82 MORRIS LOEB 



of science which has taken place since the chemical depart- 

 ment was first established on its present basis, attention has 

 been so acutely drawn to other fields of labor that the public 

 has failed to grasp the important rdle which has been played 

 by pure chemistry in almost all of the departments of indus- 

 try and science which have contributed toward the advance- 

 ment of the material prosperity of mankind. It seems proper, 

 therefore, to call attention at this time to the r61e which 

 chemistry has played in this great awakening of science in its 

 application to humanity. 



In the first place, in this age of steel, much depends upon 

 the chemical manufacture of the various kinds of hardened 

 iron. As iron does not occur in commercial quantities in a 

 native state, the preparation of all the enormous quantity 

 which is used depends entirely upon making a sufficiently 

 pure product by a method which avoids unnecessary waste. 

 Both the elaboration of the method and the determination of 

 the purity of the material can be accomplished only by trained 

 chemists; moreover, the protection of the finished product 

 from the chemical change of rusting lies also in the same hands. 

 When one takes into consideration the fact that steel serves 

 not only a chief role in the construction of ships, bridges, 

 and buildings, but also is concerned in the manufacture of 

 almost every article which we use, because of the need of 

 steel tools of suitable quality, one can see how great an in- 

 direct part chemistry plays in every act of our life. Indeed, 

 all the building materials of the future, such as the composi- 

 tion of concrete, and the manufacture of glass and of pottery, 

 present at the present time chemical problems of enormous 

 interest. 



Another great industry, the soda industry, is, of course, 

 wholly chemical, and so is the soap industry, which depends 

 upon it. Before chemists had shown the world how alkalies 



