Society of Public Analysts 105 



times feels at the miserable wages (the word "salary" would be 

 out of place) offered to men who have devoted several years and a 

 not inconsiderable sum of money to their training, yet, on the other 

 band, the young chemist seeking a position should remember that 

 his future lies very largely in bis own hands. The chemical manu- 

 facturer is not a philanthropist, neither is he a fool. Whilst he is 

 obviously disinclined to pay a big salary or to make a binding agree- 

 ment until he knows something of the capabilities of the man he is 

 engaging, he will be equally anxious not to lose that man's Services 

 should he prove himself thoroughly capable and useful. 



Again, the manufacturer on his side must understand that in 

 engaging the Services of a young chemist from one of our Univer- 

 sities he is getting the partly-manufactured material, and not the 

 finished product. He should be told that his future employee is 

 merely a v^^ell-trained apprentice who knows how to use the tools of 

 his craft, but who will have to be given time in which to find his 

 feet and to learn something of the new conditions under which he 

 will have to work. It is here that our University Professors can do 

 much to prevent misunderstanding and disappointment by pointing 

 out to manufacturers the limitations of the men whom they may be 

 recommending. 



A good many manufacturers (I am not, of course, referring to 

 the heads of large concems where many chemists are employed, and 

 where their functions are thoroughly well understood and appreci- 

 ated) do not always know very clearly what they want. They have 

 a vague idea that some sort of chemical assistance is necessary in a 

 modern factory, and they consequently go to one of our Colleges and 

 State that they want "a chemist." As one of the objects of our 

 Colleges is very properly to find employment for the men they have 

 trained, he is offered the Services of a man who has perhaps just 

 finished his chemical course, but who knows little or nothing of the 

 nature of industrial chemistry or the requirements of the factory. 

 He has done his work industriously and well, and perhaps with dis- 

 tinction, and his Professor is obviously justified on general grounds 

 in recommending him highly. 



It is at this point, however, that the trouble to which I have 

 alluded commences for the young man in question is offered to the 



