92 PRESIDRNTIAL ADDRKSS SIXTION P.. 



into which Ciermany officiall} (hvides material cOiinected witli 

 chemical industry, one of the divisions is " tanning extracts '' 

 and another " dyes and dye material." 



In both these industries, the production of indigo and tannin, 

 the problems are so very similar, that the lesson of the former 

 should be the incentive for the latter in the superlative degree. 

 It is ofttimes the wail of the prohtnionger that the industry will 

 not " stand the expense." and in annual balance-sheets we look 

 in vain for the record of " investments " in the future of the 

 industry itself. The work of the botanist and chemist are the 

 corner stones, upon which these organisations must not only be 

 Intilt up initially, l)ut also must be conducted throughout. Each 

 must have had the highest training possible, must be thoroughly 

 skilled in his work, thoroughly conversant with all that has been 

 done, and must be selected for the work on these grounds and 

 no other. They must be provided, as far as they can be, with- 

 out stint or question with all that they deem necessary for the 

 prosecution of their investigations, and results will follow. The 

 days of rule of thumb experience, the legacy of a former genera- 

 tion, are as dead as the dodo, and he who still clings to them, 

 will be left behind his more enlightened contemporaries as the 

 cab-horse is outdistanced by the aeroplane. The weigh scales 

 and the magnifying glass may have been excellent tools for our 

 great grandfathers, but we desire the microbalance and the 

 ultra-microscope. If in pain, we do not despise the veronal 

 which the chemist has provided for our ease, but as yet we scorn 

 liis aid in the prosecution of our industries. 



Chemical industry requires a complex organisation beginning 

 with the chemist, and ending with the patent agent and adver- 

 tising salesman, sometimes also the machinery for running to 

 earth patent thefts and fraudulent imitations. Its board of 

 control should be self-contained, and consist of rei)resentatives 

 of each of the main branches, whose qualification should be that 

 they have specially studied their own sphere of the work, and 

 been at the same time highly trained therein. Industrial suc- 

 cess at the present day demands this, and illustrations of tlie 

 efficiency and success thereby produced are easily obtained. The 

 number and kind of men required will, of course, vary consider- 

 ably with the particular industry, and in each case requires the 

 exercise of much careful thought before commencing oi)erations. 



But at the outset the chemist is the most im])ortant factor 

 in chemical industry, because it is in the first degree upon his 

 work that the operations depend. This may seem to some a 

 self-evident truth, but. as a chemist. I can give the assurance 

 that it is unfortunately otherwise in most instances in this 

 country with, of course, results which are easily foretold ; in fact, 

 this i^ one of the main reasons, why our chemical products are 

 not up to the standard of imjKirted goods. (liven the chemist 

 and the problem of the industry to be undertaken, the next pro- 

 cedure is its complete investigation, in other words, to ascertain 

 as much as possible of what is already known, for which access 



