vti WORK AT MANCHESTER 173 



the first step towards rendering the appreciation of that 

 knowledge available for the practical benefit of mankind 

 and of our country. Where would chemical industry now 

 stand if it had not been for the labours of Dalton? If 

 he had not pointed out the laws which affect chemical com- 

 bination, if Liebig had not laid clearly before us the principles 

 on which organic chemistry is founded, could Perkin have 

 established the coal-tar industry ? Could Graebe and Lieber- 

 mann have discovered alizarin, Baeyer artificial indigo, or 

 Fischer prepared sugar in his laboratory, unless the ground 

 had been thus prepared for them ? 



The Society of Chemical Industry was founded in 

 1880. It originated with a few men interested in the 

 Lancashire chemical trade, notably Eustace Carey, 

 Ludwig Mond, and Edmund Muspratt. It was 

 originally proposed that the society should be a local 

 one, the object being to bring together purely scientific 

 men and those practically engaged in chemical industry 

 in the Lancashire district. I felt strongly the im- 

 portance of such a proposal, but I thought that if the 

 thing were worth doing at all it should be a national 

 and not a local institution. I gradually obtained 

 adherents to this view, and the society was founded 

 on these lines. The first list showed that we had 

 obtained already 360 members ; at the present moment 

 the numbers are over 4,000. The history of the 

 society during the quarter of a century which it has 

 existed has been one of constant progress and success, 

 and its influence is felt not only in this country and 

 our Colonies (Canada and Australia), but also in 

 America, where we have one section in New York and 

 another in Boston. 



I was elected the first President, and many 

 distinguished chemists, both scientific and industrial, 

 have succeeded me in the presidential chair. The 

 work which the council has done in publishing a 

 Journal under the able editorship of my old pupil 



