IDEALS OF CHEMICAL INVESTIGATION/ 



By Theodoke William Richakds. 



In the present address I shall try to put before you some of the 

 ideals of chemical investigation. Our present efforts and our hopes 

 for the future are founded upon past acquisitions ; therefore I shall 

 call your attention first to the gradual development of chemistry. 



Less than three centuries ago an outspoken student of nature some- 

 times faced the grim alternatives of excommunication, imprisonment, 

 or death. To-day he no longer needs to conceal his thoughts in 

 cryptic speech or mystic symbolism. Although the shadow of in- 

 comprehensibility may still darken the langauge of science, mystery 

 is no longer necessary to protect the scientific investigator from per- 

 secution. The generally recognized value of the truth within his 

 domain gives him the right to exist. 



The courage needful for the task of addressing this august assem- 

 bly on a topic concerning chemistry is, therefore, of a different order 

 from the courage required for such a task in the days of Galileo. 

 The problem to-day is not how to obscure the thought, but, rather, 

 how to elucidate its inevitable complications. 



Modern chemistry has had a manifold origin and tends toward a 

 many-sided destiny. Into the fabric of this science men have woven 

 the thought of ancient Greek philosophers, the magic of Arabian 

 alchemists, the practical discoveries of artisans and ingenious chemi- 

 cal experimenters, the doctrine of physicists, the stern and uncompro- 

 mising logic of mathematicians, and the vision of metaphysical 

 dreamers seeking to grasp truths far beyond the reach of mortal 

 sense. The complex fabric enfolds the earth — indeed, the universe — 

 with its far-reaching threads. 



The history of the complicated evolution of chemistry is pro- 

 foundly significant to the student of human thought. Long ago, at 

 the very dawn of civilization, Hindu and Greek philosophers were 

 deeply interested in the problems presented by the nature of the uni- 



1 Oration delivered before tlie Harvard Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa in Sanders The- 

 ater, Cambridge, Mass., on June 19, 1916. Reprinted from Science, N. S., vol. 44, pp. 37-45, 

 July 14, 1916, and Harvard Graduates' Magazine, vol. 25, pp. 1-10, Sept., 1916. 



73839°— SM 1916 15 213 



