SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 366. 



long in any simpler branch of chemical 

 manufacture. Skill trained for attacking 

 the difficult problems of organic chemistry 

 is certain, sooner or later, to be brought to 

 bear on the simpler problems, and to result 

 in improvements along the whole line of 

 chemical industry, resulting in better prod- 

 ucts and cheaper production. This is well 

 exemplified in the recent revolution in the 

 manufacture of sulfuric acid. The man- 

 ufacture of alizarin colors and artificial in- 

 digo has made a strong demand for cheap 

 sulfur trioxid. With the object of satis- 

 fying their own requirements in this re- 

 spect, the Badische Anilin and Soda Works 

 of Ludwigshafen devoted much time and 

 research to improving the catalytic process 

 of Winkler. This endeavor was attended 

 with such success that by means of the 

 process and plant which they finally evolved 

 they were enabled to produce sulfur tri- 

 oxid so cheaply that it could not only be 

 used for a large variety of purposes, but, by 

 combination with water, afforded a profit- 

 able source of sulfuric acid. This new 

 method of manufacturing sulfuric acid is, 

 for concentrated acid at least, cheaper than 

 the chamber process, and since the product 

 is absolutely free from arsenic and can be 

 produced at any desired concentration, it 

 seems likely to supplant eventually the 

 time-honored method of manufacture. 



Besides exerting a stimulating influence 

 upon the inorganic chemical manufactures, 

 the coal-tar industry has given birth during 

 recent years to several important daughter 

 industries. The manufacture of synthetic 

 medicinal agents, artificial perfumes, 

 sweetening materials, antitoxins, nutri- 

 tives and photographic developers, are all 

 outgrowths of the coal-tar industry, and in 

 great part still remain attached to the 

 color works where they originated. The 

 requirements of the coal-tar industry have 

 further led to great advances in the design 

 and production of chemical plants, such as 



filter-presses, autoclaves, fractionating 

 columns, vacuum-pumps and stills, suc- 

 tion-filters, enameled iron, aluminum and 

 stoneware vessels, etc., for the supply of 

 which extensive works have become neces- 

 sary. 



Lord Beaconsfield said that the chemical 

 trade of a country is a barometer of its 

 prospei'ity, and it has always been regarded 

 as a most important branch of English 

 manufactures. Even those who might be 

 inclined to regard our declining position in 

 the color industry with more or less indif- 

 ference would consider the loss of a mate- 

 rial portion of our general chemical trade 

 as nothing less than a national calamity. 

 The two are, however, indissolubly con- 

 nected. 



It is with the object of ascertaining our 

 present and future prospects in the chem- 

 ical trade of the world that I propose to 

 compare the relative development of the 

 color industry in England and Germany 

 during the past fifteen years. In 1886, in 

 a paper read before the Society of Arts, 

 Professor Mendola gave a masterly account 

 of the position of the industry in this coun- 

 try at that date, and sounded a Avarning 

 note to our manufacturers and business 

 men regarding its future progress. These 

 warnings, repeatedly given, have remained 

 largely unheeded, and if the conclusions 

 now forced upon us are unfortunately not 

 of a reassuring nature for our national 

 trade, it is well to remember that nothing 

 is gained by burying our heads in the sand. 



In no' other industry have such extraor- 

 dinarily rapid changes and gigantic de- 

 velopments taken place in so short a period 

 —developments in which the scientific 

 elucidation of abstract problems has gone 

 hand in hand with inventive capacity, 

 manufacturing skill, and commercial enter- 

 prise; in no other industry has the close 

 and intimate interrelation of science and 

 practice been more clearly demonstrated. 



