Industrial Research 



25 



Why, ... is not entirely clear, but I tliink one reason might be 

 the fact that manufacturers frequently called upon chemists of 

 general training to solve some particular jjroblem connected with 

 their business, ignoring the fact that the chemist jjrobably had 

 had no practical refining experience. The chemist, therefore, 

 probably offered suggestions which were totally impracticable 

 and the manufacturer seeing the fact, was not particularly 

 impressed with the chemical profession as a possible aid to his 

 business . . ." 



The scientist, on the other hantl, was not eager to see 

 his discovery apphed to industry. He was in search of 

 truth, and the application was unimportant. ITere and 

 there a scientist could be found who went so far as to 

 feel that "making a utility of the God-given discoveries 

 of the truly beautiful phenomena of Nature was a 

 prostitution to be deprecated, and that research could 

 only be pure when it was 'sterile.' " " 



In time, however, the gap between "pure" and "im- 

 pure" science was to become much smaller. As William 

 H. Walker expressed it: 



There is with scientific men a general awakening to the fact 

 that the highest destiny of science is not to accumulate the truths 

 of nature in a form that no one but the elect few can utilize, but 

 that the search for truth can be combined with a judicious at- 

 tempt to make the truth serve the public good. Thus the dis- 

 tinction which has existed between the terms pure science and 

 applied science is rapidly falling away. An attempt to define 

 these two kinds of science reveals the fact that their distinction 

 is a general impression rather than a clear statement. '' 



Period of Unorganized Research 



The wealth of natural resources, the reliance upon 

 tariff protection, and the mutual distrust of the scientist 

 and the industrialist served to delay but failed to pre- 

 vent the infiltration of science into industry. Growing 

 competition within home industries could not be met 

 with high tariffs, and combinations seldom achieved a 

 monopoly. Obviously, a new attack upon industrial 

 problems was necessary, and farsighted, technically- 

 minded leaders gradually overcame the objections of 

 their associates and made it with applied science. 

 They turned to the imiversity professors and the com- 

 mercial chemists for assistance and advice upon certain 

 specific problems. With many misgivings, they added 

 to their staffs trained chemists whose first work was 

 largely restricted to testing, sampling, and controlling 

 processes. It was not long, however, before these 

 chemists, with their special training, substituted scien- 

 tific methods for rule-of-thumb and, as a result, not 

 only accelerated the improvement of existing processes 

 but also utilized waste products and created new prod- 

 ucts. Many a research laboratory has evolved from 

 the dingy corner allotted to a plant chemist. 



" Burton, William M. Chemistry in the petroleum industry. Induslrial and 

 Enginening Clttmistrn, 10, 485 (June 1918). 



" Whitney, W. R. Incidents of applied research. Industrial and Enginetring 

 Chemistry, 8. 561 (June 19161. 



■> Walker, W. H. Chemical research and industrial progress Scienlijic American 

 Supplement, 71, 14 (July 1, 1911). 



Early Plant Chemists 



An early and isolated example of such a laboratory 

 was that of the Merrbnack Manufacturing Company at 

 Lowell, Mass. From 1834 until liis deatli in 1868, 

 Samuel Luther Dana served the company as resident 

 and consulting chemist.^ After being graduated from 

 Harvard College in 1813, he studied medicine and be- 

 came an M. D. in 1818. For 8 j'ears he practiced in 

 Waltham, but the subject of chemistry had a fascina- 

 tion for him, and even before he gave up his medical 

 practice he had "established a laboratory for the i)ro- 

 duction of sulfuric acid and bleaching salts." This 

 enterprise was soon merged with the Newton Chemical 

 Company and Dr. Dana served it as superintendent and 

 chemist until 1833. He then went to Europe for a year 

 and upon his return became chemist for the Merrimack 

 Manufactm-ing Company. Possessed of a wide knowl- 

 edge of substances and an originality in devising means 

 for solvuig problems, he undertook a systematic study 

 of the action of the dung of beeves which at that time 

 was used "for removmg the excess of mordant in print- 

 ing calicoes with madder." This research led to the 

 discovery that "crude phosphates in a bath with bran" 

 were a complete substitute for the expensive and un- 

 pleasant material which had hitherto been indispen- 

 sable. By using sodium phosphate made from bones, 

 Dana greatly improved the process of calico prmting in 

 the United States. Later, Mercer found that arsenates 

 were equally effective and cheaper. 



Dana continued his study of the chemical changes 

 that took place in the process of bleaching cotton fab- 

 rics preparatory to printing them and finally developed 

 what became known as the "American System" of 

 bleaching, once referred to by the French scientist 

 Persez as realizing "the perfection of chemical opera- 

 tions." The process was not only widely adopted in 

 the industry, but was also highly praised as a piece of 

 scientific investigation, a description of it being pub- 

 lished in the Bulletin de la Societe Industrielle de Mul- 

 house in 1838. 



Although much of Dana's attention was given to the 

 many diverse problems which arose in the mills, he 

 went on year after year studying madder, its nature, 

 and its application to l)oth dyeing and agriculture. 

 Moreover he continued his study of manures, and 1842 

 published The Farmer's Muck Manual of Manures 

 which was considered "the sheet anchor of libraries in 

 the rural districts of New England for many years." 

 Benjamin Silliman, the younger, placed him first in 

 point of "time, originality, and ability" among those 

 in the United States who wrote upon scientific agricul- 

 ture. To Dr. Dana should go the distinction of estab- 



" This account of Dana's work is based upon those in Youmans, W. J. Pioneers 

 of science in America. New York, D. Appleton and Co., 1896, pp. 313-315; Dic- 

 tionary of American biography. New York, C. Scribncr's Sons, 1930, vol. 5, p. 61. 



