October 25, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



663 



laboratory was a drawiug ofl&ce, while the en- 

 gine-house and boiler rooms were close at hand. 

 Power, obtained from a 60-kilowatt Parsons 

 turbine, would be distributed electrically to 

 various parts of the laboratories ; this form of 

 engine was chosen for the express purpose of 

 avoiding vibration as far as possible. The nec- 

 essary tools were in order and in course of in- 

 stallation. The work which the committee 

 hoped to attack in the first instance was that 

 which had already been under the consideration 

 .of the Alloys Research Committee of the Me- 

 chanical Engineers. Apparatus for the photo- 

 micrographic examination of steel rails was be- 

 ing set up, and machines for testing the elastic 

 properties of alloys were in course of construc- 

 tion. Pressure gauges and steam indicators 

 would also be tested. The height of the build- 

 ing would not allow the mercury column, now 

 being erected, to measure more than 200 pounds 

 to the square inch, but apparatus was beiog 

 constructed for pressures in excess of that 

 amount. Considerable attention was to be 

 given to high temperature thermometry, the 

 testing of platinum thermometers, and the 

 measurement of electrical quantities. Before 

 the end of the year the committee hoped the 

 laboratory would be fully and usefully occupied. 

 Acknowledgment was made of the generosity of 

 Sir Andrew Noble, who had given an excellent 

 comparator, a dividing engine, and some meas- 

 uring apparatus of the highest class to the 

 laboratory. 



At the recent Glasgow meeting of the British 

 Association, Dr. A. G. Green read before the 

 chemical section a paper on the coal-tar in- 

 dustry. According to the report in the London 

 Times, he remarked that, owing to the numer- 

 ous ramifications of the coal-tar industry and 

 the manifold applications to which its products 

 were applied, it might be regarded as the pulse 

 of chemical industry as a whole. He had, 

 therefore, traced the relative progress in the 

 industry in England and Germany during the 

 last fifteen years. At the commencement of 

 that period England, although the originator 

 of the manufacture of analine dyes, was not 

 holding its own against Germany, but was, at 

 any rate, supplying Germany with the raw 

 material. Now, even that was not the case, 



for owing to the ample introduction of coke 

 ovens, in which the by-products were recovered, 

 Germany was producing coal-tar in plenty for 

 its own use, and in the other departments of 

 the industry the relative positions of the two 

 countries was still worse for us. The export 

 of coal-tar colors from Germany, exclusive of 

 alizarines, was 4,646 tons in 1885 and 17,639 

 tons in 1899. In 1894 the value of the total 

 exports of these colors amounted to £2,600,000, 

 and in 1898 to £3,500,000. The value of the 

 total chemical industry of Germany in 1897 

 was 46i millions of pounds ; at least a tenth of 

 this might be put down to coloring matters and 

 another tenth to other coal-tar products, mak- 

 ing the coal-tar industry in Germany of an 

 annual value of nine to ten million pounds. 

 This remarkable activity has caused vast sums 

 of money to be usefully invested and was giving 

 employment to increasing numbers of work- 

 people. The Badische-Anilin Fabrik in 1889 had 

 a capital of £900,000, which had now been in- 

 creased by £750,000, while the number of work- 

 people employed, 4,800 in 1896, had risen to 

 6,485 in 1900. The total capital of the six 

 largest coal-tar color firms in Germany 

 amounted to at least 2\ millions ; they em- 

 ployed about 500 chemists, 350 engineers and 

 technical men, 1,360 business managers, clerks, 

 and travelers, and over 1,800 work people. The 

 total capital invested in the coal-tar color trade 

 in England did not exceed £500,000, the total 

 number of chemists employed could not be 

 more than 30 or 40, and the number of work- 

 men engaged in this manufacture probably did 

 not amount to over 1,000. The exports of 

 coal-tar colors from England had fallen from 

 £530,000 in 1890 to £366,000 in 1900. The 

 imports, on the other hand, had steadily in- 

 creased from $509,000 in 1886 to £720,000 iu 

 1900. The colors used by the Bradford Dyers' 

 Association were 10 per cent, of English make, 

 80 per cent. German, 6 per cent. Swiss, and 4 

 per cent. French. It was an apathy toward 

 higher education and research that was the 

 cause of this decadence. Moreover, the en- 

 couragement given to chemical research work 

 by these great industries was enormous. Other 

 industries of Great Britain were also threatened. 

 The Germans were busy producing artificially 



