INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY—BAEKELAND. 945 
amounts to 3,500,000 tons, was originated and developed by a 
chemist in Philadelphia, B. C. Tilgman. But its further develop- 
ment was stopped for a while on account of the same old trouble, 
lack of funds, after $40,000 were spent, until some years later it was 
taken up again in Europe and reintroduced in the United States, 
where it has developed to an annual production of over 1,000,000 tons. 
What has been accomplished in America in chemical enterprises, 
and what is going on now in industrial research, has been brilliantly 
set forth by Mr. Arthur D. Little.t 
Nor at any time in the history of the United States was chemistry 
neglected in this country; this has recently been brought to light in 
the most convincing manner by Prof. Edgar F. Smith, of Philadelphia.? 
The altruistic fervor of that little group of earlier American chem- 
ists who, in 1792, founded the Chemical Society of Philadelphia 
(probably the very first chemical society in the world), and in 1811 
the Columbia Chemical Society of Philadelphia, is best illustrated by 
an extract of one of the addresses read at their meeting in 1798: 
The only true basis on which the independence of our country can rest are agri- 
culture and manufactures. To the promotion of these nothing tends in a higher 
degree than chemistry. It is this science which teaches man how to correct the 
bad qualities of the land he cultivates by a proper application of the various species 
of manure, and it is by means of a knowledge of this science that he is enabled to 
pursue the metals through the various forms they put on in the earth, separate them 
from substances which render them useless, and at length manufacture them into 
the various forms for use and ornament in which we see them. If such are the effects 
of chemistry, how much should the wish for its promotion be excited in the breast of 
every American! It is to a general diffusion of knowledge of this science, next to the 
virtue of our countrymen, that we are to look for the firm establishment of our inde- 
pendence. And may your endeavors, gentlemen, in this cause, entitle you to the 
gratitude of your fellow citizens. 
This early scientific spirit has been kept alive throughout the fol- 
lowing century by such American chemists as Robert Hare, E. N. 
Horsford, Wolcott Gibbs, Sterry Hunt, Lawrence Smith, Carey Lea, 
Josiah P. Cooke, John W. Draper, Willard Gibbs, and many others 
still living. 
Present conditions in America can be measured by the fact that the 
American Chemical Society alone has over 7,000 members, and the 
Chemists’ Club of New York has more than 1,000 members, without 
counting the more specialized chemical organizations, equally active, 
like the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American 
Electrochemical Society and many others. 
During the later years chemical research is going on with increasing 
vigor, more especially in relation to chemical problems presented by 
enterprises which at first sight seem rather remote from the so-called 
chemical industry. 
1 Journal of Ind. and Eng. Chem., vol. 5, No. 10, October, 1913. 
2 Chemistry in America, published by D. Appleton & Co. New York and London, 1914. 
