but it is not a prohibition for which the present Government can claim any credit. Far from it. It is indeed a revelation of the dangers to which we are brought by the neglect of science when in the most terrible crisis of our national history 'success or failure in arresting the supply of materials for making German explosives depends upon the patriotism of a firm willing to sacrifice their profits for the sake of national gain, instead of upon a Government issuing resolute orders based upon expert knowledge'. Equally disturbing was the receipt of a letter from a business man who was patriotically helping the nation, asking me, a naturalist, for advice about oils and fats, because to seek such information through Government channels was 'at best a lengthy and unsatisfactory method'.
The following letter from Sir William Ramsay shows that our French allies are fully alive to the danger which our Government refuses to avert: 'I am constantly having letters from France asking me to do my best to make fats [and oils] and their sources contraband. It is the last stuff required for ammunition by the Germans. Copper, nitrate, cotton are now absolute contraband: fats remain. One-third of German ammunition for heavy guns consists of nitro-glycerine; and fats [and oils] are the only source of glycerine. I really can't understand the incredible folly of going on providing these brutes with the means of killing our men.' And Lord Robert Cecil is positively amazed when we say that the Government allows Germany to be provided with ammunition for this very purpose.
What a grave responsibility has been incurred by the Government in deciding these vital issues without scientific evidence, and in clinging to their mistake in spite of the efforts of those who know. Untold thousands