PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. Delivered a t the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING March 27th 1919. By SIR WILLIAM J. POPE K.B.E. F.R.S. Cliernzstry in the National Service. SINCE the autumn of 1914 a great change has taken place in the public attitude towards the natural sciences and towards chemistry in particular. One of the recognised duties of the spokesmen of science during the past sixty years or more has been that of endeavouring t~ bring home to the general public and to its administrators the danger of neglecting the cultivation of pure and applied science. The eloquent discourses of our predecessors, Lyon Playfair Roscoe hleldola and the veterans happily still with us Tilden and Armstrong all past-presidents of our society, on the national importance of chemistry are well known to all of us but we cannot claim that these utkerances produced an effect compatible with their gravity.Recent events have however given a stimulus to the popular appreciation of the need for wider application to scientific investi-gation of all kinds which is incomparably greater than had been excited by the previous half-century of the spoken and written word. It may be useful a t the present time to consider a few of the causes for this change in public opinion partly because of the clarification of ideas which emerges from free discussion partly because of the desirability of recording certain facts and particulars which may be of value to future historians of the strenuous period now ending and giving place to another still more strenuous. A t this t h e four years ago an urgent call was made for the services in a military capacity of all the chemists who could be spared from civil life.Large numbers were taken into the Army and formed the nucleus of the magnificent Gas Warfare Service, which has been slowly but efficiently developed. Many of these colleagues of ours are now returning to their legitimate spheres in the industrial and scientific life of the Empire but many will not return; among those who have fallen I would refer more par-ticularly to one who is well known to most of us present for the Q 298 POPE CHEMISTRY IN THE NATIONAL SERVICE. invaluable services which he rendered on the defensive side of chmical warfare. Lieut.-Colonel Harrison was one of the great discoveries of the War and his death on the eve of the armistice was one of its many great tragedies; the protection against gas poison-ing which has been employed by our own and allied troops a pro-kction far more efficient than that ensured by the devices elabor-ated a t leisure by the Central Powers was due mainly to his wide knowledge great organising ability and unfailing resourcefulness in emergency.A movement for the establishment of a memorial to Colonel Harrison was set on foot by the Chemical Warfare Com-mittee of which he was the Controller a t the time of his death, and a considerable sum has been collected from those who had been associated with him in his work for the Services. The Chemical Warfare Committee have approached the Council of the Chemical Society and have offered under certain conditions to place a memorial tablet or other suitable permanent memorial in these rooms and also to establish under certain further conditions a trust fund to be held by the Society.The Council have with great. pleasure intimated their willingness to accept these gifts and one of the first duties of your new Council will be to decide how best to carry out the provisions of the trust deed. The efficiency of the British gas protection which called for the exhibition of so much sciehtific skill both in research and in manu-facture and led to its adoption by our Allies is one striking illwtration of the paramount importance of science which has appealed to the general public. This subject is however but a small branch of the enormous chemical problem which presented itself to the nation nearly five years ago and led t o the organisa-tion under Lord Moulton of the Department of Explosives Supplies.During the working out of this problem issues presented them-selves which are probably dissimilar from any that have ever arisen before. Thus as the magnitude of the struggle became gradually obvious, it was realised that the whole of the resources of the Empire would have to be utilised fully if success was to be attained. A census of all available chemical products had to be taken and schemes for their exploitation laid down; all materials had to be appor-tioned o u t in accordance with the principle that whatever was used for the manufacture of one particular war material left a corresponding shortage of raw material in connexion with the manufacture of some other and perhaps equally essential, product.The intricacy of gauging the chlorine output of the country of determining how to increase i t a t the rrlaximum rate without unduly disturbing other interests of apportioning i POPE CHEMISTRY IN THE NATlONAL SERVICE. 399 most advantageously for use as liquid chlorine and for the manu-facture of phosgene sulphur chloride carbon tetrachloride bleach-ing powder and many other war materials is such as would dis-arm criticism even i f the result had been failure instead of brilliant success This novel mode of presentment involving recognition of the principle that the Empire could only dispose of certain limited and measurable quantities of raw materials was but one of many fresh views which forced themselves upon a newly created Minis-terial Department.Labour fuel and transport had t o be discussed in an analogous manner. The cessation of hostilities found this country manufacturing, roughly 100,000 tons per annum of nitric acid and sulphur tri-oxide with an efficiency of about 93 and 91 per cent. respectively of that theoretically obtainable ; we were also making 60,000 tons of T.N.T. and 35,000 tons of cordite per annum. These produc-tions were for all practical purposes on a permanent basis and could have been continued indefinitely. The factories necessary for securing this huge production were erected by the Government, and for several reasons. First for economy in production. In spite of the large initial cost of installation and including rapid amortisa-tion the national production of cordite was better in quality than, and of approximately one-half the cost of that imported from America.Secondly for certainty of supply which could be ensured only by a home production not subject t o the risks of over-sea transport. With this necessity for gigantic production the urgency for economy in manufacture necessarily went hand in hand. One of the most interesting documents .of the war is the second report on costs and efficiencies for H.M. factories controlled by the Depart-ment of Explosives Supplies which has been recently issued. This report contains a minute analysis of the working costs for each period of each factory engaged on individual items of manufacture ; i t states what proportion of the cost per ton of product is borne by labour raw materials fuel maintenance etc.and provides an incitement to further effort towards economy of working by giving a ‘(bogey” cost sheet made up of the most efficient details of cost selected from the complete analysis of expenses. It will be clear that an immense amount of organising power was required to achieve this stupendous result; it was due largely to the genius and energy of Mr. K. B. Quinan. It must be remembered however that this permanent memorial to British chemical activity in production was rendered possible only by the intense effort of the army of chemists and engineers enlisted under the command of Lord Moulton. The necessity for Q* 400 POPE OHEMISTRY IN THE NATIONAL SBRVIOE.utilising all the chemical resources of the country to the utmost led in direct relationship with the census of raw materials pre-viously mentio’ned t o the attempt to extract the last possible frac-tion of efficiency in each component prmss. The huge production just indicated made i t very profitable to carry out a vast amount of careful scientific investigation of details of manufacture ; so many Fellows of this Society devoted their best efforts to this work that i t would be invidious to mention names. Our colleagues have had ample opportunity to realise that the romance of war is now t o be found in the laboratory the workshop and the factory quite as much as on the battlefield. An instsuctive example of the operations of the struggle €or economy in the production of a given effect is found in the rivalry which arose between picric acid and ammonium nitrate for use as high explosives.Picric acid costs about 2,185 per ton to make, ammonium nitrate about X50 and T.N.T. about 3100 per ton; the high cost of picric acid rnmns of course limited production. A mixt8ure of 80 parts of ammonium nitrate with 20 parts of T.N.T., known as amatol was introduced early by the Research Department a t Woolwich as beiiig about 5 per cent. more powerful as a high explosive less “brisant,” and more difficult to detonate and of course far less costly to manufacture. The course of the war has been marked by continued progress a t the hands of our research chemists in the preparation and applications of amatol; the grow-ing appreciation of the merits of this material led t o the discon-tinuance of the manufacture of picric acid in this country last summer to the adoption of amatctl in place of picric acid as &he American standard high explosive to the approaching elimination of picric acid from the Italian military programme and to the replacement in the main of picric acid by amatol in the French service.A very pertinent question arises in connexion with the fact that our production of the chemical materials needed for a great European war was negligibly small in 1914 and has gradually attained satisfactory dimensions. We know that the great chemical factories of Central Europe could divert their peace production of chemical products to a war output a t very short notice.None of these huge installations requires much time for the design and con-struction of chemical plant for new purposes; all possess a series of standard items of equipment which oan be fitted togehher rapidly to form a piece of plant capable of use for throwing any ordinary laboratory operation into large-scale practice. Stills condensers, pressure vessels filter prwses cooling arrangements of coils an POPE CHEMISTRY IN THE NATlONAL SERVICE. 401 the like are available in standard sizes and with standard fittings in such a manner that the installation on a works scale of a labora-tory operation is deprived of its most formidable difficulties. The question which demands an answer is why when the German works were in existence and could attain a war production so quickly, were the Allied nations given time to gradually develop their war production of explosives noxious materials etc.from nothing ? The question is best answered by an example. I n July 1917 the Germans first used against the Allies a new offensive material fib-dichloroethyl sulphide (CH2C1*CH,),S and with very great success. This substance the so-called " mustard gas," has but little d o u r and exposure to it causes comparatively few fatalities; inhalation of or contact with its vapour gives rise to acute pneumonia to the production of painful sores and to temporary or even permanent blindness. Whilst as has been stated the actual mortality is low and the use of the substance may to this extent be described as humane the casualties produced are very numerous; slight exposure to a material so toxic and so difficult to detect leads in general to six weeks in hospital.The preparation of Bp-dichlorwthyl sulphide was described by Victor Meyer in 1886 and involved the several operations indicated by the following set of equations: (1) CH2:CH2 + HClO = CH,Cl*CH,*O€I. (2) 2CH,Cl*CH,*OH + Na,S = (HO*CH,*CH,),S + 2NaC1. (3) (HO*CH2*C'H2),S + 2HC1= (CHZC1*CH2),S + 2H20. When i t is realised that operation No. 1 is difficult and that the products of reactions (1) and (2) are soluble in water it will be undershod that no small difficulties must presentl themselves in the manufacture of pj3-dichloroethyl sulphide by this process on a large scale. The examination of the German product made it quite clear however that the process of manufacture adopted was that indicated by the above set of equations; the over-all yield of pro-duct is perha'ps 40 to 60 per cent.of the theoretical. I n view of the difficulties of manufacture itt was fairly certain that no chemical installation for its production could be established under the control of the Allies within any reasonable time; the Central Nations thus supposed that they held the monopoly of a very powerful instrument of war. Most British organic chemists were I think +mazed a t the method of production adopted by the German manufacturers ; to apply such a technically cumbrous process for the manufacture of so simple a compound seemed quite irrational. By the end o 402 POPE CHEMISTRY IN THE NATIONAL SERVIUE.January 1918 a process for making SS-dichloroethyl sulphide had been worked out in the British laboratories which consisted of the reaction expressed by the following equation : 2CH2:CH,+ S2c12 = (CH2Cl.CH2),S + S; the yield obtained in the laboratory was 98 to 99 per cent. of that theoretically possible. The new method was communicated t o France and America and installed by the three Great Allies on a large scale; a t the conclusion of the armistice the available daily production of mustard gas by the Allies was equal to t.he monthly production of the Central Nat,ions. The German chemical service was inefficient ; the scientific chemists under its control were incompetent. The Allied production of mustard gas had a potentiality of the order of thirty times as great as that of the German; the cost of the German material was of the order of thirty times as great as that of our product.Cost of production under the conditions pre-vailing for this particular material means in the end expenditure in labour; that we were able to produce a t something of the order of one-thirtieth of the cost of the German production means that by the allocation of the same quantity of raw materials we could secure thirty t’imes the output. The relative strain on the pro-ductive resources of the Allies and the Central Nations caused by a demand for a certain quantity of “mustard gas” is measured roughly by the indicated ratio of one to thirty. Whilst many instances similar to that of mustard gas might be quoted to show that Germany has been badly served by her scien-tific men during the war i t would be difficult to overrate the effects of the skill and perseverance exhibited by the German chemical manufacturer.The command of great and long-established factories for fine chemical manufacture enabled the Geman technologist to throw faulty academic projecte rapidly into large-scale production ; the cost namely the strain on national resources, was enormous but that an output could have been achieved is a significant tribute to the potentialities represented by the large German fine chemical factories. Both in Britain and Germany production in chemical manufacture has been multiplied during the war but necessarily in a different manner. Our large produc-tion is almost entirely of war importance and most of the works installed during the war must now be dismantled as a result of ths cessation of hostilities ; the German expansions on the sother hand, constitute a permanent addition to the potentialities of peace manu-facture of staple marketable products.The war has left Germany The answer to the question just put is now available POPE CHEMISTRY IN THE NATIONAL SERVICE. 403 with vastly increased resources as a manufacturer of much needed chemical products. The view that our country is superior to Germany in the posses-sion of creative scientific power has always been maintained in modern times by students of philosophy and history; the correcb ness of the view has been amply demonstrated during the last four years. Whilst our nation has overcome its initial handicap by a continuous flow of novel scientific devices of military value our enemies passed through the war with little more in the shape of novel effects than those laboriously elaborated during the preceding years of peace.The more brilliant position which Germany has so long held in applied science arose from the keen appreciation ex-hibited by German public and official authorities of the rich economic fruits to be reaped from the systematic exploitation of scientific industry as compared with the neglect of scientific effort shown by corresponding classes in this country. Even yet but small encouragement exists for those who desire to see pure and applied science flourish as i t deserves in Great Britain; although it may be long before the scientific industriea of Central Europe regain their former predominance there seems but little prospect of sufficient official encouragement being given in this country to scientific and industrial initiative to ensure our position in the competition with other nations.I n this connexion it is interesting to notice what is happening in the United States. Immediately after her entry into the war America initiated a census of chemists and in July 1917 a fully detailed description was available of some 15,000 chemists resident in the States; a research staff consisting of 1200 technical men with appropriate assistance was enlisted for the Research Division of the Chemical Warfare Service alone. Since America was only in the war for about eighteen months this powerful organisation had not time to make its efforts properly felt.Apart from small improve-ments or changes in detail practically all the American chemical equipment both for offence and defence was manufactured on the detailed plans furnished by Great Britain or France; the available time was too short to allow full play to American genius f o r novelty and for magnitude of production. The necessity for co-operation brought large numbers of young and active American chemical officers to Europe; i t gave those officers f o r eighteen months the entry to practically every chemical works of importance in England and France and unrivalled opportunities for accurately judging European chemical methods and markets. These men have now returned to their ordinary scientific and technical pursuits in the States and it cannot be expected that they have left behind the 404 POPE CHEMISTRY IN THE NATIONAL SERVICE.the unique experience which they have gained of European condi-tions. We may anticipate that competition in pure and applied chemistry between Europe and America will become increasingly keener during the years to come. The competition is already iiitense and gives little promise as yet of turning in our favour; it is in fact difficult t o see ’how many of the staple products of fine chemical manufacture can hold their own in Great Britain against American competition under the conditions which a r m during the first three years of the war. During these years peace production flourished in the States free from Government control whilst in this country the establishment of a fine chemical industry in war time was naturally rendered far more difficult by State control of works materials and labour.The bearing of this may be made clear by an instance. The manufacture of “saccharin” was in-stalled in England after the outbreak of war but the production was controlled in that the manufacturers were only permitted to sell a t a profit of 10 per cent’. on the cost this profit being in turn subject to the excess profits tax; further to prevent the economic difficulties which were foreseen if “ saccharin ” competed with sugar the price of English-made ‘(saccharin” was fixed a t a figure which involved the very large addition of thirty shillings per pound to the price this addition being appropriated by the Government.Simultaneously, ‘(saccharin” was manufactured free of all control in the States; it came into this country unrestricted and on such terms that tlie American producer took the thirty shillings per pound just men-tioned in addition to the considerable profit previously made by reason of lower cost of manufacture. America having thus been assisted by our Government to build u p a large reserve of profits is now actually selling “ saccharin ” in England at eleven shillings per pound-a price a t which it cannot be produced here-apparently with the legitimate trade purpose of destroying the English manu-facture and subsequently running up the price. Many cases may be quoted as closely analogous to that of ‘(sac-charin,” notably in connexion with acetic acid glycerol acetone and methyl alcohol and their products in which British procedure has facilitated profiteering in foreign countries during the war.The excess profib tax operated insidiously in tempting British manufac-turers to keep prices high so as to retain a margin with which t o write off capital expenditure in spite of the tax; the foreign coma petitor free from Government control of raw materials and exempt from the excws profits tax was able to take full advantage of the ruling high rates. It will be of interest to see how the problems introduced by these actual occurrences are to be solved advantage POPE CHEMISTRY IN THE NATIONAL SERVIUE. 405 ously for Great Britain in the great reconstruction upon whiah our administrators are now engaged.Sufficient has probably now been said in justification of the rapid appreciation of science and especially of that branch of science with which we are particularly concerned in the public and administrative eye. The sudden incidence of new scientific modes of military and naval attack and the quick improvisation and development of equally scientific means of reply both of which have been so frequently exhibited during the past five years must have seemed uncanny to the lay observer who only realised the effects but did not understand the causes. A t the present time however most Fellows of this Society have little leisure to reflect on the ghastly tragedy in which it has been our privilege to assist; the curtain has fallen upon this but is rising again on the greatest epoch in the history of the world.The coming struggle for scientific and industrial position on the results of which must rest the whole intellectual artietic and material future of our race will call for longer greater more persistent and more intelligent effort than any which we have hitherto exerted. We are forced to consider whether we have reason to hope that the recent lessons have been well brought home and whether the free play given to scientific creation and production during the last five years is to persist unhampered in the future. For purposes of war our administrators gave every incentive to scientific investigation; money men and material were provided for the asking free from Treasury control free in fact from all control other than that of the scientific worker able and willing to organise and execute a necessary piece of work.I see no reason to think that the lesson has been properly learnt and every reason to anticipate a re-establishment of that parsimoni-ous treatment of scientific effort which seems now to belong to a past age but with which we were all’well acquainted five years ago. m e control of scientific research is again leaving the hands of the scientific man and being resumed by the lay administrator. The old remark has been resuscitated quite recently that “it is a common-place among administrators to fear the expert.” The non-technical administrator has no means of distinguishing the expert from the charlatan; he has perforce to regard the scientific expert as the lineal descendant of the “adept” of alchemical times whose claim to recollection is based upon tho adroitness with which he was able to divert public funds to his own base purposes.It is quite clear that if scientific research is to be assisted by the State-and unless so aided it will languish and carry with it into decadence every activity of the E m p i r e i t must be adminis 406 POPE CIHEMISTRY IN THE NATIONAL SERVICE. tered by men of scientific training and eminence; any other mode of procedure will necessarily lead to the strangulation of scientific effort by departmental red-tape. In this connexion it is again instructive to refer to American practise ; our blood-relatives across the Atlantic had three years in which to study in peace the efforts which we were making in war and it cannot but be useful to observe the manner in which they propose to profit by our experi-ence.In 1916 President Wilson a University professor and an expert, now one of the most imposing figures in terrestrial affairs called upon the National Academy of Sciences a t Washington to nomin-ate the members of a " National Research Council " ; the object of this new organisation was stated to be that of co-ordinating the scientific work of the country in order that the scientific problems both of war and of peace might be more efficiently solved. T h e National Research Council is under the presidency of one of the most eminent among the active American men of science Professor George E.Hale of the Mount Wilson Observatory and has large funds a t its command for research purposes. Two points are con-spicuous in connexion with the American programme first the substitution of the professional lay administrator by the ordinary office staff; secondly the recognition of the close interdependence of pure and applied science. The contention which has long been advanced in this country that an adequate output of purely aca-demic chemical research work and the existence of a flourishing, fine chemical industry are mutually essential is here tacitly ac-cepted; the former seeks in the industries remunerative positions for the products of its training and the fine chemical industry looks b the scientific investigator for inspiration and new' directions for enterprise.The nation which possesses an extensive organic chemi-cal industry controls chemical warfare the production of pharma-ceutical and photographic products the textile industry and many other great departments of 'human activity. The operations of the great American organisation for the stimu-lation of scientific research work are already making themselves felt. They have produced just recently an entirely novel method for oxidising naphthalene to phthalic acid presumably by the use of atmospheric oxygen and a catalyst which gives a 95 per cent. yield, and are responsible for the huge nitrogen fixation scheme now under installation in the Stafes. These two illustrations alone the one small and the other large leave us in no doubt as to the influence which the National Research Council is destined to exert on scien-tific and technical progress throughout the world.If British science is to make itself adequately felt in the grea POPE CHXMISTRY IN TRE NATIONAL SERVICE. 407 intellectual and material advances of the near future British men of science must be entrusted with the initiative power and t b com-mand of money which they have enjoyed during the past few years; unless this is done our Empire will as before continue to fall behind other great nations as a contributor to the increasing mass of pure and applied scientific knowledge. I n an address which I had the honour of delivering in this room a year ago attention was called to the necessity for closer co-opera-tion between the large Societies representing the various chemical interests in Great Britain.During the past year action has been taken in this matter and some fifteen of the Societies have colla-borated in the establishment of a Federal Council for Pure and Applied Chemistry the functions of which is t o advance safe-guard and voice the interests of chemical science. The Federal Council consists of representatives nominated by the component bodim and is already occupying itself actively with the questions within its purview; it has moved with some success in connexion \ v i a the claims of experimental science to recognition in the recently established scheme for eduoation within the Army with the provision of fine chemicals for research purposes with the remuneration of scientific posts and with other matters. The Federal Council will continue t o apply itself to those questions which are of importance to chemists as a class leaving more specific chemical interests to be dealt with by the appropriate constituent societies. A very similar project for the consolidation of the larger chemical interests is in couwe of execution by our French col-leagues. It is beyond question that a central h o w for accommodating the chemical societies in a manner more proportionate t o their import-ance than is a t present possible should be provided that a common chemical library far more complete than any now available in this country should be a t our service and that some comprehensive scheme for the publication of compendia of chemical knowledge should be put into operation. A very imposing and costly pro-gramme confronts the recent amalgamation of chemical interests, but the universal approval which greeted the proposition for creating a Federal Council for Pure and Applied Chemistry is a happy augury for the future usefulness of the new organisation