9 ee 
ak 
ae Bee Ae not deserve a sintlae ey and have “not 
countries with regard to the organisation of their trade. - 
acetate could not be made SO. far. The reason was obvious, bens 
As to the manufacture of synthetics in France,~ only benzalicns 
ought to free itself from its depeudeneet on Germany, for the danger of Hee the. 4 
‘lecturer gives some instances’). According to Dupont, the raw material (coal tar) and @ 
the water power available are sufficient, nor are knowledge and money lacking. © oe, 
would only be required to work hard and to persist, paying attention not alone to the ys 
products which bring great profits but also to the less remunerative ones. Be 
He then discusses the question concerning workmen and chemists and comes to 3 
the conclusion that the careful, intelligent and clever French workman adapts himself > 
x 
“4 
res 
marvellously well to such a sensitive industry and that ‘it is astonishing with what — 
ease he carries out the most delicate operations of organic chemistry. If they were — 
only given the necessary theoretic knowledge, through special courses of lectures in — 
the factories themselves, they could even be made into the badly wanted higher grade — 
employees. Chemists were supplied by the Ecole de Physique et de Chimie industrielles — 
of Paris, the Institutes for Applied Chemistry of Paris and Nancy, as well as by the. 
Lille, Lyons, Rouen and Toulouse schools, so that inthis respect France would not — 
13 
- 
be behindhand at all. ss r 
However, as regards the outfit of the factories for making laboratory and other ~ 
apparatus from lead, aluminium, porcelain, enamelled iron, &c., suction- and vacuum- 4 
pumps as. well as filtering presses, France would still have to work very hard, a ; 
satisfactory result being obtainable only by a close collaboration of the builders of , 
such apparatus with the manufacturers whom they are to supply. ont *: 
As other important questions he mentions the customs and the patents lay and 3 
the alcohol question. 5 
Dupont thinks that it is not correct to attribute the comparatively low level of the | 
French industry, as is sometimes done, to the disadvantages connected with the fiscal e 
laws concerning the use of alcohol in certain branches of manufacture. He distinguishes 
between two kinds of use of alcohol; viz., in reactions and as a medium for crystal- 7 
lization. In the former case, the French manufacturers would not be handicapped in 
comparison with their foreign competitors, apart from the high price of the alcohol, — 
whereas the matter would be different in the latter. Alcohol is the only suitable 4 
medium for crystallizing heliotropin, coumarin and artificial musk, and the French. E 
authorities had permanently refused to take the view / of those in Somes and 
1) He mentions the want of raw materials, especially benzyl chloride, cresoles, potash él IT 
through which several French works are crippled at present. sf 
