348 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LI. No. 1318 



work. No reversal of the survey's present de- 

 cline curve need be expected until adequate 

 provision is made for such opportunities. 



Eliot Bl4.ckwelder 

 Denvek, Colorado, 

 January 22, 1920 



THE AWARD OF THE NOBEL PRIZE TO 

 PROFESSOR HABER 



To THE Editor of Science : The statement of 

 the First Secretary of the Swedish legation 

 (published in the February 27 number of Sci- 

 ence, p. 207), relative to the award of the Nobel 

 Prize to Professor Haber, contains some erro- 

 neous conclusions and some half-truths which 

 should not be allowed to pass unchallenged. 

 While Professor Haber's perfection of the com- 

 mercial synthesis of ammonia amply warrants 

 the award of the prize to him, I would com- 

 ment upon the other numbered statements as 

 follows : 



2. The production of ammonia is only a 

 step, this product being oxidized to nitric acid 

 and nitrates by the Oswald process. While the 

 Haber process will ultimately be of great value 

 to the world at large, the patents, secrets, ex- 

 perience and profits were all Germany's (until 

 after the war). The first secretary omitted to 

 state that the Haber process made Germany 

 independent of Chile saltpeter (sodium ni- 

 trate), not only for agricultural purposes, but 

 also for the manufacture of chemicals, dyes, 

 and especially explosives. 



3. The address of Professor Bernthsen in 

 1912 before the eighth International Congress 

 of Applied Chemistry in New York, was notice 

 to the world at large that Germany could carry 

 on war even if the British fleet cut off the Chile 

 nitrate supply. While giving much general 

 information, Bernthsen did not disclose all of 

 the essential details necessary to the successful 

 manufacture of ammonia, and of nitrates from 

 ammonia. Therefore during the war when this 

 country wished to use the Haber process, it be- 

 eaane necessary for one of our large American 

 corporations to work out the details in connec- 

 tion with the War Nitrates Board. 



4. The statement that " the Haber plants in 

 Germany were erected with a view to produc- 



ing agricultural fertilizers " is a half-truth. 

 This naturally was an important object, for in 

 war as well as in peace the army and the na- 

 tion must be fed, and business go on ; but even 

 more vital to Germany's purposes was the fact 

 that ammonia meant nitrates, and nitrates 

 meant explosives necessary for the carefully 

 planned war, which so soon followed the per- 

 fection of the Haber process. 



5. Although the first secretary disclaims 

 knowledge of the manufacture of gas masks in 

 Sweden, it is probable that Germany got wood 

 or charcoal from Sweden for gas mask pur- 

 poses, just as she got iron ore. No criticism 

 attaches to Sweden for this, and her fear of 

 Russia and proximity to Germany across the 

 Baltic (a " German lake ") readily explain her 

 attitude toward her powerful neighbor. 



However the pro-German activities of cer- 

 tain Swedes and Swedish-Americans, and espe- 

 cially the abuse of Swedish diplomatic privil- 

 eges by such Germans as Count Luxberg, of 

 " spurlos versenkt " fame, have naturally cre- 

 ated among the Allied people an atmosphere of 

 suspicion against Sweden; so that, especially 

 since Professor HaJber is understood to be one 

 of those who advised and helped develop gas 

 warfare, it is easy to understand how many 

 believe that the award of the Nobel Prize to 

 him was, at this time, ill-advised and undiplo- 

 matic. 



Jerome Alexander 



EiDGEPiELD, Conn. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



A Handbook of Physics Measurements. By 

 Eevin S. Ferry in collaboration with O. W. 

 SiLVEY, G. W. Sherman, Jr., and D. C. Dun- 

 can. Vol. I. Fundamental Measurements, 

 Properties of Matter and Optics. Pp. ix -|- 

 251. $2.00. Vol. II. Vibratory Motion, 

 Sound, Heat, Electricity and Magnetism. 

 Pp. X + 233. $2.00. New York, John Wiley 

 & Sons, Inc. 1918. 



Manuals for use in the physical laboratory 

 have been designed from two quite distinct 

 points of view. On the one hand, an attempt 

 has been made to develop a series of experi- 

 ments that would serve to illustrate the gen- 



