BRITISH CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 272, 13 August 1919, Page 7

BRITISH CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

OUTSTRIPPING GERMANY

Interesting expressions of. view on tho national work done by British chemists during the war and on the policy to be followed to prevent any restoration . of German- supremacy in- British markets are contributed to the first number of tho "Chemical Age," which appears today, by a number of distinguished British,, chemists, chemical engineers, and others. " .

Mr. Fisher, president of the.Board of Education, writes: "To-day'tho co-opcra-tioii of science and industry is vital to tho welfare of tho country. Tho war lias been won l>y the help of science, and it is only with tho help of science that industry can be re-established and fitted to meet tho demands that will be made upon it; by a world seeking to repair the ravages of four years of conflict." Professor Henry Louis, president of tho Society of Chemical Industry, 6tates: "Tho wnr was ■ really ibased on applied chemistry,' for the two facts which enabled Germany to go to war were—(l) That an English chemist discovered how to .make 'basic' steel from phosphoric' ■iron ores; and (2) that Mr. S. Eyde,. a ■Jfarwegittu electrician, had practically Applied the English discovery of producing nitric acid from atmospheric nitrogen. •It was'only Germany's pressing .need for nitrates to mate her warfare possible that caused her. to spend vast sums in the direction of elaborate factories for carrying out these already well-known processes' upon a manufacturing scale and thus complete tho second link in tho chain with which Germany intended to fetter tho world.

"I have no fear of open honest competition, but 'with Germany tho position .indifferent,' and we ought to profit from past experience.- The stato of scientific .teaching in this country is far ahead ot what it is in Germany or anywhere else, especially in scientific technology. I have maintained that view for many yoars, and this war has proved its correctness. Wn -have applied our scienco end knowledge to war work for not quite fivo ..years, .and in that short time wo have, 'outstripped tho Germans at evory point.''' Dr. Charles- Carpenter (South Metropolitan Gas Company), writes; "I believe '.that if tho country had been offered in pre-war days 'cheap' energy from Germany through a submarine cable the. Government would have supported tho proposal. It is .wiser to-day, but tho price paid has been a.heavy one."

lii an' address before tho Eoynl Meteorological Society, Dr. Hill recommended'sedentary workcra to take open-air exorcise for two luurs daily if they wished to keep fit, good tempered, and able to enjoy life, liadiant energy, ho explained, was best obtained out of doors, or. in Hie house, from open or gas fires.

The ear, said Professor Keith at a meeting of tho Koyal Society of Medicine,, is the most minute and delicato spring balanco over invented. It weighs every fluctuation of pressure, oithor in tho simplest sound wave or in the most complex volume of sound.