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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1042 



the way, and the more complex the prob- 

 lem the greater the dependence. In de- 

 vising new processes and in the discovery 

 of new and useful products, chemistry is 

 again the pathfinder. The community is 

 apt to overlook the extent and diversity of 

 the services rendered by the chemist, be- 

 cause of the quiet and unobtrusive way in 

 which the work is carried out. 



The measure of a country's apprecia- 

 tion of the value of chemistry in its ma- 

 terial development and the extent to which 

 it utilizes this science in its industries, gen- 

 erally measure quite accurately the indus- 

 trial progress and prosperity of that 

 country. In no other country in the world 

 has the value of chemistry to industry been 

 so thoroughly understood and appreciated 

 as in Germany, and in no other country 

 of similar size and natural endowment have 

 such remarkable advances in industrial de- 

 velopment been recorded, and this, too, 

 with steadily increasing economy in the 

 utilization of the natural resources. 



THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES OP GEBMANY 



The history of the great firm of Farb- 

 werke vorm. Meister Lucius und Briining 

 at Hochst a/M., Germany, serves as an 

 admirably typical record of the develop- 

 ment of German chemical industry. 



In 1862, two chemists and two mer- 

 chants organized a firm for the manufac- 

 ture of tar colors, and the plant was started 

 the following year with five workmen, one 

 clerk, and one chemist. One boiler of 3- 

 horse-power supplied the power. Fuchsin, 

 anilin blue, alkali blue, aldehyde green, 

 methyl violet, methyl green and malachite 

 green were the first products. In 1869, the 

 manufacture of alizarine was taken up. 

 In 1878, new buildings were erected for 

 the manufacture of azo-dyes, and two 

 years later the firm was formed into an 

 Actien-Gesellschaft. In 1883, the manu- 



facture of pharmaceutical preparations 

 were started with antipyrine; in 1892, 

 Koch's tuberculin and Behring's diph- 

 theria serum were prepared and marketed ; 

 and in 1898 the manufacture of synthetic 

 indigo was begun. The number of types 

 and colors manufactured twenty-five years 

 ago amounted to 1,750; in 1913, about 11,- 

 000 were manufactured. In 1888, the 

 steam engines had a total horse-power of 

 1840; in 1913, 30,000 horse-power were 

 required. In 1888, 1,860 workmen and 57 

 chemists were employed; in 1912, 7,680 

 workmen, 374 foremen, 307 chemists and 

 74 other technical men were on the pay- 

 roll. In 1912, 8.6 million marks were paid 

 in Avages and 5.2 million marks in salaries 

 and bonuses. 



Since Wallach began his investigation 

 of essential oils and terpenes in 1884, the 

 manufacture of perfumes in Germany has 

 grown continuously. In 1895, synthetic 

 nex'oli oil was prepared; in 1896, oils of 

 jasmine and hyacinth blossoms, and, in 

 1908, the essential oils of lily of the valley, 

 were synthesized. In the explosives indus- 

 try the chief efforts have been directed to 

 the manufacture of safe products. While 

 in 1890, 4,938 tons of dynamite were pro- 

 duced and only an insignificant quantity 

 of safety explosives, in 1909 the production 

 of safety explosives amounted to 10,000 

 tons as compared with 8,000 tons of dyna- 

 mite. The great development of the Ger- 

 man dyestuffs industry led to developments 

 in many other branches, especially in the 

 sulphuric acid, chlorine, tar-oils and nitric- 

 acid industries. The development of the 

 cyanide process for the extraction of gold 

 also led to the introduction of a new tech- 

 nical process of manufacturing synthetic 

 indigo, based on the use of sodium amide 

 in the alkali fusion of phenylglycin. In 

 1913, the selling value of the synthetic in- 

 digo on the world market amounted to 



