The War and Chemical Industry

Abstract

ON the occasion of the annual meeting of the Society of Chemical Industry, of which an account appeared in NATURE of July 22, there was a notable change in the character of its business as compared with that of previous annual gatherings. We learn from Prof. Henderson's presidential address that, in the opinion of the society's council, too much of the time over which the meeting extends had hitherto been devoted to purely social functions, and that in the past no sufficient advantage had been taken of the opportunity afforded by such an assemblage of technologists to lecture them on matters which superior persons might hold to be for their general good. No doubt the council, like the rest of us, is impressed with the seriousness of the strenuous and critical times in which we are living. Whatever semblance of frivolity may have hitherto characterised these annual gatherings obviously would be out of place on the present occasion. Accordingly, with the co-operation of the Manchester section, a special programme was arranged which should at once be “topical” and illustrative of the good resolutions of the council.