2 
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
U.S.A. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL—GIFT OF £1,000,000. 
The National Research Council of America has received a gift of 
£1,000,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and it is 
proposed to expend a portion of the money in erecting at Washington 
a home. for the Council. In announcing this gift the report from the 
Council says:—This impressive gift is a fitting supplement to Mr: 
Carnegie’s great contributions to science and industry. The Council 
is a democratic organization, based upon some forty of the great scientific 
and engineering societies of the-country, which elect delegates to its 
constituent divisions. It is not supported or controlled by the Govern- 
ment, differing in this respect from other similar organizations estab- 
lished since the beginning of the war in England, Italy, Japan, Canada, 
and Australia. It intends, if possible, to achieve in a democracy, and 
by democratic methods, the great scientific results which the Germans 
achieved by autocratic methods in an autocracy, while avoiding the 
obnoxious features of the autocratic régime. The Council was organized 
in 1916 as a measure of national preparedness, and its efforts during the 
war were mostly confined to assisting the Government in the solution 
of pressing war-time problems involving scientific investigation. 
Re-organized since the war on a peace-time footing, it is now attempting 
to stimulate and promote scientific research in agriculture, medicine, 
and industry, and in every field of pure science. The war afforded a 
convincing demonstration of the dependence of modern nations upon 
scientific achievement, and nothing is more certain than that the 
United States will ultimately fall behind in its competition with the 
other great peoples of the world unless there be persistent and energetic 
effort expended to foster scientific discovery. 
JAPAN’S CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. 
It is widely -known, in a general way, that the war has stimulated 
industrial development in Japan in a most remarkable manner. The 
extent and the nature of her industrial achievements, however, 
are not fully realized. In the Journal of Industrial and Engineering 
Chemistry, Vol. 12, No. 28, an article by Mr. O. P. Hopkins deals 
with the efforts of Japan towards the development of her chemical indus- 
try, and he clearly shows that sound progress has been made in many 
lines. Important features of the review deal with the development of 
a coal-tar industry, the production of alkalies for the paper, glass, tex- 
tile, and soap industries, progress in metal refining, and the greatest 
possible utilization of water power in electro-chemical processes. The 
manufacture of iodine and potash from kelp, of glycerine, paints, 
fertilizers, the tanning of skins and hides, and many minor lines have 
also been pushed energetically. The statistics of production and trade 
indicate the magnitude of many. new industries. In 1915 an Act was 
passed to subsidize one company for the manufacture of dyestuffs, and 
under this Act was organized the Japan Dyestuff Manufacturing Joint 
Stock Company, with a capital of £800,000. The Government guaran- 
teed dividends of 8 per’cent., and there was a disposition at first, on 
the part of unprotected manufacturers, to fear the competition from this 
firm, and resent the action of the Government. By the middle of 1918 
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