no POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ciated may be seen in the fact that from ten to twenty persons profit 

 by this privilege every evening. On this evening persons are present 

 for the purpose of writing letters for those unable to write, and also 

 to draw up legal documents for such as need them. 



Mr. Adma van Scheltema — a name closely identified with every 

 good work in Amsterdam— has organized in Our House art loan 

 exhibits. For one half of the days during which the exhibit is open 

 there is no charge for admission, while a slight fee is exacted on the 

 other days. From these exhibitions much pleasure as well as instruc- 

 tion has been derived, and, located in a section which sends but few 

 visitors to the art museums, one can realize that they perform a good 

 work, as missionaries in cultivating the people's taste. 



Such is, in short, an account of a practical charity — a charity, 

 in truth, not because something is furnished for nothing, but that so 

 much is given in return for so little. During the past year more than 

 three thousand persons were registered as enjoyers of the privileges 

 offered. Mr. Janssen gave the building and in one sense endowed 

 the work; Mr. Tours gives his time, wisdom, and energy in direct- 

 ing its affairs ; they both ask the wiser men and women of the city to 

 give a few hours of each month or year. They have not asked in 

 vain, and the cheerful responses give promise of the coming of the 

 time when the only answer to the question, " Am I my brother's 

 keeper? " will be an energetic " Yes." 



SKETCH OF FRANK WIGGLESWORTH CLARKE. 



THE great advance which chemical science has made in the 

 United States during the past thirty years has been brought 

 about by the joint operation of several factors, of which we may 

 mention the formation and the influence of chemical societies seeking 

 to further its development, the intelligent labors of individual in- 

 vestigators cultivating special fields, and the systematic pursuit of 

 experimental work with reference to certain definite results. In this 

 shaping of chemical research in such a way as to make it most 

 efficient, the work and influence of Frank Wigglesworth Clarke have 

 been prominent and important. His own labors have been indus- 

 triously and unselfishly pursued with an eye to the advancement of 

 the science, and their value has been generally recognized. It seems 

 as if he had taken to himself a hint thrown out in one of his earlier 

 scientific papers, and, giving up the transient glory of brilliant ex- 

 periments, had devoted himself to setting the science as far forward 

 as possible in single branches. 



