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ANTONIO GONZÁLEZ BUENO Y RAÚL RODRÍGUEZ NOZAL AN. R. ACAD. NAC. FARM.

science, aimed at analysing and attempting to meet the enemy, with
both the arms of science and industrial progress.

The British effort was worthy of praise, although not as produc-
tive as would have been wished; the self-critical analysis of the caus-
es that provoked industrial weakening and the possible recipes for
trying to palliate their disadvantageous situation with respect to Ger-
many, were amply debated subjects in scientific, commercial and po-
litical forums throughout the first quarter of the 20th century. The key
to their failure was the same that had propitiated the German tri-
umph: namely, industrial scientific training at high level and develop-
ment of applied research. The solutions to overcome this situation lay,
obviously, in the emulation of the only possible model, that followed
by Germany, eg., the design of an ad hoc educative infrastructure, and
entrepreneurial investment in chemical research.

The manufacture of dyestuffs is a paradigmatic example of this sit-
uation. This industry, born in England after the discovery of mauveine
by William Henry Perkins, was soon to be snatched from them (14). In
1913, England imported 17.000 tonnes of artificial dyestuffs, of which
90% corresponded to operations in which Germany was the remittent
and the remainder came from Switzerland. In an attempt to lift this de-
pendency, at least partially, possibly for motives of national pride, the
British government became involved in a project to create a national
industry of dyestuffs with state capital. This project took the form of
The British Dyes Co. Ltd., which, after its fusion (1918) with other fac-
tories, became known as British Dyestuff Corporation. With a very strong
protectionist policy against colouring materials made outside England,
this Society started off its career in the difficult market of derivates of
coaltar (15). The British effort was to produce an important increase in
these products and a descent in importations, although at the cost of
an important deficit originating from multiple factors, among which an
insufficient domestic market and the rather weak uncompetitive export
resources can be highlighted, precisely, associated to the protection
measures laid down by the British government.

Following in the footsteps of Germany, England attempted to re-
solve these problems by means of business concentration. The results
of these efforts were an integrated British Chemical, formed by the
merger of the United Alkali Co., the Nobels Co. and the Brummer Mond,

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