388 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



clusiou of scores, and eventually of thousands and millions. That 

 which in nature was as much theirs as his is now his alone. That 

 which should have flowed in many channels, shallow, but suflicient to 

 fertilize, has been carried in a single stream, deep and full, but com- 

 paratively useless — mostly wasted. Much of the waste is seen clearly 

 and painfully enough in the profuse and extravagant style of living, 

 where one consumes what would decently maintain a thousand. 

 When the properties of the country are thus piled up on a foundation 

 of gigantic wrong, it would be unreasonable to expect a full measure 

 of national health and prosperity, or that it should be really well with 

 the people. — Nineteenth Century. 



SCIENCE m ITS USEFUL APPLICATIONS. 



By Dr. WILLIAM ODLING, F. E. S. 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE INSTITUTE OF CHEM- 

 ISTRY. * 



BY the attainment of our incorporation by royal charter, in lieu of 

 the articles of association by which we have, until now, been 

 banded together, we become for the first time an ofiicially recognized 

 professional body, known ofiicially to Government, and both to mu- 

 nicipal and to other professional bodies. Further than this, we have 

 had formal acknowledgment made of our fitness to be charged with 

 certain public duties and responsibilities, and have established our 

 claim to be intrusted with correlative rights and privileges. Our pro- 

 fession, the public utility and importance of which have, in this way, 

 received at length so formal a recognition, is one that we may all of 

 us feel a just pride in belonging to. It is not, indeed, with bated 

 breath that we need speak of ourselves as professional chemists. 

 Chemistry, indeed, as a branch of knowledge, pertains not alone to the 

 student, but exists also for the practitioner, and still more for the pub- 

 lic. Of exceptional interest as a subject of study, it is of scarcely 

 less interest from its manifold practical applications, and as a contrib- 

 utor to the daily wants and enjoyments of the community, a commu- 

 nity in which all are bound up with another, and are under obligation 

 to render services to one another. Nowadays, the ever-extending and 

 increasingly complex wants of the community create a greater and 

 greater demand for what are known as professional services, and for 



* The original Institute of Chemistry was organized in England in 1877, under the 

 presidency of Dr. Frankland, its second president being Sir Frederick Abel. It was reor- 

 ganized in 1885, and incorporated under the title of the " Institute of Chemistry of Great 

 Britain and Ireland." The present president is Dr. Odling, who gave his inaugural ad- 

 dress before the new organization November Gth, and which is here given, with omission 

 of the preliminary part, which is chiefly of local English interest. 



