MORRIS LOEB 



mores did so as a preparation for medicine or some other 

 recognized profession, or with the definite purpose of entering 

 an academic career. The possibility of establishing himself as 

 an independent chemical analyst or expert was certainly 

 never placed before the student; and the works-chemist, in 

 the eyes of the industrial world, was held in the sort of regard 

 which may be likened to Lincoln's estimate of the value of 

 brigadier-generals, when he remarked, on hearing that a 

 Confederate raider had cut out a baggage train and captured 

 three generals, "I can make a brigadier any day, but mules 

 cost money." Under such conditions, chemistry as a profes- 

 sion could have slight standing, and the gregarious needs 

 of its votaries were amply met by the annual " meetings " 

 of Section C of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, and by occasional local gatherings. The 

 reorganization of the American Chemical Society on a na- 

 tional basis, in June, 1890, presaged the change which seems 

 to have followed the World's Fair at Chicago. We need not 

 inquire too closely whether the lean years following the finan- 

 cial crisis of 1893 caused manufacturers to appreciate more 

 fully the value of chemical control of their processes, or 

 whether the exhibits of German and other foreign manufac- 

 turers, coupled with the demonstration of the World's Chem- 

 ical Congress, attracted the attention of the American public 

 to the possibilities of the development of a true chemical 

 industry. Whatever share these or other influences may have 

 borne, the result may be strikingly shown in a circumstance 

 connected with the opening ceremonies of the Chemists' 

 Building. In the preface to Volume xn of the "Journal of 

 the American Chemical Society," the editor estimated the 

 number of chemists available for the newly-formed New York 

 Section at two hundred; twenty-one years later, with dupli- 

 cates eliminated, thirteen hundred invitations were sent out 



