CHEMICAL INVESTIGATIONS — RICHARDS. 221 



But we may well ask: What use in the years to come will man- 

 kind make of this knowledge gained step by step through the eager 

 study of many investigators? 



Chemistry has, indeed, a many-sided destiny. A mere catalogue 

 of the countless applications of the science, which underlies many 

 other sciences and arts, would demand time far exceeding the limits 

 of this brief discourse. Some of the more obvious uses of chemistry 

 have become daily topics in the public press. America is gradually 

 awakening to the consciousness that, because every material object 

 is composed of chemical elements and possesses its properties by 

 virtue of the nature of these elements, chemistiy enters more or less 

 into everything. We perceive that chemical manufactures must be 

 fostered, and also that chemical knowledge must be applied in many 

 other industries not primarily of a chemical nature. Although 

 chemistry plays so prominent and ghastly a role in war, her gi'eatest 

 and most significant contributions are toward the arts of peace. 

 Even explosives may be highly beneficent; they may open tunnels 

 and destroy reefs, furthering friendly communication between men; 

 dig ditches for irrigation; help the farmer in his planting; and 

 in many other ways advance the constructive activities of mankind. 

 Again, poisonous gases, confined and harnessed within safe limits, 

 may render valuable aid to humanity in preparing precious sub- 

 stances otherwise unattainable. 



Such obvious and well-recognized offices of chemistry need no 

 further presentation to this intelligent company. Neither is it 

 necessary for me to call your attention to the services which science 

 may render to agriculture through the chemical study and enrich- 

 ment of the soil in preparing it for the development of those subtle 

 chemical mechanisms called plants, upon which we depend for our 

 very existence. 



There is a further beneficent possibility worthy of more than pass- 

 ing mention — namely, that which arises from the relation of modern 

 chemistry to hygiene and medicine. Already your attention has been 

 called to the indisputable fact that the human body is, physiologi- 

 cally considered, a chemical machine. For this reason, future knowl- 

 edge of chemical structure and of organic reaction may perhaps 

 revolutionize medicine as completely as it was revolutionized by 

 the devoted labors of Pasteur — not by doing away with his price- 

 less acquisitions of knowledge, but rather by amplifying them. 

 Chemistry may show how germs of disease do their deadly work 

 through the production of subtle organic poisons, and how these 

 poisons may be combated by antitoxins; for both poisons and anti- 

 toxins are complex chemical substances of a nature not beyond the 

 possible reach of chemical methods already known. In that far-off 



