Abstract
IN a recent issue of the Chemiker Zeitung an attempt is made to show that chemical industry in Europe is gradually increasing its productive capacity ; to such an extent indeed that, after the War, Europe will be entirely independent of Anglo-Saxon domination. Presumably under the beneficent leadership of Germany, together with the organizing and technical skill that this is supposed to include, Europe would no longer need foodstuffs and raw materials from the British Empire : these would be replaced by synthetics, and the reign of Ersatz would be almost universal. A survey is made of the chemical industries of the chief European countries, from which Germany, and, of course, the U.S.S.R., are excluded, as also is Turkey. Many of the data, however, are pre-war, or hopeful forecasts of the future. This is more particularly the case with Italy, where some index figures are quoted for the period 1935-39 to show the rapid rise in her chemical output. In France also, practically all that could be said is that a large company has been formed for the production of synthetic fuel from lignite. It is said to be financed by the Banque de Paris, doubtless backed by German financiers or industrialists ; but it will be three years before the requisite plant, using the Fischer-Tropsch process, can be installed.
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Chemical Industry in Europe. Nature 151, 50 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151050b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151050b0