The Chandler Lecturesh ip was inaugurated in H avem eyer Hall, Colum bia U n iversity, on M a y 29th, during the celebration of the F iftieth A n n iversary of the founding of the School of Mines. Professor E m eritu s C harles Frederick Chandler pre
sided and introduced th e lecturer, D r. Leo H. B aekeland, whose address is printed in full below.
A fter a few w ords in appreciation of the im portance of the lectureship and of the w ork of the speaker, President Nicholas M urray B u tler presented to D r. B aekeland the first impression of the C handler M ed al. [ E d i t o r . ]
S O M E A S P E C T S O F IN D U S T R IA L C H E M IS T R Y B y L. H . Ba e k e l a n d
W hile I appreciate deeply the distinction of speaking before you on the occasion of th e F iftieth A nniversary of the Columbia School of M ines, I realize, a t the same tim e, th at nobody here present could do b etter justice to the subject w hich has been chosen for this lecture th an th e beloved m aster in whose honor the Charles Fred erick C handler Lectureship has been created.
Dr. Chandler, in his long and em inently useful career as a professor and as a public servant, has assisted a t the very be
ginning of some of the m ost interesting chapters of applied chemistry, here and abroad.
Some of his pupils h ave become leaders in chemical industry, others h ave found in his teachings the v ery conception of new chemical processes w hich m ade their nam es known throughout the whole world.
IS INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY A MERE MONEY-MAKING PROPOSITION.
Industrial chem istry has been defined as “ the chemistry of dollars and cen ts.” T h is rath er cynical definition, in its narrow er interpretation, seems to ignore entirely the far-reaching economic and civilizin g influences w hich h ave been brought to life throug 1
the applications of science; it fails to do justice to the fact th a t the whole fabric of modern civilization becomcs, each day, more and ever more interw oven w ith the endless ram ifications of applied chem istry. T he earlier effects of this influence do not date back much beyond one hundred and odd years. They became distinctly evid ent during the first French R epublic, increased under N a p o leo n ,. gradually spread to neighboring countries, and then reaching o u t farther, their influence is now obvious throughout the whole world.
CREATION OF FRENCH PATENT SYSTEM
France, during the revolution, scattered to the w inds old tr a ditions and conventionalities, in culture as well as in politics.
U ntil then, she had m ainly impressed the w orld b y th e barbaric, wasteful splendor of her opulent kings, a t whose courts th e d ev
otees of science received scant atten tion in comparison w ith the more ornamental artists and belle-lettrists, who were petted and rewarded alongside of the all-im portant men of the sword.
In fact, as far as the culture of science was concerned, the N eth er
lands, G erm any and Ita ly , and more particularly, England, were head and shoulders above the F rance of “ le R o i Soleil.”
T h e struggles of th e new rig im e p u t France in the aw kw ard position of the legendary beaver w hich “ had to clim b a tree.”
If for no other reason, she needed scientists to help her in her wars against the rulers of other European nations. She needed them ju st as m uch for repairing her crippled finances and her b ad ly disturbed industries w hich were dependent upon natural products im ported until then, b u t of ifh ich th e su p p ly had suddenly been cut off b y the so-called C ontinental B lockad e.
M oney-prizes and other inducem ents had been offered for stim u
lating the developm ent of chem ical processes, and— w h at is more significant— p atent law s were prom ulgated so as to foster invention.
ÏS ¡colas L eb lan c’s m ethod for the m anufacture of soda to replace the im ported alkalis, B erth o lle t’s m ethod for bleaching w ith chlorine, the beet-sugar in du stry to replace cane sugar im ported from the colonies, and several other processes, were proposed. A ll these chem ical processes soon found them selves lifted from the hands of th e secretive alchem ist or the tim id pharm acist to the ran k of real m anufacturing m ethods. In dustrial chem istry had begun its lu sty career.
h irst successes stim ulated new endeavors and sm all w ond er is it th at F rance, w ith these favorable conditions a t haiid, for a w hile a t least, entered in to the m ost glorious period of th a t p art of her history w hich relates to the developm ent of chem istry, and the arts dependent thereon.
BACKWARD POSITION OF GERMANY
I t is difficult to im agine th at, a t th at tim e, G erm an y, w hich now occupies such an enviab le position in chem istry, w as so far behind, th at even in 1822, w hen L ieb ig w anted to stu d y chem istry a t the best schools, he had to leave his ow n co u n try and turn to G ay-L u ssac, T hénard and D ulong in Paris.
DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
7 7° T H E J O U R N A L O F I N D U S T R I A L
B u t the B ritish w ere n o t slow to a va il them selves of the new opportunities in chem ical m an ufacturin g so clearly indicated b y the first successes of the French. T h e ir linen bleacheries
Th e Ch a r l e s Fr e d e r i c k Ch a n d l e r Me d a l
in Scotland and En glan d soon used an im proved m ethod for bleaching w ith chloride of lime, developed b y T ennant, w hich )rought along the m anufacture of other chem icals relatin g thereto like sulfuric acid and soda. T h e chem ical reactions involved m all these processes are rela tively sim ple, and after th ey were once w ell understood, it required m ainly resourceful engineering and good com m ercial abilities to build up successfully the indus
tries based thereon. From this epoch on dates the beginning of the developm ent of th a t im portan t in dustry of h e a v y chem icals in w hich the B ritish led the world for alm ost a cen tu ry. In the sam e w a y , En glan d had becom e the leader in another im p ortan t branch of chem ical in dustry— the m anufacture of coal- gas.
LIEBIG ’S INFLUENCE IN GERMANY
T h e G erm ans w ere soon to m ake up for lost tim e Those sam e G erm an universities, w hich w hen Liebig w as a you n g man were so p oorly equipped for the stu d y of chem istry, were now enthu siastically a t w ork on research along the new er develop
m ents of the physical sciences, and, before long, th e form er pupils of F rance, in their turn, becam e teachers of the world L ieb ig had inaugurated for the chem ical students w orkin g under him his system of research laboratories; how ever m odest these laboratories m ay have been a t th a t tim e, th ey carried bodily the stu d y or chem istry from pedagogic boresomeness in to a c ap tiv a tin g cross-exam ination of nature.
A n d it seemed as if nature had been w aiting im p atien tly to im part some of her secrets to the children of men, who for so m an y generations had tried to settle T ru th and K n ow led ge b y w ords and oratory and b y brillian t disp lays of m etaphysical controversies. Indeed, a t th a t tim e, a few kitchen tables, some clum sy glassw are, a charcoal furnace or tw o, some pots and
pans, and a m odest balance w ere all th a t was needed to make nature give her answers.
DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY IN GERMANY 1 hese m odest paraphernalia, eloquent b y their v ery simplicity, brought forth ra p id ly succeeding discoveries. One of them was tru ly sen satio n al: L ieb ig and W ohler succeeded in accomplishing th e direct synthesis of urea; thinking m en began to realize the far-reaching im port of this revolu tion ary discovery whereby a pu rely organic substance had been created in the laboratory b y startin g exclu sively w ith inorganic m aterials. This result upset all respected doctrines th a t organic substances are of a special enigm atic constitution, altogether different from inor
ganic or m ineral com pounds, and th at th ey could be built up on ly b y the agen cy of th e so-called “ v ita l fo rce ’ ’— whatever th a t m ight mean.
R esearch in organic chem istry becam e more and more fascinat
ing; all availab le organic substances w ere being investigated one a fte r another b y restless experim entalists.
Coal-tar, heretofore a troublesom e b y-p rod uct of gas manu
facture, notw ith stan din g its uninviting, ill-smelling, black, stick y appearance, did n ot escape the general inquisitive tendency;
some of its constituents, like benzol or others, were isolated and studied.
THE INFLUENCE OF K K K U LE’s THEORY
U nder the brillian t leadership of K ek u le, a successful attempt w as m ade to correlate the ra p id ly increasing new experimental observations in organic chem istry in to a new th eo ry which would tr y to explain all the num erous facts, a th eo ry which became the sign-post to the roads of further achievem ents.
d i s c o v e r y OF ARTIFICIAL d y e $ —'The d isco very of quickly succeeding processes for m aking from coal-tar derivatives num erous artificial dyes, rivaling, if not surpassing, the most b rillian t colors of nature, m ade the group of bold investigators still bolder. R esearch in organic chem istry began to find rapid rew ards; entirely new and successful industries based on p u rely scientific d a ta w ere springing up in En glan d and France, as well as in G erm an y. Som e w id e-aw ake leaders of these new enterprises, more p articu larly in G erm an y, soon learned that th ey were n ever ham pered b y too m uch know ledge, but that, on th e con trary, th ey w ere alm ost con tin uously handicapped in their im patient onw ard m arch b y insufficient knowledge, or b y m isleading conceptions, if not b y incorrect published facts.
T his is precisely where th e stu d y of organic chem istry received its greatest stim u lating influence and soon put Germ any, in this branch of science, ahead of all other nations.
^ -Money and effort had to be spent freely for further research.
I he best scholars in chem istry w ere called in to action. Some m en, who w ere preparing them selves to becom c professors, v’ ere induced to ta k e a leading p a rt as directors in one or another of the new chem ical enterprises. Others, who refused to for
sake th eir teaching careers, were retained as advisers or guides, and, in several instances, the honor of being th e discoverer of a new process, or a new dye, w as m ade m ore su bstantial b y finan
cial rewards. The m odest G erm an u n iversity professor, who heretofore had lived w ithin a rath er narrow academ ic sphere, w ent through a process of evolution , where the rap id ly growing chem ical in du stry m ade him realize his la ten t pow ers and greater im portance, and broadened his influence far beyond the confines of his lecture-room . E v e n if he w ere altru istic enough to re
main indifferent to fam e or m oney, he felt stim ulated b y the very th ou gh t th at he w as helping, in a direct m anner, to build up the nation and the w orld through the im m ediate application of th e principles of science.
i n d u s t r i a l r e s e a r c h l a b o r a t o r i e s
In the beginning, science did all the givin g and chemical in- d u strj go t m ost of the rew ards; b u t soon the roles began to change to th e point where frequen tly th ey becam e entirely inverted.
A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y V o l. 6, N o. 9
Sept., 1 9 1 4 T H E J O U R N A L O F I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
The universities did not furnish knowledge fast enough to keep pace with the requirem ents of the rapidly developing new in
dustries. M odern research laboratories were organized b y some large chemical factories on a scale never conceived before, with a lavishness w hich m ade the best equipped university labora
tory appear like a tim id attem p t. G erm any, so long behind France and En glan d, had becom e the recognized leader in organic m anufacturing processes and developed a new indus
trial chemistry based more on th e thorough knowledge of organic chem istry th an on engineering skill.
In this relation, it is w orth w hile to point out th at the early organic industrial chem istry, through which G erm any was soon to become so im portant, a t first counted its output not 111 tons, but in pounds— not in size nor in qu an tity, b u t in v ariety and quality. N ow le t us see how G erm an y won her spurs in chemical engineering as well.
DEVELOPMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING IN GERMANY A t the beginning, the m anufacturing problems in organic chemistry in volved few , if an y, serious engineering difficulties, but required, m ost of all, a sound theoretical knowledge of the subject; this p u t a prem ium on the scientist, and the engineer could be ignored for aw hile a t least. B u t when growing devel
opments began to claim the help of good engineers, there was no difficulty w h atsoever in su pplyin g them , nor in making them cooperate w ith th e scientists. In fact, since then, Germ any has solved, ju st as successfully, some of the m ost extraordinary chemical engineering problem s ever undertaken, although the development of such processes w as entered upon a t first from the purely scientific side.
In almost every case, it w as on ly after the underlying scientific facts had been w ell established th a t any attem pt was made to develop them com m ercially.
METHODS OF HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC PROCESSES Healthy com m ercial developm ent of new scientific processes does not build its hope of success upon the cooperation of that class of "p ro m o te rs” w hich are alw'ays eager to find any available pretext for m aking “ q u ick m on ey,” and whose scientific ignorance contributes con ven ien tly to their com fort b y not interfering too much w ith th eir self-assurance and their voluble assertions. The history of m ost of the successful recent chem ical processes abounds in exam ples w here, even after the underlying principles were well established, long and co stly preparatory team-work had to be u nd ertaken; w here forem ost scientists, as well as engineers of great a b ility , had to combine their knowledge, their skill, their perseverance, w ith the support of large chemical companies, who, in th eir turn, could rely on the financial backing of strong banking concerns, w ell advised b y tried expert special
ists.
H istory does n ot record how m an y processes thus subm itted to careful stu d y w ere rejected because, on close examination, they were found to possess some hopeless shortcomings. In this w ay, num erous fruitless efforts and financial losses were averted, where less carefully accum ulated knowledge might have induced less scrupulous prom oters to secure money for plausible b u t ill-advised enterprises.
sy n th e sis o f in d ig o— I n the history of the m anufacture of artificial dyes, no chapter gives a more striking instance of long, assiduous and expensive prelim inary w ork of the highest order than the developm ent of the industrial synthesis of indigo.
Here w as a substance of enorm ous consumption which, unti then, had been obtained from the tropics as a natural product of agriculture. Professor von B aeyer and his pupils, b y ong and m arvelously clever laboratory work, succecded ma >
in unraveling the chem ical constitution of this indigo d>e, an finally indicated som e possible m ethods of synthesis. N o t withstanding all this, it took the Badische Anihn & Soda Fabrik abou t tw en ty years of p atient research work, carrie
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out b y a group of em inent chem ists and engineers, before a satisfactory method was devised b y which the artificial product could compete in price and in q u ality w ith natural indigo.
i n f l u e n c e s OF A g o o d p a t e n t s y s t e m— G erm any w ith her well administered and easily enforcible p atent laws, has added, through this very agency, a m ost v ital inducem ent for pioneer work in chemical industries. W ho otherwise would dare to take the risk of all the expenses connected w ith this class of creative work? M oreover, w ho would be induced to publish the result of his discoveries far and wide throughout the whole world in that steadily flowing stream of patent literature, which, much sooner than an y text-books or periodicals, enables one worker to be benefited and to be inspired b y the publication of the latest w ork of others?
INTERNATIONAL SCOPE OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH The developm ent of some problems of industrial chem istry has enlisted the brilliant collaboration of men of so m any differ
ent nationalities th at the final success could not, w ith any m eas
ure of justice, be ascribed exclusively to one single race or nation;
this is best illustrated b y the invention of the different methods for the fixation of nitrogen from the air.
T his extraordinary achievem ent, although scarcely a few years old, seems already an ordinary link in the chain of common, current events of our bu sy life; and ye t, the facts connected w ith this recent conquest reveal a m odem tale of great deeds of the race_ an Epos of Applied Science. Its story began the d ay when chem istry tau g h t us how indispensable are the nitrogenous substances for the growth of all living beings.
DEFICIENCY OF NITROGEN FERTILIZERS IN AGRICULTURE Generally speaking, the most" expensive foodstuffs are pre
cisely those w hich contain m ost nitrogen, for the sim ple reason th at there is, and alw ays has been, a t sometime or another, a shortage of nitrogenous foods in the world. A griculture furnishes us these proteid- or nitrogen-containing bodies, w hether we eat them directly as vegetable products, or indirectly as animals which have assim ilated the proteids from plants. I t so happens, however, th at b y our ill-balanced m ethods of agri
culture, we take nitrogen from the soil much faster than it is supplied to the soil through natural agencies. W c have tried to remedy this discrepancy b y enriching the soil w ith manure or other fertilizers, bu t this has been found to tally insufficient, especially w ith our m ethods of intensive culture— our fields w ant more nitrogen. So agriculture has been looking anxiously around to find new sources of nitrogen fertilizer. F or a short time, an excellent supply w as found in the guano deposits of Peru’; but this m aterial "was used up so eagerly th at the supply lasted only a very few years. In the m eantime, the am monium salts recovered from the by-products of the gas-works h ave come into steady use as nitrogen fertilizer. B u t, here again, the supply is entirelv insufficient, and during the later period our m ain reliance has been placed on the natural beds of sodium n itrate which are found in the desert regions of Chile. T h is has been, of late, our principal source of nitrogen for agriculture, as well as for the m any industries w hich require saltpeter or nitric acid.
CHILE SALTPETER AND ITS APPROACHING EXHAUSTION In 1898, Sir W illiam Crookes, in his memorable presidential address before the B ritish Association for th e A dvancem ent of Science, called our attention to the threatening fact th at, at the increasing rate of consumption, the n itrate beds of Chile
CHILE SALTPETER AND ITS APPROACHING EXHAUSTION In 1898, Sir W illiam Crookes, in his memorable presidential address before the B ritish Association for th e A dvancem ent of Science, called our attention to the threatening fact th at, at the increasing rate of consumption, the n itrate beds of Chile