SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 86, 5 November 1918, Page 3

SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRY.

A REMARKABLE EMiBITION. A remarkable exhibition Was recently opened at. King’s College, London, and shows in . a concrete way what the British can do when they try, as they have been tried under the mighty pressure of the war. The remarks which follow are even more applicable to. New. Zealand than 'to the British Isles, for there there is, slight provision for scientific research; but in the Dominion there is really nothing practical. , , To ■.make', clear necessity of scientific research for industry, and to show’hoiiv much has been successfully achieved during the war, the British Guild has arranged this exhibition of products and appliances .of scientific and industrial interest which before the war were obtained chiefly from enemy countries and are now produced in the United Kingdom. What has been done, and what remains to bo done was thus explained

to the Observer by Professor R. A. Gregory, assistant editor of Nature and chairman of the Organising Committee, and the author of a most j fascinating book called “Discovery.” j “Statesmen have been warned by. men of 'science over and over -again j of the ultimate consequences of the neglect of scientific research and its relation to industry,” he said. ,“At» long ago as 1870 a Royal Commission was appointed, with Die Duke of Devonshire as president and Sir Norman Lockyer as secretary, to inquire ipto the advancement of science and scientific instruction, and to see what aid was derived from grants voted by Parliament or university endowments, and whether it could be rendered in a manner more effectual for . the purpose. “The whole position of science in the United Kingdom was surveyed in the volumes of the report of the Commission issued from 1871 to 1875;. and it was the.:- ..unanimous opinion of the Commissioners that a special; department of science shoujkl be entrusted- With the ,duty of-pro-moting the scientific interests of the country.

SHALL WE WAIT FOR DISASTER. “Bad this recommendation been acted upon, we should easily have been in advance,of all other countries in the application »of science to industry, and have been strongly equip-: ped for all eventualities of peace or of war . In a notable address delivered by Sir Norman Lockyer, as ' president of. the British Association in 1903, on the ‘lnfluence of Brainpower on History,’ a clear Case was made out. for the increase of national strength through higher education and scientific, research. The address was at once an indictment and a f warning/ but “dtir statesmen ■hoed to it. Sir Notman said then; “‘The question is, shall we ; wait for a disaster and then imitato-Prus-sia and France, or shall we follow Japan, and thoroughly prepare by “intellectual effort” for the industrial struggle which lies before us?’ Wife were' XJNPREPARBi). b i “We waited for. the disaster, and when it came were unprepared lor the stoppage of essential supplies which it involved. We had even lost what wo once possessed. The catalogue of the Internationl Exhibition held, London in 1865? .the exhibition which included a collector 0 f products illustrating the discovery of the coal-tar dyes formed ,by Mr W. H. Perkinpointed out that the specimens exhibited showed that ‘England has now become ;thp dye-producing nation of Europe,’. jiisteVd pf)having 'to' depon’d on other, countries.)’ This Industry \y.e lost completely, and in the year be* fore the' .wai- . hint-tenths of the -dyes lifted 'in Oreiit;,. Britain ; were obtained frompGefxhiiaiy. "\-Li I'-' i,L. •.

WtBfA.T HAS I>m-•-/i ~..«SOVtaM2Di. £< n&«i v ,ifd& ; 4stelaKt s .4b6(***d in adnkityc. hbotatodMa Mre gi*m ri*» to #n)&UhU indM &*i«l promsmn and appj|§|ice«. Tufignten, which ife essential for the production of highspeed tool-steel, as well as for magnet steel, incandescent lamps, and other purposes, is one of them. This metal has been known for much more than century. At the outbreak or war we wore, almost entirely dependent upon Germany for supplies, and British 'attempts to produce it have been defeated by German dumping. Now, however, the large supplies required hy Sheffield steel manufacturers are produced entirely in this country, and by them we are placed i in a secure position for the arts of peace or the necessities, of war. WHEN SUPPLIES WERE STOPPED j “Osmium, which was discovered in' 1803, i« used for the filaments of i incandescent electric lamps, and com-j bined with iridium for tipping gold pens. Palladium, discovered about

the same time, is used by dentists. Thorium and cerium, which were almost a German monopoly before the war, are required for incandescent gas mantles. Four hundred million of these mantles arc "used every, year. In their production ,we are now completely independent of Germany, and can .remain so. Manganese is required for the manufacture of the famous' Hatfield stools for projectiles and armnor plates. Titanium, chromium, Molybdenum, vanadium, and nickel are employed for similar purposes. ■•’All these elements were d ; -- coveml by , scientific: men without » thought- of their practical uses. , “Wheii supplies from Germany were stopped; it was seen how greatly we had; been , dependent upon that."country ' for many . substances that arc essential in photography. .Cameras, with lenses and shutters suitable for photographing the ground from aeroplanes and balloons were specially required. The efficiency : of the ajc parates designed and now mad-' lor this purpose by British manufacturer's is known to everyone by the results that have been published.

THINGS WE CAN PRODUCE. “Of the substances that we had been content to depend upon Germany for our supplies, either wholly or partially, there were chemical reagents for developing, dyes for sensitive plates, and dyes for making colour-filters. All these are now being produced in Egnland, and it is claimed that many of them arc superior t<> the Genuan product's in their purity and the results they give. “When the war cut us off from supplies of optical glass required for range-finders, gun-sighting, telescopes, and many other optical instruments, wo were for a time in o most serious position. Sir Herbert Jackson, in co-operation with a committee of the Institute of Chemistry, saved us by analysing dozens of optical glasses and publishing the formulae for the benefit of any glass manufacturers who cared to take up the industry . The result was' that supplies of glass essential for service instruments’became available through ,tho help offorded by scientific men whose services were given without foe and entirely for the country’s benefit. J’ WE NEED TRAINED MEN. “What we have lacked particularly in England are men who have an adequate training, both in chemistry and in engineering—-men who can .apply modern engineering methods fd ; the chemical industries. There fire plenty of men familiar with the scientific theory involved* in those industries, but there Was before the war little demand for chemical engineers capable of establishing a plant for dealing with large quantities on an industrial scale. One of the most pressing problems which will have to be solved is that’of securing an adequate supply of c'homcial engineers. i “There are only 5,000 full-time students of science and technology in the United Kingdom in comparison with 17,000 in Germany and 84,000 in America ; and whereas the total income of all the universities of the United Kingdom is about £2,000,000, that of universities in the United States amounts to 10 times this-'sum, and in Germany the 'University of Berlin alone receives annually , from State funds a grant nearly equal to the total annual parliamentary grants to the universities and colleges of England and Wales. The provision made by Parliament for higher education is thus obviously nob that which should he expected of a Shite which intends to maintain its position among leading Powers.”