596 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



almost instantaneously, this kind of study is exceedingly difficult. 

 Nevertheless, some progress has been made within the last few 

 years, and the number of chemists who are taking up work in 

 this field is rapidly increasing. They are investigating such mat- 

 ters as the speed of chemical action, the influence of mass upon 

 chemical reactions, and the relations between the phenomena of 

 heat and electricity and chemical action. The best results have 

 come from Russia, Sweden, and France. This branch is frequently 

 referred to as physical chemistry. A number of books treating 

 the subject have recently appeared, and a journal devoted exclu- 

 sively to it has been started within the past year. 



Now that . I have begun to tell of the achievements of chemis- 

 try, I would fain continue ; but, rather than run the risk of weary- 

 ing my readers, I will turn at once to another subject, which I 

 would gladly discuss at some length, but which I shall have to 

 dismiss in a few words. I think I hear the remark : " This is all 

 very well, but I thought chemistry was a practical science. What 

 is the good of all these refined investigations on the nature of the 

 elements and the constitution of chemical compounds ? Can not 

 the chemist find something more practical to work on ? " These 

 questions are constantly asked, and it is clear to me that they 

 need answers. I take it that by the word practical is meant some- 

 thing which has a direct bearing upon our every-day lives. A 

 practical investigation is one that leads to the establishment of 

 some new industry, or it is one which leads to the discovery of 

 some substance which can be used by man. My practical brother, 

 then, has no sympathy with the kind of work I have been speaking 

 of, but demands that the work should be of such character as to 

 lead directly to results which can be utilized at once by mankind. 

 It can not be denied that there is much that is reasonable in this 

 demand. It is right that the results of scientific work should be 

 made available, and that they should be utilized to the fullest 

 extent for the improvement of man's condition. It is impossible 

 to overestimate what we owe to chemistry, and we may confi- 

 dently expect even greater gifts in the future than those which 

 we have already received. Every year some new application of 

 chemical discoveries is made. To whom do we owe the possibility 

 of these applications ? My answer is distinctly : We owe it to 

 those chemists who are engaged in investigations in the field of 

 pure science. Everything that tends to the perfection of the sci- 

 ence of chemistry is of value in connection with the applications 

 of chemical truths. The most refined investigation on the most 

 abstruse chemical subject may furnish a link in a chain of argu- 

 ment — may be the one thing needed to lead to a most important 

 generalization. The interests of the chemical industries and of 

 the pure science of chemistry are identical. I do not ask that my 



