GOLD IN SCIENCE AND IN INDUSTRY. 219 



industrially and comniorcially, the speculative element has been elim- 

 inated. 



Chemistry has so often been called on to play the part of the hum- 

 ble and unrecoonized handmaiden to the industrial arts that we may 

 perhaps be pardoned if in this case Ave call public attention to our 

 Cinderella as she shines in her rightful position as the genius of 

 industrial initiation and direction. 



To this essentially chemical development of metallurgy Ave owe it 

 that in a community whose age can only be counted by decades we 

 find ourselves surrounded by chemists of high scientific skill and 

 attainments who have already organized for their mutual aid and 

 scientific enlightenment " The Johannesburg Society of Chemistry, 

 Metallurgy, and Mining," whose published proceedings amply testify 

 to the atmosphere of intellectual vigor in which the work of this 

 great industry is carried on. 



It appears, then, that while gold still maintains its position of influ- 

 ence in the atfairs of men, the nature of that influence has undergone 

 an important change. Xot only has its widespread use as the chief 

 medium of exchange exercised far-reaching effects on the connnerce 

 of the world, Ijut the vastly increased demand for this purpose has 

 in its turn altered the methods of production. These methods have 

 become more highly organized and scientific, and gold production 

 is now fairly established as a progressive industry, in which scope 

 is found for the best chemical and engineering skill and talent. 



The experience of more highly evolved industries in the older 

 countries has shown that the truly scientific organization of industry 

 includes in its scope a full and just consideration for the social and 

 intellectual needs of its workers from highest to lowest. It augurs 

 well, therefore, for the future of the gold industry, from the humane 

 and social points of view, that its control should be more and more 

 under the influence of men of scientific spirit and intellectual culture, 

 who, we may feel assured, will not forget the best traditions of their 

 class. 



The application of science to industry requires on the part of the 

 ])ioneers and organizers keen and persistent concentration on cer- 

 tain well-defined aims. Any wavering in these aims or any relaxa- 

 tion of this concentration may lead to failure or to only a qualified 

 success. This necessary but narrow concentration may be a danger 

 to the intellectual development of the worker, who may thereby readily 

 fall into a groove and so may become even less efficient in his own 

 particular work. It certainly requires some mental strength to hold 

 fast to the well-defined practical aim while allowing to the attention 

 occasional intervals of liberty to browse over the wide and pleasant 

 fields of science. But I am certain that the acquirement of this 



