All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

270 All About Inventions for contingencies, could easily be doubled, and that without bringing a further acre of ground under cultivation. But, fortunately for the older countries, where the saltpetre is absolutely indispensable, the wheat raisers in the new territories have turned a deaf ear and a blind eye towards achievements of this character. Had they accepted the lesson thus taught, and decided to profit from science, they would have created such a demand for the natural fertiliser as would have been absolutely beyond the limits of those mining the mineral. Moreover, there was another alarming circumstance. Although the saltpetre beds of Chile are gigantic, they are not inexhaustible; and if the maximum demand were suddenly imposed throughout the world they would speedily be worked out, or the price of the fertiliser be forced to such a high figure as to become prohibitive to all but the wealthiest farmers. Our chemists realised the critical situation which might arise. Forthwith efforts were made to deter- mine whether it were not possible to reproduce a fertiliser comparable with the Chilian nitrate of soda upon a commercial scale and at such a low figure as to be able to compete with the latter. If this end were accomplished, then the exhaustion of the natural nitrate beds would not affect the welfare of the nations, while at the same time a successful synthetic article of equal value would prevent the Chilian article rising to a prohibitive price in consonance with the well-known law of supply and demand. The problem attracted scientific circles mainly because there was every indication that success might