INTRODUCTION 5 



tions to industrial purposes and that the habits and methods of 

 research have been neglected. So far as research is concerned 

 it cannot be denied that the British universities in times now 

 long past have been to blame, but during recent years such allega- 

 tions can no longer be sustained. 



And when the relative importance of " pure " chemistry and 

 " applied " chemistry is considered it seems, at least to the 

 writer, that the former stands clearly first. For all history of 

 science shows that progress has been accomplished only when 

 research has been released from the restrictions with which it is 

 trammelled when the eye of the worker is on the look out only 

 for immediately useful results. 



The Atomic Theory of Dalton and later Kekule's theory of 

 the benzene ring must have appeared to contemporary manu- 

 fact urers as mere academic theses of no industrial import. But 

 we tyiave it on the testimony of a very eminent colour-maker 

 thaf the benzene theory lies at the foundation of the industry. 

 In act where science has been respected and scientific know- 

 ledge cultivated there has been industrial success ; where it has 

 been neglected industrial failure has been the consequence. 



On the other hand, it seems quite practicable to avoid the 

 reproach which has been so often cast by the practical man at 

 the higher chemical schools, by bringing more prominently and 

 more frequently before the student problems which are con- 

 nected with industry. This can easily be done by the judicious 

 teacher without loss to the academic value of the training given. 

 For a variety of reasons which are obvious the actual investiga- 

 tion of questions connected with industrial processes cannot be 

 undertaken profitably before an advanced stage is reached in 

 the student's career. 



Admitting that there is need for closer attention to the use of 

 science for practical ends, it seems scarcely open to doubt that 

 the greatest benefits to the world have accrued from the pursuit 

 of knowledge for its own sake, and without regard to the possible 

 applications of the knowledge gained to immediate useful pur- 

 poses. Without such untrammelled enquiry the world would be 

 still in the condition of Europe in the Dark Ages. The relation 

 of the earth to the sun and the rest of the heavenly bodies, the 

 cause of the seasons, the effect of the atmosphere and its several 

 constituents on plant life and the respiration of animals, the 

 composition of common air and water, and the knowledge of the 



