BN oe go idee conta 78 7.085 ae in Sah eee Pee tec ik, 
» 
YS CIENTIFIC RESEARCH, cae 85 
: ‘French Raacecrnes 4 were- hand{capped in the: export ie their goods, as their foreign 
BE cempctitors did not have to pay such duties. The French perfumers must therefore 
4 ‘pay coumarin, heliotropin, terpineol and vanillin much higher than their foreign com- 
__ petitors. It was easy to understand that the French industrials would like to find a 
practical way how to BiScnareS the alcohol used for crystallization of taxes for con- i 
- sumption. 
-~«~-‘The duties on imported raw materials were moderate, Pay speaking, and 
_ some of these were altogether free from them, such as the direct derivatives of coal 
_ tar and some essential oils. 
Regarding the manufacture of terpineol from oil of turpentine, the French industrials 
were under a disadvantage, owing to the duty on the latter. 
=~ Oil of cloves, an important raw material for the industry of the aromatics, had 
not been made in France so far, although facilities had been granted by the authorities, 
_ the distillers not having to pay the high duty on cloves, if they deliver 15 kos. of the 
oil for every 100 kos. of cloves (the oil pays a duty of */2 Franc per ko., if consumed 
in the country, whereas it may be exported free of charge). In Gena England and 
Holland, however, the distillation of cloves was flourishing. 
The production of essential oils in France is, a well-known fact, localized at 
Grasse, which is without any competition, as far as the flowers growing there were 
; pocahed: whereas it is not so well placed as England and Germany with regard 
to the distillation of foreign produce. The fuel question alone would be sufficient as 
_an explanation, the costs of conveyence from Marseilles to Grasse being fairly high. — 
Dupont holds that the distillation of essential oils can only be carried out success- 
fully in the port, where the raw material is discharged, provided that there are coal — 
_ mines in the neighbourhood. The best solution of the duty question would be that 
_ there was a free port for the Beepese the creation of which might perhaps be a 
consequence of the war. 
ie, Dupont considers as-a considerable protection for the French industry the fact 
that the synthetic aromatics have been brought under a special tariff; a double-edged 
sword, however, as it protects the manufacturers of such articles, but is detrimental 
to the interests of the perfumers, who are exporters above all, if they are bound to 
buy certain materials abroad. It would, therefore, be necessary that the manufacturers 
of synthetics redoubled their efforts in order to supply the perfumers with everything — 
required, so that there was no danger any more for them to become dependent again 
on present enemies, in however small a degree it might be. 
In Dupont’s opinion, the patents question is complicated and difficult, far, generally 
speaking, inventors in the domain of synthetic aromatics did not have their discoveries 
patented, as it was difficult to prove any breach of patent in this special branch of 
industry, in which very often articles were concerned that might be made privately 
on a small scale and secretly sold. As the French law gave the inventor the absolute 
right of property for 15 years, better methods of production, discovered in the meantime 
-and which, by working out cheaper, would increase the consumption, could not be 
worked. A good many people (Dupont among them) think that this system creates 
an abusive privilege in favour of a few and injures the general interests, as it brings 
_ about a standstill in that the owner of the patent has no incitement to produce anything 
better and nobody else will trouble to find out better methods without any chance 
to apply them. This might, perhaps, be one of the reasons for the backwardness of 
the French industry. Dupont mentions, besides, that the question of a preliminary 
examination of patents has roused the interest of specialists. 
