528 SCIENTIFIC -RECORD 'FOR -1884. 



The Deutsche chemische Gesellschaft continues" to pro>s])er. At the 

 close of the year 1884 it had 2,901 nieuibers (including 13 honorary 

 members), having gained 170 members during the year. In 1883 the 

 society received 535 original communications, and in 1884, 040; in 1883 

 it published 3,101 pages in its Berichte, and in 1884 3,005 pages, exclu- 

 sive of abstracts, a necrology, and an index, which have an independent 

 pagination. It received from all sources during the year 57,307 marks, 

 and expended about 4,000 marks less. It holds productive properly 

 valued at 68,000 marks. 



At the anniversary meeting of the Chemical Society (of London) held 

 March 31, 1884, the piesident called attention fo the fact that notwith- 

 standing the increased number of laboratories in Great Britain, and 

 greater facilities for the prosecution of research through the aid of the 

 Government grant and the Chemical Society '§ fund, the number of 

 papers read before the society is declining year by year. 



Prof. W. N. Hartley, in Nature, considers somewhat at length the 

 circumstances which have brought about this "startling and anomalous 

 fact." In 1880-'81 the Chemical Society (of Londou) received from its 

 members 113 communications: in 1881-82, ^7 ; in 1883-'84, G7. It is true 

 there are seven other societies which publish chemical pai)ers, besides 

 two in Ireland. The Society of Chemical Industry received in the sec- 

 ond year of its existence (1883-'84) 68 papers. It is evident that the 

 number of communications to the Chemical Society has declined in i)ro- 

 portion as those to the younger Society of Chemical Industry increased. 

 Papers on industrial chemistry abound, those on pure research are rel- 

 atively' few, and in this respect a great contrast is ottered to the work 

 of the German Chemical Society, which publishes 3,000 pages annually 

 of exclusively pure researches. 



Professor Hartley is not willing to admit that the decline of interest in 

 original researches is the fault of the teachers in Engl.md, though he 

 regrets that m~ny professors are obliged to teach several branches of 

 science. He recognizes the influence of the requirements for the de- 

 gree of doctor of philosophy in German universities upon originality of 

 thought, but thinks this alone insufiScient to account for the diSerence. 

 " It is rather that which is not required which is so advantiigeons to 

 students; it is the Lehre und Lehen Freiheit which professors and i)upil8 

 both enjoy." On the Continent the motive for scientific education is 

 mental culture, while in Britain it is utilitarianism ; while the former 

 tends to the advancement of learning, the latter involves nothing further 

 than the diffusion of hiowledge. 



Does not the above criticism of English culture apply to a large ex- 

 tent to the sj'stem of education in America ? 



Cooperative Indexing in Chemistry. — At the Montreal meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science a committee was 

 appointed to devise and inaugurate a plan for the proper indexing of 

 the literature of the chemical elements. This committee reported in 



