GRIESHEIM EXPLOSIONS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16142, 21 February 1918, Page 8

GRIESHEIM EXPLOSIONS.

GREAT BLOW FOR GERMANY. LOSS OP POISON GAS PLANT. A paralysing was temporarily produced in Germany by the destruction a few weeks ago of the Griesheim factory. Extreme care was taken by the Berlin Government to prevent details leaking out, and information which has since been obtained from trustworthy sources makes it clear that there wa s good reason for secrecy. It is certain that the explosion caused the complete destruction of one of the greatest munition factories in the world. _ The Griesheim-Elcctron factory was situated in _ the neighbourhood of Frankfort, with an extensive frontago on the river Main. It consisted of an enormous group of buildings covering an area of over 54 a cres. Tiventy-eight large chimneys, one of them over SOJlt high, gave the impression more of an industrial town than a single factory, and numerous piers abutting on the river, combined with an extensive railway system, enabled this huge concern to distribute its products among the world's markets economically and quickly. Before the war it ranked as fourth in importance of the great German chemical works, and was always a flourishing company, paying a prewar dividend of 14 per cent., and I worth as a going concern well over £3,C00,C00. Its commanding position in the chemical world rested not only on its huge output, but on the extensive variety of its manufactures. These comprised, among other things, aniline dyes of every description, nitric, sulphuric, and other acids, phosphorus, and alkali, with liquid chlorine, hydrogen, and oxygen as important by-pro-ducts. What it meant "to Germany as a source of munitions of war can thus be readily understood. Moreover, as one of the unt»mmon instances among German chemical works possessing installations for electro-chemical production, it was of prime importance as a source of synthetic nitrates, and its splendidly-organised research laboratory enabled it to play a leading part in the production of poison gas and the other more refined forms of frightfulness which Germany has introduced in tho course of the war. That the Imperial Government has taken the fullest advantage of these facilities is shown by the rapid increase of the works both, in extent and outout since the beginning of the war, anci by the fact that the ..company has recently decided to increase its share capital by 50 per ccnt., an increase in which the German Government is more than suspected of having a financial interest. With regard to the productive capacity of Griesheim some authoritative facts are available. It has been producing saltpetre for the manufacture of black powders at the rate of 1000 tons a day, and it is reputed to he the only factory turning out this article. To such an extent has its already impressive output of coda nitrate and concentrated sulphuric acid been devoloped that it supplied the whole demand of five nitro-glycerine and dynamite factories, as well as two powder works, including that of Rottweil, one of the most important in Germany. Another explosivo which is manufactured in large quantities was tonite, through its facilities for making synthetic phenol and consequently picric acid, from ■which acid this explosive is derived. Another circumstance of special interest is tho fact that this factory supplied largo quantities of electrolytic hydrogen for the inflation of Zeppelins, and possessed by way of a reserve three gasometers with a total capacity of over 300,000 cubic feet. So important was it in this respect that a Zeppelin shed, usually containing two or three airships, was erected in close proximity to the works. For the kite balloons at the front the gas was supplied in steel tubes in the liquefied state. Moreover. the extensive electrolytic plant was further utilised to produce asphyxiating gas and lachrymatory and poisonous shells. Indeed, it .was the greater centre of this manufacture in Germany, and in 1916 the output of poison gases reached the colossal figure of nearly 600,000 cubic feet a day. The extent of the material loss which Germany has suffered l>y the destruction of the Griesheim factory can thus be easily comprehended. But the disaster is of still wider significance. The variety of the materials formerly produced'means, in such a closely interlocking industry as chemical manufacture, that every concern in Germany was affected, both from the cutting off of supplies which many of them formerly drew from Griesheim and from the necessity of making the loss of these supplies good from plants already working to their maximum. The deaths of scores of trained workmen and specialists, in the factory it6elf and in the dwellings within its confines, would make the task of coping with this deficit all the more difficult.