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

278 All About Inventions shall be in close proximity to the source of energy for producing electricity. In Norway and the United States the two necessaries are found together ; hence the profitable exploitation of the processes for ex- tracting nitrates from the atmosphere. In the United Kingdom this industry is unknown—at least for producing fertilisers. It is certain that the manufacture of these nitrates from atmospheric nitrogen will undergo a tremendous development with the advance of scientific knowledge. The chemists are toiling busily in this field of research. At the present moment the synthetic—or rather atmospheric—saltpetre is not only enabling us to increase our supply of wheat per acre, but is exercising a decided influence upon other industries in which the Chilian nitrate at present holds sway, such as the manufacture of explosives, celluloid, perfumes, dyes, and so on. That the ability to “ fix ” atmospheric nitrogen upon a commercial scale has brought us to the thres- hold of a new world is only too apparent. The achieve- ments of the laboratory can successfully drive away the spectre of starvation among the bread-eating peoples of the world by ensuring our wheat supply.