W. H. Walker

“ In trying to point out, therefore, some of the important problems in technical chemistry, no attempt will be made to distinguish between the part which must first be played by pure chemistry in their solution, and that which will still remain to be done by the chemical engineer to make this contribution utilitarian.
There is always a tendency to measure the importance of a subject by the extent of one's knowledge of it and the depth of the interest one has in it. ”

“ It would be difficult to find an investigator in the field of pure science who does not hope, and indeed believe, that the results of his labor will at some time prove of value to humanity; may ultimately be utilitarian. On the other hand, few if any chemical manufacturers would admit that in solving their chemical problems they do not utilize the most scientific methods at their command. The research assistant is in the last analysis utilitarian; while the successful chemical engineer is preeminently scientific. ”

“ In the minds of many, a panacea for all their difficulties was to be found in the technical education of the working classes. But this is unquestionably a mistake. Until there is a love of science for its own sake and an appreciation of the value of scientific methods among the leaders of chemical industry, the fruits of technical education can not be reaped. ”

“ With men whose foundations are thus broadly and deeply laid, anxious to enter the industrial arena, and with a generous appreciation of the scientific man on the part of the manufacturer, coupled with a willingness to grant him an adequate return on the money invested in such an education, the problems in technical chemistry of the present must rapidly become the achievements of the past. ”

“ In other words, a problem for research may have a distinctly practical bearing without being any the less a study in pure science, or without having thereby an inferior educational value.
In other problems we have noted, the solution largely depends upon the process, not the reaction. This demands the chemical engineer, a man who combines a broad knowledge of general chemistry with the essentials of mechanical engineering. He must be well schooled in the economics of chemistry; have a knowledge of the strength and chemical resistance of materials ”

“ Engineering enterprises—mechanical, civil and electrical, as well as chemical—are carried on as successfully in England and America as they are in Germany; and still the latter leads the world in her chemical manufactures. The explanation for this lies in the fact that Germany pays the greatest attention to the first class of problems, as above divided, and recognizes that pure chemistry is inseparably connected with her industries; that the application of new facts and principles follows rapidly when once these facts and principles are known. ”

“ It is assumed that American industries based on chemical processes do not flourish for lack of men trained in this branch of science. This, however, is not the case. It is not more instruction in applied chemistry that America needs, but rather a deeper and broader knowledge of pure chemistry, with a more extended training in original research.
In many of the problems we have already noticed, the solution depends upon the discovery of new compounds—the investigation and study of new reactions and relationships. ”

“ TECHNICAL chemistry may be regarded as the performance of a chemical reaction or series of reactions on a scale sufficiently large and by a method sufficiently economical to enable the product to be sold at a profit. The problems which confront the investigators in this field of endeavor may, therefore, be divided into two classes according as they pertain to the chemical reaction involved, or to the process to be employed in carrying on this reaction. The first division is pure chemistry, even though the results of the solution be utilitarian ”

“ Carl Otto Weber, speaking of this move towards a more general scientific education in England, says "Until the nation as a whole recognizes that the prosecution of scientific study as a mere means of money making is a profanation defeating its own end, the history of industrial development in England will afford the same melancholy spectacle in this, as in the last century, technical education notwithstanding." ”

“ When, a few years ago, England awakened to the fact that many industries in which she was the pioneer and at one time the leader were in the main passing to other countries, there went up a great cry for 'technical education.' The nature of the industrial stimulus which has borne such magnificent fruit in Germany was not understood. ”

“ Yet between the product of the first motive—pure chemistry—and the ultimate result of the second—technical chemistry—a difference does not necessarily exist. The fact that a piece of work is undertaken and carried on with the predetermined purpose of applying the results to a practical or commercial end does not in itself render it any the less a study in pure chemistry. ”

“ The production of cellulose from raw materials other than wood is the first important factor in the chemical side of the question. The weight of wood consumed for the production of chemical fiber for the year 1902 was something over two million tons, while one and a half million tons were used for the manufacture of ground wood pulp. While from some points of view our American forests are sufficient to supply the demand for many years to come, it does not excuse us for the terrible waste of cellulose in forms other than wood which we are constantly suffering. ”

“ A very much less technical, but so far as our knowledge at present goes, a more promising method of fixing atmospheric nitrogen in the form of nitrates, is through the agency of bacteria. While it is true that one group of bacteria has the power of breaking down nitrates with the production of nitrogen gas, there are other groups which are equally able to absorb elementary nitrogen with the production of nitrates. ”

“ It would seem that a more economical step towards the production of food from wood might be through its ligneous or non-cellulose constituents. For every ton of cellulose produced there must be used two tons of wood; that is, an equal weight is wasted. In the soda process as now conducted these non-cellulose materials are burned to recover the soda which is held in combination with them. In the sulphite process this enormous amount of material, aggregating for America alone in a single year almost one million tons, finds its way into the water courses and ultimately to the ocean. ”

“ The percentage of the world's supply of these two standard articles which is now made by this process is already a formidable figure and constantly increasing. In the electrolytic production of aluminum we have seen an entirely new industry develop until it is now one of magnificent proportions.
What the application of the electricity will do for technical chemistry in the future can be predicted only by estimating the results of the past. In many fields it is practically virgin soil over which only the pioneers have trod, and which is still waiting to be tilled. ”

“ The second factor in this answer is the training of the coming chemist. What is the reply to that now so oft repeated question, What is the best preparation for a technical chemist? I am personally of the opinion that it is not to be found in the teaching of applied chemistry, as this term is generally understood. This training must provide for something more than simply copying the present—doing as well as others do; we must build for the future. ”

“ On our flax fields of the west we are annually burning thousands of tons of flax straw which contains a large percentage of cellulose in a most valuable form. Considerable work has already been done on the utilization of this straw in the production of fiber and some success has met the efforts of the By-Products Paper Company now located at Niagara Falls. There is, however, still much room for improvements. In the straw of our wheat and oats crops, which is to-day largely destroyed on the fields, we have another source of cellulose of which we avail ourselves but little. ”

“ We must provide men who are prepared to solve the unsolved problems. Within the last few months much has been said and written in America about the lack of adequate instruction in technical chemistry in our universities and colleges. ”

“ Allowing a value of four cents a pound for potash, five cents for phosphoric acid and twelve cents for nitrogen, the total value of these ingredients for a single year amounts to the enormous sum of $3,200,000,000. To be sure, this is not all removed from the farm and lost to the soil; but that which remains in the form of straw and manure is but a small percentage of the whole. Straw is generally burned, while the soluble salts of the manure heaps are often allowed to leach out and go to waste. ”

“ It has been found that these bacteria when grown upon nitrogen-free media may be dried without losing their high activity. When immersed in water they are easily revived. A dry culture similar to a yeast-cake and of about the same size can thus be sent out and used to prepare a fluid in which the original nitrogen fixing bacteria may be multiplied sufficiently to inoculate a number of acres of land. The amount of material thus obtained is limited only by the quantity of the nutrient water solution used in increasing the germs. ”

“ After we have acquired the tools, however, we must learn to use them; after we possess a sound knowledge of inorganic, organic and physical chemistry, we must have adequate training in work requiring original and independent thought. ”

“ But the consumption of forest products continues to increase far out of proportion to the growth of new timber. The substitution of other raw material in chemical industries which now use wood for this purpose becomes therefore an economic problem for the solution of which the chemist is held responsible. ”

“ In addition to our annual supply of 4,000,000 tons of paper stock, we depend upon the forests for our supply of acetic acid, methyl alcohol and acetone. In countries where there is not the exorbitant tax upon fermented mash that exists in the United States there would seem to be an opening for a process for the production of acetic acid from alcohol in a more concentrated form than can be produced through the aid of mycoderma aceti. ”

“ Possibly the simplest, though not the earliest, method of utilizing electrical energy in chemical processes is in supplying the heat necessary to carry on a reaction directly at the point where the reaction takes place. In a number of chemical industries, for example, the manufacture of phosphorus, it was previously necessary to produce within thick walled retorts a very high temperature. ”

“ The influence which the forests of a country have upon its civilization is a topic which has been much discussed of late. That there is an intimate relation between the woodland of a district and the regularity of its rainfall, the absence of floods and freshets and the general climatic conditions, there seems now to be little doubt. ”

“ It is thus seen that technical chemistry can do much for the conservation of our forests; along many lines the time for action has already come.
When the consumption of a given article is in excess of its supply the market price must rise. ”

“ Concurrent with the disappearing forests is the increasing scarcity of vegetable tanning material. Hemlock and oak bark, sumac and chestnut wood are still the most important sources of tannins, although quebracho from South America and canaigre from Mexico and Texas are daily playing a more important part. ”

“ They have a feverish desire to get through and to enter the creative industries and accomplish something. They will work with enthusiasm upon whatever they can be made to recognize as contributing to this end, but by their very directness are intolerant of supposed digressions from their chosen path. ”

“ The technical difficulties in the way of the economic application of these processes are doubtless very great, but when one considers the advance which has been made in the last five years he has ample reasons to believe that it will not be a great while before the synthetic preparation of the cyanides, ammonia and nitric acid from atmospheric nitrogen will be on a commercial basis. ”

“ The economy introduced by supplying the heat at the point where the union of carbon and sulphur takes place is clearly indicated by the low price at which this material can now be sold and its enormously increased consumption. ”

“ So also in physical chemistry. A careful, painstaking investigation of some of our already established industrial processes with a view to determining the maximum yield at the minimum cost is of the greatest educational value. ”

“ Reactions which it was impossible to carry out on a technical scale and others the existence of which was not suspected are now through the application of electrical energy become the bases of large manufacturing enterprises. ”

“ This increase is probably more marked in America than in the older countries of Europe, because the necessity of replenishing the virgin soil was there reached long ago, while with us it is only begun. The magnitude of the industries which are dependent directly or indirectly upon agricultural products is so well recognized that it needs no discussion here. ”