562 . 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 484. 



great as our. agricultural products, it is 

 plain to see the vast importance of the 

 work of the chemist, and especially the 

 technical chemist, in the successful oper- 

 ating, maintenance and improvement of 

 our manufacturing industries. 



It will be inferred from this statement 

 that the number of chemists engaged in 

 active work in this country has greatly in- 

 creased. It is a fact that in the last thirty 

 years they have increased in a proportion 

 far beyond that of the increase in the value 

 of manufactured products. It is interest- 

 ing to note also that their importance is 

 more and more recognized. Twenty years 

 ago there were many establishments turn- 

 ing out manufactured products where no 

 chemists were employed; these firms have 

 since engaged chemists, with the result that 

 a marked saving in the costs and improve- 

 ment in the quality of the goods produced 

 has been effected. 



We are still very backward in this coun- 

 try in the employment of chemists when we 

 compare our position with that of Ger- 

 many, especially in the chemical industry 

 itself. It is not uncommon in Germany 

 for one concern (as in the Badische Anilin 

 und Soda Fabrik) to employ over 400 

 chemists. We find in Germany that the 

 highly educated technical chemists have 

 done remarkable work in improving the 

 chemical industrial condition of that coun- 

 try, placing it far ahead of all nations in 

 many branches, such as the great coal tar 

 color industry. 



In the industrial strife which has been 

 waging for some time between Germany 

 and England, the former has gained on 

 account of the fact that technical education 

 is more widely diffused in Germany than in 

 England. As an instance of this I quote an 

 extract from the Spectator of December 5, 

 190.3, being a reprint of a speech by Mr. 

 Haldane before the Liberal League, where- 

 in he explains that the industries of Eng- 



land have declined, not because the goods 

 manufactured are kept out of foreign mar- 

 kets by protective duties, but because the 

 goods themselves are inferior to those pro- 

 duced in foreign countries: 



"The German manufacturers make a 

 finer quality of cellulose than the English 

 manufacturers. We have not yet suc- 

 ceeded in making it so white as they do, 

 and for many of the uses to which cellu- 

 loid is now put, whiteness is an essential 

 quality. How did the German manufac- 

 turers set about obtaining this whiteness? 

 ' Twelve of them, ' says Mr. Haldane, ' com- 

 bined together and put down £100,000, pro- 

 viding besides £12,000 a year, and in one 

 of the suburbs of Berlin, near the great 

 university, founded an institution which 

 we have nothing like in this country. They 

 had the most distinguished profes.sor of 

 chemistry they could get from the Univer- 

 sity of Berlin at the head of it ; they gave 

 him a large salary; they employed under 

 him the best highly technically trained as- 

 sistants that the university and the tech- 

 nical schools of Berlin could produce. * * * 

 Whenever they had a problem, whenever 

 they found that the British manufacturer 

 was making his celluloid a little whiter, 

 they said to their experts, 'Will you show 

 us how to make ours whiter still?' The 

 investigators were set to Avork and we were 

 beaten nearly out of the field." 



In this country there are numerous ex- 

 amples where the technical chemists have 

 immensely improved manufacturing condi- 

 tions either by lowering costs or by pro- 

 ducing a higher quality of product. There 

 is still much room for improvement, and I 

 venture to say there is hardly a plant in 

 the country turning out products requiring 

 chemical skill where marked improvements 

 could not be made by the very best work 

 of technical chemists, in effecting changes 

 that would reduce the cost of labor and 



