THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



169 



No industry is so closely allied to science as 

 the chemical industry, in which, it is true, one 

 can arrive at a snail's pace to new results with- 

 out the use of scientific means, but in which 

 definite results can only be obtained when the 

 active powers therein are in close relation with 

 the science, or, better still, when they are au- 

 thorities on the special field they have chosen 

 for their labors He that in technical chemistry 

 relies without scientific support on empiricism, 

 is like the blind who can grope his way along 

 known thoroughfares but cannot advance on 

 unknown roads, and if he should succeed after 

 innumerable difficulties, passes along without 

 noticing the points of interest. 



The technical chemist makes use, in the first 

 place, of chemical reactions, in which the indi- 

 vidual developments are not visible, but take 

 their course in secret. The machinery and appa- 

 ratus which we need serve only as assistants to 

 bring the chemical reactions to perfect activity. 

 They are only means to an end. Chemical re- 

 actions cannot be compared to an engine, in 

 which every action is shown by the movement 

 of the wheels, in which any irregularity is im- 

 mediately visible, and can be observed at once 

 by the engineer. In technical chemistry the 

 sharp eye of a trained man is wanted, trained 

 through science, in theory and practice, in order 

 to recognize the individual developments of a 

 reaction that is in course of progress, and will 

 not be seen directly, but only through the ac- 

 companying symptoms. That is the reason why 

 in technical chemistry we do not observe an 

 advance from good to better unless the best and 

 strongest powers exert the whole of their knowl- 

 edge and will. We technical chemists find, 

 even in the most simple chemical reactions, the 

 most remarkable complications, the removal of 

 which can only be accomplished in a prompt 

 and sure manner by a chemist who is intimately 

 accquainted with all the details of his science. 

 So, for instance, it is generally thought that the 

 production of an Azo color is technically the 

 most simple thing imaginable. One requires 

 only to mix a certain quantity of a Diazo com- 

 pound with a certain quantity of an Amio or a 

 Phenol, and the formation of the Azo Dye takes 

 place at once without any further trouble, in a 

 perfect quantitative manner. Far from it. Cer- 

 tainly, if one mixes the right components one 

 can obtain a Dye stuff, but since the struggle 

 for life demands that pure products in quantita- 

 tive yield shall be produced, it requires the con- 

 centrated work of chemical research to de- 

 termine all the details of the conditions that 



bring about the combination. In this case the 

 manner and form of the Diazo compound, the 

 manner and quantity of the solvent, the tem- 

 perature and rapidity with which the two bodies 

 come together and become chemically com- 

 bined, and the purity of the two components 

 are of the greatest importance. In the color 

 industry, even at the present time, in the man- 

 ufacture of the simplest colors, the most impor- 

 tant results are matured by constant observation, 

 experimenting and control during the process 

 of fabrication. 



In the other branches of chemistry the same 

 conditions prevail. As an instance, I may cite 

 the manufacture of Sulphuric acid anhydrid, 

 the fuming Sulphuric acid, for, although the 

 method of producing this chemical substance 

 has been know for years, it has been possible 

 by constant observation and experimenting to 

 perfect the manufacture, so, that the formerly 

 expensive product is now sold at a price never 

 before thought of. Ten years ago it cost 

 about twenty times as much as concentrated 

 Sulphuric Acid, but now it is so cheap that a 

 Sulphuric Acid of high per centage can be made 

 by mixing the weak acid with Sulphuric Acid, 

 anhydrid. 



It is scarcely necessary to point out that for 

 such an industry the education of its operators 

 is one of the greatest importance. 



Chemistry, as a science as well as an industry, 

 is like electrotechnics, a child of the nineteenth 

 century. Technical chemistry, with its power- 

 ful influence on public life, only dates from the 

 middle of this century, and it has started on its 

 course of victory even much later. It is there- 

 fore clear that the proprietors of chemical works, 

 the representatives of chemical industry, are 

 often not convinced of the necessity of employ- 

 ing in their works, men thoroughly well trained 

 in general scientific education. The conse- 

 quences will, however, teach that all those who 

 occupy the old standpoint, and allow their 

 chemists only a consultative branch in their 

 laboratories, who do not confide to them the 

 secrets of their business, but leave this to prac- 

 tically trained technical men, or even to their 

 laborers, must go back, or at least remain on 

 the same spot, whilst others who take advantage 

 of the above lessons, go forward. Nowhere, in 

 any other field, is the saying, "inactivity is re- 

 trogression," so applicable as in the chemical 

 field, where constantly every new invention 

 annihilates the older, and where not only tech- 

 nics, but especially science go forward in so 

 quick a manner. Not only technical chemistry 



