INTRODUCTION 7 



The study of chemistry as a subject of intellectual interest or 

 of commercial importance has led to the formation of various 

 associations of persons engaged in the same pursuit. Formerly 

 a discovery was usually communicated to the world through the 

 medium of one of the Academies of which one generally exists in 

 each of the chief countries of Europe, and is represented in our 

 own country, so far as physical and natural science is concerned, 

 by the Royal Society which was founded in the reign of Charles 

 the Second. The British Academy founded in 1902 is an 

 institution having somewhat similar aims, but is composed of 

 men distinguished in literature, history, and philosophy. 



As to chemistry the institutions of greatest importance in 

 Britain are the following. The oldest of these bodies is the 

 Chemical Society of London, founded in 1841. The objects of 

 the Society were then denned to be chiefly " The promotion of 

 Chemistry and of those branches of Science immediately con- 

 nected with it by the reading, discussion, and subsequent 

 publication of original communications." This object has been 

 carried into full effect, and the Journal of the Chemical Society 

 is now the recognised repository of practically all the purely 

 scientific researches carried out in the British Empire. It also 

 contains abstracts of all papers on chemical subjects published 

 in foreign journals. The Society numbers upwards of three 

 thousand Fellows, and occupies apartments provided by the 

 Government in Burlington House. 



The Societe Chimique de Paris, founded in 1858, the Berlin 

 Chemical Society, founded in 1867, and the American Chemical 

 Society, founded in 1876, are engaged in similar work in the 

 respective countries. 



The Society of Chemical Industry (which includes two 

 American sections with one Canadian and one Australian 

 section) was started in 1881, and, as its name implies, has for its 

 object the study and publication of papers relating to the 

 application of chemistry to manufacturing or other practical 

 purposes. The membership of all these societies implies no 

 professional qualification, but some forty years ago a proposal 

 was brought forward among the Fellows of the Chemical Society 

 to restrict the Fellowship to persons who could produce evidence 

 of scientific training and qualifications for practice as analytical 

 and advising chemists. This after prolonged discussion was 

 found to be impracticable and a new body was formed, namely, 



