 

 gests that this is the direction in which events 

 are moving. It is believed, indeed, that an 

 important group of firms is in negotiation 

 for the place. In this connection it must be 

 remembered that nitrates are as essential in 

 peace, for fertilizing purposes and the manu- 

 facture of mining explosives, as they are in 

 war. 



A cheap and abundant supply of electric 

 power being essential for the commercial suc- 

 cess of some of the processes of fixing atmos- 

 pheric nitrogen, the committee considered very 

 fully the question whether this condition can 

 be met in the United Kingdom. In particu- 

 lar, they investigated the possible advantages 

 of employing preliminary processes of carbon- 

 ization and gasification in connection with 

 large electric power stations, instead of firing 



