446 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



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 understood. 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 methods among the leaders of chemical industry, the fruits 

 of technical education can not be reaped. Carl Otto Weber, speaking 

 of this move towards 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 development in Eng- 

 land 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 chemist 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; we 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 in our universities 

 and colleges. It is assumed that American industries based on 



