116 president's address SECTION B. 



some States the work is more eflfectively carried out than in others. 

 I will make no comparisons, but merely state that all the secondary 

 boys' schools in New Zealand which have come under my notice 

 possess laboratories, and that personal observation has convinced me 

 that in these schools a good foundation of chemical knowledge is being 

 laid. 



From the above statements, which it would not be without 

 interest to amplify, it would appear as though the position of Chemical 

 Science in Australasia is a satisfactory one. Careful examination of 

 the facts has, however, led me to the conclusion that in one most 

 important particular oiir chemical affairs are by no means as they 

 should be. I allude to the attitude of our chemists towards research, 

 the spring from which our sciehce takes its source, and without which 

 the province of chemistry must become a barren and thirsty land. 



If we examine the transactions of the various Australasian learned 

 societies, we find that the number of chemical investigations recorded 

 is small compared with the papers dealing with other sciences. This 

 cannot be explained by the assumption that much of the work carried 

 out in Australasia is published in European rather than local journals. 

 From each of our universities and university colleges there appears 

 from time to time in the journal of the Chemical Society the record 

 of some investigation or research, but the length of time which elapses 

 between the appearance of these papers seems to show that chemical 

 research has not yet got a serious hold of our laboratories, and th.t 

 the importance of original investigation is not realised by our edv. na- 

 tional authorities, our teaching staffs, or our students. 



Now, no branch of study can be considered to be in a healthy 

 state if the exponents of the subject are contented to watch with 

 interest the work which is done by outsiders, and to reap the benefits 

 accruing from their labours without themselves contnbuting to the 

 advancement of the science by active research work. It is, therefore, 

 slu-prising that public opinion has not long ago recognised the im- 

 portance of a research atmosphere in educational institutions, and in 

 technical and State laboratories. Few will deny the economic import- 

 ance of an exact knowledge of still unexplored chemical phenomena, 

 for the history of the nineteenth century is largely a record of the 

 discovery of apparently unimportant scientific principles, followed by 

 the application of these principles as the foundation of important 

 industries. The freezing industry, the coal-tar colour trade, and the 

 modem development of the manufacture of sulphuric acid are typical 

 instances, and the recognition of the importance of the exact study 

 of the physical chemistiy of our metalliu'gical processes is being 

 attended with equally surprising developments. 



, In a teaching institution the value of research work is largely 

 psychological, and ^ies in its influence upon the teaching staff and 

 upon the students. It has been my privilege to work in many labora- 

 tories, some magnificent, some extremely humble in their equipment; 

 only in those laboratories, however, in which the research spirit was 

 (Tominant did I find that scientific enthusiasm was an important 

 characteristic of the place, and I have known beautiful laboratories in 

 which the scientific ideal was sadly lacking. My own enthusiasm for 

 chemistry dates from the commencement of my first research, begun 



