5 24 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



common alcohol *' methyl-carbinol," and they ignore the euphony in 

 such words as pentamethyldiamidothiodiphenylamindiiodomethylate (a 

 substance begotten and baptized by Dr. Albert Maasen). 



Those whose chemical education consisted in attendance on a course 

 of lectures illustrated by experiments performed in their presence, in- 

 terspersed with occasional recitations from a prosaic text-book which 

 taxed the memory in true Chinese fashion, may be pardoned for re- 

 taining very hazy impressions of the true character of the science. On 

 the other hand, many thinking and reading persons recognize the mag- 

 nitude of the scope and operations of chemistry, and have some appre- 

 ciation of its benefits to mankind. 



The fields of chemistry explored by zealous investigators are pro- 

 digious in extent and diversity ; in its various sections, analytical, agri- 

 cultural, pharmaceutical, physiological, and technological, it yields fruit 

 of infinite value to the human race, and, co-operating with other sci- 

 ences, produces results which promote civilization in the highest de- 

 gree. So rapidly are new methods of cultivation applied to these 

 fields, so numerous and active are the workmen engaged in tilling 

 them, that the harvest is too abundant for mental storage, and those 

 who survey the operations at a distance are quite unable to apprehend 

 the products. This inability to follow the advances made by chemical 

 science is felt not alone by those whose imperfect and non-technical 

 training has illy fitted them for the task ; even the specialist stands 

 aghast at the prospect, and, abandoning attempts to apprehend the 

 progress made in all departments, confines his reading and research to 

 a limited number. 



The twelve principal chemical societies of the world have an aggre- 

 gate membership of nearly nine thousand ; * almost all of these mem- 

 bers are actively contributing to the advancement of chemical science, 

 publishing their results for the most part in periodicals especially de- 

 voted to the subject. Excluding transactions of societies and journals 



* The membership in these societies is distributed as follows : 



Deutsche chemische Gesellschaft zu Berlin 2,950 



Society of Chemical Industry (England) 2,400 



Chemical Society of London 1,500 



Societe chimique de Paris 560 



Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland 430 



American Chemical Society 250 



Society of Public Analysts (England) 180 



Chemical Society of St. Petersburg 160 



Associazione chimico-farmaceutica fiorentina *200 



Chemical Society of Tokio, Japan 86 



Chemical Society of Washington, D. C 48 



Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (U. S. A.) 1*7 



Total 8,781 



* Estimated. Many chemists are members of several of the above societies, but 

 against this duplication may be set those not connected with societies. 



