I9I4] Editorials 535 



They are not of recent origin. They have undergone an evolution 

 extending far backwards towards the era of primitive man. What 

 is new about them is a widely general and rapidly increasing recog- 

 nition of them as the most trustworthy methods man has devised 

 for the discovery of truth and the eradication of error. Along with 

 this recognition there has gone on, and is still going on, a gradual 

 elimination of Homeric illusions and fallacies ; so that male as well 

 as f emale witches must be abandoned by all except the more atavistic, 

 while the appellation " genius " in the singular as well as in the plural 

 is becoming one of doubtful compliment. We are Coming to under- 

 stand also that while there may occur flashes of wit, and even of 

 wisdom, from abnormal types of mind, the more effective emana- 

 tions of both wit and wisdom are to be expected from normal and 

 patiently contemplative types. And thus the more striking results 

 of research, quite commonly in the past attributed to wizards and 

 to genii, and still so attributed by a majority, probably, of contem- 

 porary writers for the populär press, are now understood by the 

 thoughtful to be products rather of industry, sanity and prolonged 

 labor than of any superhuman faculties. (Woodward: Science, 

 1914, xl, pp. 221-227.) 



Industrial chemistry has been defined as " the chemistry of dol- 

 lars and cents." This rather cynical definition, in its narrower 

 interpretation, seems to ignore entirely the far-reaching economic 

 and civilizing influences which have been brought to life through 

 the applications of science; it falls to do justice to the fact that the 

 whole fabric of modern civilization becomes each day more and ever 

 more interwoven with the endless ramifications of applied chemistry. 



Fortunately, true science, contrary to other human avocations, 

 recognizes nobody as an " authority," and is willing to change her 

 belief s as often as better studied facts Warrant it; this difference has 

 been the most vital cause of her never ceasing prögress. 



To the younger generation, surrounded with research labora- 

 tories everywhere, it may cause astonishment to learn that scarcely 

 fifty years ago, that great benefactor of humanity, Pasteur, was still 



