EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. YIII. No. 2. 



The Second luternational Congress of Applied Chemistry, held in 

 Paris July 27-August 5, 1896, included much of interest to agricultural 

 chemists. It was attended by Dr. H. W. Wiley as a delegate from this 

 Dei^artmeut, who has furnished the material for the following* state- 

 ments. 



The congress was organized under the patronage of the French Gov. 

 ernment and under the immediate direction of the Association des Chi- 

 mistes de Sucrcrie et de Distillerie de France et des Colonics. Through the 

 Frencli foreign office all the principal Governments were invited to 

 send delegates, and official delegates were present from Austria, Bel- 

 gium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Eussia, Switzerland, and 

 the United States. Between 500 and 600 persons attended the con- 

 gress, but about 2,000 sent their membership subscriptions. 



Although the congress represented the interests of the various 

 branches of applied chemistry, such as the manufacture of sugar and fer- 

 nu'Uted liquors, chemical products, dyestuffs, metallurgy, medical chem- 

 istry, toxicology, pharmacy, electrical chemistry, and photography, 

 as well as agricultural industries, papers and discussions on subjects 

 related to agriculture and agricultural chemistry were perhaps more 

 numerous than in any other line. The participants included many 

 agricultural chemists and investigators of world-wide reputation. 

 There were, for instance, papers on the influence of culture on the 

 chemical and physical jiroperties of the soil, by P. P. Deherain; the 

 assimilability of phosphates, by L. Grandeau; the determination of 

 soil elements assimilable by plants, the phosphate industry, and the 

 ])lan and installation of an agricultural experiment station — the lat- 

 ter by Soillard. The subject of dairying was well represented by 

 papers on the best methods of disinfecting stables and creameries by 

 chemical means, the effect of food on the composition and character of 

 milk and butter, and discussions of the best means of providing cities 

 with ])ure milk and the use of pure cultures in butter and cheese mak- 

 ing. On the latter point the work done in the United States did not 

 seciu to be fully realized. 



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