Day of a Scientist 173 



the chairmanship of the President's panel on new frontiers 

 in chemistry or whatever it is." 



"Gee, Mac, that's quite an honor both for you and the 

 department," said Bill with an honest note of admiration 

 and pride in his voice. "I always knew you were good, but 

 I didn't realize that others would think you are ready to 

 step into Peter's shoes. Anyhow it's obvious you won't have 

 any time for the lab until the new term begins. I'll tell Marc 

 he can pick up your spectrophotometer this week." 



"Hey, wait a minute," groaned Professor Macintosh. 

 "Maybe it's OK to let it go until Christmas, but I want 

 some guarantee that it will be back in good working con- 

 dition. I don't want to spend a couple of weeks cleaning 

 it up and another month waiting for new parts." 



"Put your mind at rest," replied Bill, relieved that the 

 negotiation had gone off so easily. "I give you my word 

 it will be back on January first in tip-top condition all ready 

 to go. I'll even see that it has all the new accessories that 

 have come out since it was delivered. Thanks a lot and 

 good luck with the review." 



With that Bill got up, lit a cigarette, and went out to 

 tell Mrs. MacAvoy to call Marc and tell him he could pick 

 up the Perkin Elmer. Two or three other students had rela- 

 tively simple questions he could deal with while standing 

 in front of Mrs. MacAvoy's desk, and one of the younger 

 but very brilliant boys wanted him to just look at a crystal- 

 lized enzyme he had just produced as the triumphant end 

 of some six months' work. Bill was dehghted to hold the 

 bottle up to the light, to shake the bottle slightly to separate 

 out a couple of the largest crystals for a better look, and 

 to make the appropriate appreciative noises. 



"Congratulations, Bob. You know well enough that I 

 was afraid you had taken on too big a job for a starter. Now 

 you've got it six months ahead of time. But I guess you 



