DEPARTMENT X CHEMISTRY 



(Hall 5, September 20, 4.15 p. m.) 



CHAIRMAN: PROFESSOR JAMES M. CRAFTS, Massachusetts Institute of Techno- 

 logy. 

 SPEAKERS: PROFESSOR JOHN U. NEF, University of Chicago. 



PROFESSOR FRANK W. CLARKE, Chief Chemist, U. S. Geological 



Survey. 



THE Chairman of the Department of Chemistry was Professor 

 James M. Crafts, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who 

 in opening the work of the Department spoke of the great stimulus 

 which American chemists owed to European laboratories and the 

 lively remembrance of the freedom of these laboratories and priceless 

 instruction given. The application which Americans make of the 

 scientific methods acquired abroad are characteristic of our nation- 

 ality, but at the same time strongly reminiscent of other sources. 



The decade within which this Congress meets has been one of 

 extraordinary interest in the history of chemistry. I say a decade, 

 although perhaps I should say a half-decade, since we are told by the 

 British Premier, addressing the meeting for the advancement of 

 science at Cambridge, that "until five years ago our race has without 

 exception lived and died in a world of illusions." His admirably 

 turned periods appear to signalize our old conceptions of the consti- 

 tution of matter as the chief among illusions, and he seems to look 

 forward to the immediate replacement of the false doctrine by a 

 more idealistic conception of the universe. The atomic theory is 

 naturally dismissed with censure, and thus we have taken away from 

 us those blocks with which we built so happily our toy houses in the 

 days of our innocent, childish faith. The last Faraday lecturer has 

 been less cruel, for although he has no faith in the indivisibility of 

 atoms, from which we can knock off electrons, nor in the individu- 

 ality of the elements, his criticism is not merely negative, but, like 

 a truly scientific engineer, he offers us a new model for our construc- 

 tions. Professor Ostwald invites us to enter a beautiful stalactite 

 cavern, groping, indeed, in some obscurity, but with the vision of 

 a brighter light beyond. 



The observations of the Rontgen and Becquerel rays have led in 

 Germany, France, England, and Canada to a study of emanations, 

 which has been distinguished by extreme skill in the invention of new 

 methods and by the minute study of phenomena, which seemed even 

 a year ago beyond the reach of human ingenuity. 



