Chemical Products and Appliances at the Paris International Exhibition

Abstract

I SEE that attention has been called in these columns to the excellence of the German catalogue of instruments of precision distributed at the recent Exhibition. It will be of interest if, as a member of the jury representing Great Britain for Class 87, I may be permitted to add that the German catalogue explanatory of the collective chemical exhibits of that country is also a remarkable production, worthy of a permanent place on our library shelves. Copies of this work, printed and got up in a highly artistic way with German text, were distributed among the members of the jury by my friend, Geh. Rath. Dr. Otto N. Witt, the titular member representing Germany on our jury. A French edition was afterwards to be had on application to the custodian of the German exhibits. The work consists of over 200 pages, each embellished with a coloured floral design as a heading, and contains a general introduction, giving an account of the development of German chemical industry, the value of the production in this branch of manufacture for the year 1897 being estimated at 47,395,132l. (947,902,645 marks). The introductory part, which is from the pen of Dr. Witt, is followed by a special part containing the history, an account of the nature of the products manufactured, the equipment of the factory and scale of production, and a list of the exhibits of each of the ninety firms represented in the collective exhibit. Those who visited the Exhibition and made an examination of the chemical exhibits of the various countries will have formed their own conclusions as to their respective positions in the scale of chemical industry. At any rate, it is not the object of this letter to institute invidious comparisons—I merely wish to point out that it is not only in instruments of precision that the German catalogue reveals the industrial eminence of that country.