PRESENT PROBLEMS 697 



to this question there are two factors both of which deeply affect 

 the future growth of chemical industry. The first is the attitude 

 of the manufacturer towards science and scientific work; the second 

 is the training of the coming chemist. 



When a few years ago England awakened to the fact that many 

 industries in which she was the pioneer and at one time the leader 

 were in the main passing to other countries, there went up a great cry 

 for "technical education." The nature of the industrial stimulus 

 which has borne such magnificent fruit in Germany was not under- 

 stood. In the minds of many a panacea for all their difficulties was 

 to be found in the technical education of the working classes. But 

 this is unquestionably a mistake. Until there is a love of science for 

 its own sake and an appreciation of the value of scientific method 

 among the leaders of chemical industry, the fruits of technical 

 education cannot be reaped. Carl Otto Weber, speaking of this move 

 toward a more general scientific education in England, says: "Until 

 the nation, as a whole, recognizes that the prosecution of scientific 

 study as a mere means of money-making is a profanation defeating 

 its own end, the history of industrial developments in England will 

 afford the same melancholy spectacle in this as in the last century, 

 technical education notwithstanding." 



The time is past when a factory can be run by rule of thumb ; when 

 the chemist is looked down upon simply as a testing-machine to be 

 kept at a distance and generally mistrusted. It is true that there are 

 many men to-day who pass under the name of chemists who are little 

 more than testing-machines; men who possess the ability to do 

 nothing more than the most strictly routine analysis; but such men 

 will never solve the technical problems of the present or any other 

 time. I would not impugn the dignity or intrinsic value of analytical 

 work - - it is the corner-stone of all chemical investigation. But I 

 would emphasize the fact, for it is a fact, that the manufacturer who 

 employs a so-called chemist, one trained to " do " coppers or carbons, 

 or acids, and who at the same time expects this chemist to improve 

 his process and keep his business in the skirmish-line of the industrial 

 battle, must eventually be numbered among the " not accounted for." 



The second factor in this answer is the training of the coming 

 chemist. What is the reply to that now so oft -repeated question: 

 What is the best preparation for a technical chemist? I am personally 

 of the opinion that it is not to be found in the teaching of applied 

 chemistry as this term is generally understood. This training must 

 provide for something more than simply copying the present - 

 doing as well as others do; it must build for the future. We must 

 provide men who are prepared to solve the unsolved problems. 

 Within the last few months much has been said and written in 

 America about the lack of adequate instruction in technical chemistry 



