The Regeneration of the British Scientific Instrument Trade After the War

Abstract

MUCH attention is being paid at present to the capture of Germany's foreign trade after the war, and the same arguments that apply in other spheres hold good for the scientific instrument trade as well. The Germans, thanks to their efficient organisation and methods of education, had been able, at the time the war broke out, to attain a supreme position in this branch of their export trade. To quote one instance from statistics: Germany exported to “Russia alone, in 1913, mathematical, physical, and chemical instruments to the value of nearly two millions sterling, and chemical and pharmaceutical products to almost the same amount. While corresponding figures are not available in a complete form for similar British products, there is every reason to believe that they represent only a small fraction of these amounts.