The French Congress of Industrial Chemistry

Abstract

THE fifth French Congress of Industrial Chemistry was opened at Paris on October 4, under the auspices of the Societe de Chimie Industrielle, and was organised in conjunction with the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs at the Grand Palais and with the centenary of Chevreul's discoveries of the nature of fats and his manufacture of the stearine candle. The Congress was preceded by a series of non-technical addresses on the applications of chemistry to a number of industries, and by a reception at the Grand Palais. The formal opening of the Congress on October 5 was presided over by Monsieur de Monzie, the Minister of Public Instruction; it included an address by Sir Robert Hadfield on his own recollections of metallurgy in France. The Congress then resolved itself into sixteen sections, in each of which important papers on many branches of chemical industry were read and discussed. The official banquet was held at the Palais d'Orsay, the chair being taken by Monsieur E. Borel, Minister for the Marine, and the formal adjournment of the Congress took place on October 8 under the presidency of Monsieur C. Chaumet, Minister of Commerce. The following two days were spent in visits to works, one group of those present inspecting factories in the neighbourhood of Paris and a second travelling to Grenoble to visit the international exhibition of water-power and works in the vicinity.