86 F. W. CLARKE 



results of analysis. Among the articles regularly examined, 

 preliminary to buying, are iron, steel, various alloys, paints, 

 varnishes, soap, wood preservatives, disinfectants, etc. On 

 the Pennsylvania system alone the purchases controlled by 

 these tests amount to from two to three million dollars an- 

 nually and the saving to the company is undoubtedly very 

 great. In many cases other purchasers adopt the specifica- 

 tions of the railroad, and base their contracts upon the same 

 standards, the analyses to be made the same way. Adultera- 

 tion is thus discouraged and prevented, and the moral effect 

 upon the seller, who must be honest, is most salutary. When 

 detection is certain, the temptation to commit fraud vanishes. 



To the improvement of analytical methods the railroad 

 laboratories have contributed materially, so that their work 

 has true scientific significance as well as practical value. 



Now, although we may properly take pleasure in the 

 advances which American chemists have made, we have no 

 right as yet to be fully satisfied „ We have done much, but 

 others have done more, and until we stand in the front rank 

 we should not relax our efforts. The competition of research 

 is fully as keen as the competition of trade and even if we 

 may win the lead we must work hard to keep it. In spite of 

 all that I have said of its growth, industrial chemistry in the 

 United States is still in its infancy, and comparison with other 

 countries is in some respects wholesomely humiliating. Eng- 

 land and France have built up chemical industries vastly 

 greater than ours, and in certain directions Germany leads 

 them both. Moreover, the German industries and the trade 

 depending upon them are increasing at a marvelous rate, and 

 in England the chemists at least have taken serious alarm at 

 the growing competition. Branches of manufacture which 

 were once almost wholly English are now mainly German; 

 discoveries which were made in England have been developed 

 in Germany; and now the British economists are seeking the 

 reason. 



To the chemist the reason is plain, and is to be found 

 by a study of the two systems of education. The English 

 universities and schools have clung to obsolete methods, and 

 have attached great importance to examinations and the 



