598 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1172 



J. d'agr. trop. 



J. des. fabr. suore. 



J. physique. 



J. sci. math. phys. nat. 



Radium. 



Mon. ceram. verr. 



Mon. teint. 



Nord Brass. 



Papier. 



Petit brasseur. 



Eev. chim. appl. 



Eev. chim. ind. 



Eev. electrochim. 



Eev. viticulture. 



Eev. gen. mat. color. 



Sucrerie Ind. colon. 



Thirty-one journals. 

 Austrian: 



Oesterr. Z. Berg. Hiittenw. 



One journal. 

 Belgian : 



Bull. acad. roy. mad. belg. 

 Bull. sci. acad. roy. belg. 

 Bull. soc. chim. belg. 

 J. pharm. soc. d'anvers. 

 Eev. intern, pharm. 

 Sucrerie Belg. 

 Chimiste. 



Seven journals. 



The cost of publication of Chemical Ab- 

 stracts has been increased by about 10 per 

 cent, as a result of the war. This is chiefly 

 due to the increased cost of paper. The 

 same percentage increase will enter into 

 the cost of the Decennial Index to Chem- 

 ical Abstracts, which is about to be issued 

 by the American Chemical Society at a 

 cost of over $30,000. 



Need we go further for evidence of the 

 ill effects of war upon science? Certainly 

 it tabes little insight to see that this stop- 

 page or at least side-tracking of the wheels 

 of chemical research will be felt in this sci- 

 ence for years to come. 



war's relation to applied chemistry 

 In considering the applied side of chem- 

 istry let us remember that war is essentially 

 engineering. Its object is to overcome nat- 

 ural and artificial obstacles. It must there- 



fore get results which are deliberately se- 

 lected at the will of those directing the 

 war. It insists, therefore, that every one 

 and everything must produce. Its main 

 agents are engineering and applied chem- 

 istry, the engineering, because it struggles 

 with the problems of space and time and 

 material for tools and weapons, and ap- 

 plied chemistry, because it is a necessary 

 handmaiden to efiScient engineering, and in 

 addition furnishes the source and vehicle 

 for convenient and effective handling of 

 energy in the most concentrated forms. 

 The chemical energy of the modern high ex- 

 plosive is the strong right arm of the 

 fighting force and without it armies are 

 but chaff. With British control of the seas, 

 German armies with all their numbers, 

 thorough equipment and splendid military 

 power, would have been impotent in a few 

 weeks or months without the chemical abil- 

 ity to get nitric acid from atmospheric ni- 

 trogen instead of Chilean nitrate, for with- 

 out nitric acid high explosives and even 

 smokeless powder are impossible. 



The time at our disposal is too brief to 

 touch on all the divisions of applied chem- 

 istry. Much progress, for instance, has 

 been made in the domain of the special 

 branch called engineering chemistry which 

 involves among other things, the chemical 

 investigation of materials for alloys, shrap- 

 nel, aeroplanes, submarines and other war 

 supplies. It would be unwise, now that we 

 have become involved in the war, to deal 

 publicly with some of the improvements in 

 this field, for they are vital as well as inter- 

 esting. Some of us have followed the pol- 

 icy during the last three years of not even 

 discussing with our colleagues or students 

 such innovations of military importance in 

 this and the allied countries as have come 

 to our attention, which might by any means 

 percolate into Germany. The branch of 

 applied chemistry known as metallurgy in 

 which this country is perhaps the most 



