J.\xu.vRY 17, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



67 



needs develoiJed by the expected spring offen- 

 sive of the Germans, it became necssarj to 

 divert to France a large tonnage of nitrate for 

 manufacture of explosives in that country and 

 for further increasing production of explosives 

 in this country for use in France. This im- 

 mediate need made it impossible for the De- 

 partment of Agriculture to secure boats suffi- 

 cient to bring in the full 109,000 tons so that 

 60,778 tons was actually imported in time for 

 use by the farmers for spring planting. 



Owing to military necessity, publicitj- could 

 not, of coujse, be given to the reason of the 

 non-arrival of the nitrate sold to the farmers, 

 and this inability to deliver was the cause of 

 considerable felling on the part of users of 

 nitrate of soda. The military necessity was 

 the greatest one and the planters who were 

 unable to get the nitrate were in this way con- 

 tributing to the supply of explosives in France, 

 which later led to the winning of the war. 



The nitrate of soda situation in the United 

 States up \mtil about the first of August was 

 a serious one, although every explosive and 

 chemical plant was kept supplied with suiB- 

 cient nitrate to maintain full operations at 

 all times. This was done by drawing from 

 government arsenal reserves and by transfer- 

 ring stocks from fertilizer manufacturers and 

 other holders to plants when stocks were about 

 exhausted. Owing to the shortage of nitrate, 

 it was deemed wise to ask the importer to dis- 

 continue sales of nitrate to fertilizer manu- 

 factiu-ers other than for the making of sul- 

 phuric acid.'and after the first of July all con- 

 signments of nitrate arriving in the countrj- 

 sold to such manufacturers were comman- 

 deered by the Ordnance Department and 

 turned over to munitions and chemical manu- 

 facturers. These contracts thus handled were 

 made between the importers and the fertilizer 

 people in the fall of 1917. 



Immediately on the signing of the armis- 

 tice, all restrictions were taken off of the im- 

 porters as far as sales of nitrate to fertilizer 

 manufacturers and agricultural users was con- 

 cerned, so that there will be no difficulty in 

 supplying the entire needs of the United 

 States for agricultural use for spring jilanting. 



Xitrate of soda is the fomidation of smoke- 

 less powder and high explosives as well as for 

 other needed chemicals, and the purchase and 

 imix>rtation of nitrate are conducted by gov- 

 ernment through the War Industries Board 

 in cooperation with the importers formerly 

 handling this material, the importers buying 

 in Chile as in times past. The government 

 received their nitrate through the importers 

 at cost and the profit charged by the imiwrters 

 to private users was controlled by the govern- 

 ment sa that uniform cost to all users was 

 secured, this cost being based on the average 

 monthly cost in Chile, plus the freight storage, 

 exchange, and other elements of cost. 



A committee Imown as the Nitrate Com- 

 mittee of the United States was established 

 with offices in New York and a New York 

 representative of the Wai" Industries Board 

 represented that board in the offices of this 

 committee. Government needs for nitrate 

 were increasing rapidly and the 1919 require- 

 ments would have been very large. During 

 the entire period of the war all needed nitrate 

 was secured and there was no let up in the 

 manufacture of war materials depending upon 

 this article. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Professor Wall.'vce Clement S.^bine, pro- 

 fessor of physics at Harvard University and 

 formerly dean of the LawTence Scientific 

 School, died on January 10, aged fifty-one 

 years. 



Dr. Simon Flksner, director of the Labora- 

 tories of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical 

 Research, has been elected a corresponding 

 member of the Societe des Hopitaux de 

 Paris, and has had the title of Officier de Le- 

 gion d'Honneur conferred upon him by the 

 French government. 



The American Ph.ytological Society at its 

 tenth annual meeting, held in Baltimore, De- 

 cember 23-28, elected the follo^ving officers: 

 President, C. L. Shear, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture; Vice-president, I. E. Melhus, 

 Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa; Secretary- 

 Treasurer, Geo. R. Lyman, L^. S. Department 



