El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-10-26
BY
Frank G. Carpenter
Copyright. 1918. by
Frank G. Carpenter
OUR ARMY OF SCIENTISTS IS At WAR Frank G. Carpenter
lust As COMPLETELY AS ANYONE is SsaFs S'a~S
Fores Biologists TOpogphers Doctors Dentists and Other
Scientists Help Pershng Fight Germany

: it out so cheaply that we can compete
] with all the volcanoes on earth We have
| already driven the Italian monopoiists OF
/ this product out Of our country. and are
! making 9S percent Of all the sulphur we
Making Lenses.
! Our army OF scientists is making Us
/ independent Of Germany. as to mauy
l things in the glass industry Before the
war optical glass OF all kinds was made
I By the Germans and ship ed to our fac
. tories When the war broke out we had
] to have field glasses for the army and
/ spyglasses for the navy. There was no
one who could furnish the glass for the
! lenses. but the scientists Of the geophysi-
| cal laboratory and the glass men Of the
country went TO work and we are now
| making enough optical glass for all Of
our needs At that time we were i'm
porting curved crystals for cur watches
and clocks from the Eiassworks Il Thur
/ ingia- a month after the war began
we were making those disks here, and at
the end OF two morths We were turning
| them out cheaper than Germany II Is
/ the same with Photographic glass and
/ photogra phic developers and almost every
thing under the sun along the line OF
Industries Depend on Chemists.
As TO the new inventions OF chemicals
and other wonders accomplished by
Uncle Sans army OF scientists since the
war began their story would fiji many
columns Of this newspaper Almost every
industry is based upon chemical work
Every bit Of fine steel Is tested by the
chemist It Is his researches that keeps
our steel rails from breaking. and the
motor car from going to pieces as It flies
over the road The leather for our shoes
IS now tanned by chemical process. and
the manufactured foods we eat. the
clothes we wear and our heat and light
are based upon the same foundation
At the time they went into the war
the Germans thought that they had a
monopoly OF this branch OF science
They had stolen the discoveries OF the
British. the French and the Swedes: and
they claimed then as their own The
truth is that the greatest OF chemical
discoveries did not come from Germany
Some one has counted up the famous
Of the 18th century only three were
Germans and the same IS true OF the
18th. while most OF those OF the 18th
got their training outside Germany. Lei
big. the most noted OF the German chem
lists. was educated IN France.
Germans Didn't Invent Classes.
Take the matter Of gases. through
which the Germans hoped to drown their
cry OF oxygen was made BY an English
person OF birmingham who afterward
came 70 America and was closely associ-
1ted with Benjamin Franklin This was
Priestley. who experimental on the hub
bles that came ~ in the fermentation
OF beer in a brewery near where he lived
and as a result gave the world its
knowledge Of oxygen This was the most
important chemical discovery ever made
About the same time Scheele. a drug
rist OF Stockholm. discovered cholrins
one OF the chief gases used IN the pres.
eut war, and LaToisier a Frenchman did
much 20 develop the part that oxygen
plays in combustion. Priestley. Scheele
and Lavoisier NAV be called the foun-
ders OF modern chemistry. and not one
or them was q German Hydrogen was
discovered by Cavendish. an Engllshnnan.
and sodium By Davy OF London.
It IS claimed that no element IN air.
water or salt has been discovered by
Germans and that this iE true OF all
the elements found in 1900 different
substances. including all the synthetic
compounds used in the worlds trade Coal
gas for lighting was brought forth by
William Murdoch IN 1872. and coal tar
was first distilled by Clayton in 1856
Both were EnElishmen- Naphthalene and
benzol were English discoveries
Toiuene and pierre acid. the coal-tsr
naseA OF the nlEn eAplosifss We -
using today, originated in the Laboratories
Of London. and the coal-tar dyes which
Germany claims her own were first
made in England and then snuggled into
Most OF the explosives which the scien-
lists Of the kaiser are adopting TO guns
hand crenades and shells Of various kinds
came from foreign sources Dynamite
nate Of mercury by Howard. an English
man. and smokeless powder by Neille. a
Frenchman- Chlorine gas was largely dis
covered by Cellini, an italian. and Dr.
Charles z. Monroe. our we'll known 'spe-
cialist on explosives says that the two
leaders in the discoveries OF explosives
have been Abel OF England and Berthe
let Of France
Most OF the new discoveries are made
by the British. French and Americans
The Germans watch the scientific work OF
the rest Of the world. and are quick to
take advantage Of every new thing They
steal the chemical secrets OF other na-
tons. and use them IN their Industries
as their own. employing every trick OF
trade 10 monopolize the results
The Matter OF Dyes
This has been especially so as 70 dye
stuffs. OF which at the time the war
broke out Germany was making four
ffths or more OF all used upon earth We
were then employing something like 500
artificial dyes OF dyestuffs and most Of
them came from Germany The processes
Of making them were looked upon as
secrets. and most people thought they
were the discoveries OF the German chem
lists. The bulk came from coal-tar prod
ucts. and practically no one else made
such colors for export The truth IS Great
Britain originated the coal-tar dye. and
a British parson- Dr. Clayton. dean OF