6G JOIEXAL OF THE MiTCHELL SOCIETY [NoV, 



verity, and men of all nations must work together if the 

 greatest progress is to be realized. The unfortunate recrimi- 

 nations of men of science, so widely heralded in recent 

 months, will eventually be replaced by those nobler feelings 

 of brotherhood which lie deep in the hearts of all whose life- 

 work has been the search for truth. 



Meanwhile, chemistry is suffering a staggering blow ; the 

 call for men in European armies has almost depopulated 

 university laboratories, the gripping realities of war have ab- 

 sorbed the thought and interest of many of the leaders of our 

 science, and the shrinkage of many chemical journals, as 

 already evidenced in our own ''Chemical Abstracts," bears 

 abundant witness to the lean years that are just before us. 

 That this sterility of production is to be extended far beyond 

 the actual duration of the war period is emphasized by the 

 ages of the men who constitute the bulk of the armies. The 

 loss of such young men, the leaders of the next generation, 

 casts its shadow before. 



How does this situation affect us here where the curse of 

 war has not fallen ? Surely we would be false to our science, 

 to ourselves and to humanity if we did not strive with re- 

 (loul)led effort to make good this present and oncoming de- 

 ficiency so far as in our power lies. 



It would be a work of supererogation for me to make any 

 plea for research or to attempt its justification before the 

 members of the American Chemical Society ; for this organi- 

 zation embraces within its now more than seven thousand 

 members that great l)ody of men whose tireless efforts have 

 within the last two decades so richly increased chemical 

 literature, and the pul)lications of this society show annually 

 increased volume in the preservation and dissemination of 

 the records of such research. The ever-present struggle be- 

 tween the makers of the budget and the pressing claims of the 

 editors of our jouninls is sufficient proof of the rapid growth 

 of research in America. Happily the day has passed when 

 our chemists felt the need of publication in foreign journals 

 to insure wide hearing. All honor to the men who earlv de- 



