THE BRITISH SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTS EXHIBITION.

THE British Science Guild is an organization formed in 1905 to promote and extend scientific education and the applica- tion of scientific principles to industrial and general purposes. Hitherto the Guild has promoted the object of its existence by means of Committees appointed to study and report on various matters affecting British industry. It organized the British Scientific Products Exhibition, as an object-lesson of what can be achieved by the combination of science and industry. This Exhibition was held at King's College from August 12th to September 7th, and, to quote from the Catalogue, " The chief purpose is to make clear the value of applying the results of scientific research to the Arts and industries ; and, further. to display to the public how much has been successfully achieved in this regard, since the advent of the war, in the production of articles of prime importance, not only for the home but also for foreign markets, hitherto manufactured in, or imported from, other countries."

Although the Exhibition is over, its importance remains. The notices on the stands explained the Exhibition more clearly;

exhibit after exhibit bore the legend—"This . . . hitherto made only in Germany, is now produced in our factory." Every one is familiar with the struggle to replace the optical glass and dye-

stuffs which formerly had been imported from Germany, and every one has learnt by their disappearance from the shops that a number of articles which were part of his daily needs came from Germany only ; but few can have realized the extent to which this country depended on Germany for supplies of every description and for every industry. The Exhibition brought it home to one with great force. It showed that almost every industry, including those industries which are regarded as pre-eminently British, has depended on Germany for the provision of one or more essential constituents or articles. Where Germany had not acquired the industry itself, she had acquired the key to it.

Without entering into technical details, a few examples of these keys to our industries may be of interest. There are about eight hundred factories in Great Britain engaged in the hosiery and knitting industry, and requiring some fifty million hosiery needles a year. Ninety per cent. of these needles were made in Germany,

and after the outbreak of war thousands of machines and operatives were idle for lack of needles. The hosiery needle, unlike the sewing needle, is a complex article and difficult to manufacture, and, though the British output has increased many times, German finance is still being helped by British purchases of needles. Nearly every industry depends directly or indirectly on chemical analysis, and the essential to all accurate analysis is a supply of certain chemical reagents of a high degree of purity. These were, to a large extent, supplied by German factories, but British reagents, prepared to standards laid down late in 1914 by the Institute of Chemistry and the Society of Public Analysts, are now sold by

several manufacturers. All engineering works employ for their cutting tools a special kind of steel known as high-speed tool steel, by which metals can be cut at a far higher speed than by ordinary

steel. The essential constituent of this steel—the metal tungsten— was entirely a German product, although the British Empire possesses ample quantities of the raw material. The supply of high-speed steel has never equalled the demand, but the initiative of the Sheffield tool-steel makers in starting a company for the manufacture of tungsten has avoided any serious shortage.

Many more examples of German keys to British industries could be quoted from the exhibits, while the final products which now are British and formerly were German run into hundreds, if not thousands. In most cases the Germans have been first in the field, and have remained in possession ; in many cases, however, we have been the first, and have failed to take advantage of the fact. We were the first to make aniline dyes and the first to study optical glass, but we lost both industries. It is true that we have now regained them, and almost all those industries that find an outlet in the endless ramifications of war needs; but it must be remembered that we have regained them under the present abnormal conditions, with no competition, with the demand always exceeding the supply, and with prices fixed by ourselves. It does not follow that we shall hold our gains when the war is over. In fact, it is certain that, were pre-war conditions to return, many of the resuscitated industries would rapidly die.

What has been the reason of our failure to compete with Germany in an ever-growing list of manufactures ? The manufacturer replies that it is because Germany dumps. because the German

manufacturer receives State subsidies, because Great Britain has no tariff. The man of science replies that it is because our boys

are given a classical instead of a scientific education, because our Government give no encouragement to science, because our manufacturers are ignorant of science themselves and ignorant of its value in others. Every reply has, perhaps, a little truth in it ; no reply, except in reference to some particular case, has much truth in it. Take the case of the magneto, the small electrical machine which is a part of every motor-car and of every aeroplane. The German Bosch magneto was pre-eminent before the war. It was not dumped; it was an expensive magneto, and there is no reason to suppose that it was subsidized. Its magnets were rather better than those of other magnetos, and here scientific research must have played some part, but, generally, it acquired its position because it was of first-class design, of first-class materials, and of first-class workmanship. Now magnetos better than the Bosch are produced in this country, showing that our scientific and technical ability is not at fault. The whole Exhibition, in fact, was a striking testimony to our ability to equal and surpass the German in scientific and technical work—under war conditions. The history of our munitions development shows the same ; wherever there has been scope for technical work we have kept well ahead.

Why then do we fail under commercial conditions I There is probably no simple reason, but the explanation may lie in this, that the British manufacturer is an isolated individual, dependent on himself for everything, for finance, for soientifio research, for technical improvements, for selling organization, for knowledge of foreign markets, while the German manufacturer is part of a system designed to help him in every step he takes. For finance he has his industrial bank ; for selling his wares he has his selling Verband, whose business it is to supply the specialized knowledge he wants ; for technical matters he has his manufacturers' Verband to keep him up to date and support him in any move which may further the interests of the industry.

There were indications in the Exhibition that the British manu- facturer is beginning to strengthen his position by combination of interests. Magnetos now are made by an Association of nine firms ; chemical and other glass and porcelain apparatus is made by four Associations, each comprising a number of firms ; and a few other groups of firms appeared as exhibitors. Another step in advance is the formation of Research Associations under the Department of Scientific) and Industrial Research, Associations which are exempt from Income and Excess Profits Taxes and are qualified to receive grants from the funds at the disposal of the Department. Three such Associations, the British Photographic Research Association, the British Scientific Instrument Research Association, and the British Wool Research Association, have already been formed, and twenty-seven others are in process of formation.

There remains the attitude of the manufacturer towards the man of science. There has been a tendency for the man who prides himself on being what he calls a " practical man " to regard with some contempt the man who has spent his time in the laboratory and, from his training, cannot have the same outlook. It is part of the work of the British Science Guild to change this attitude, and promote such co-operation between the " practical man " and the scientific man that industry may benefit by every result of scientific research, while scientific education and work are furthered by the support of the industrial world.

The Exhibition ofScientifio Products, while it was an exhibition of British inaction in the past, was also an exhibition of the magnificent effort of which the country has proved itself capable under the driving-force of necessity. The very fact that this Exhibition has been held and has proved a striking success is a hopeful sign that, when necessity no longer drives, a vigorous enterprise and initiative