SOME ASPECTS OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY! 
By L. H. BArKenanp, Sc. D. 
While I appreciate deeply the distinction of speaking before you on 
the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Columbia School of 
Mines, I realize, at the same time, that nobody here present could do 
better justice to the subject which has been chosen for this lecture, 
than the beloved master in whose honor the Charles Frederick 
Chandler leetureship has been created. 
Dr. Chandler, in his long and eminently useful career as a professor 
and as a public servant, has assisted at the very beginning of some of 
the most interesting chapters of applied chemistry, here and abroad. 
Some of his pupils have become leaders in chemical industry; 
others have found in his teachings the very conception of new chemical 
processes which made their names known throughout the whole world. 
Industrial chemistry has been defined as “the chemistry of dollars 
and cents.”’ 
This rather cynical definition, in its narrower interpretation, seems 
to ignore entirely the far-reaching economic and civilizing influences 
which have been brought to life through the applications of science; 
it fails to do justice to the fact that the whole fabric of modern civiliza- 
tion becomes each day more and ever more interwoven with the 
endless ramifications of applied chemistry. 
The earlier effects of this influence do not date back much beyond 
one hundred and odd years. They became distinctly evident during 
the first French Republic, increased under Napoleon, gradually spread 
to neighboring countries, and then reaching out farther, their influence 
is now obvious throughout the whole world. 
France, during the revolution, scattered to the winds old traditions 
and conyventionalities, in culture as well as in politics. Until then, 
she had mainly impressed the world by the barbaric, wasteful splendor 
of her opulent kings, at whose courts the devotees of science received 
scant attention in comparison to the more ornamental artists and 
belles-lettrists, who were petted and rewarded alongside of the all- 
important men of the sword. 
1 An address given at Columbia University to inaugurate the Charles F. Chandler lectureship. Copy- 
right, 1914, by the Columbia University Press. Reprinted by permission. 
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