126 MORRIS LOEB 



within twenty-four hours, a specimen of virtually every chem- 

 ical substance that is in the market: the American depends 

 upon the stock of two or three importers, which must neces- 

 sarily be limited in regard to the rarer preparations, or he 

 must import directly, with inevitable delays in transit and 

 especially at the custom-house. The Chemical Museum is 

 planned to obviate this, by keeping as complete a collection of 

 substances as possible, in relatively small quantities, it is 

 true, which will be loaned to investigators who require mate- 

 rial for preliminary investigation. Such a preliminary test 

 may go far towards determining the course of a research and 

 deciding whether it is worth the chemist's while to procure 

 larger quantities. But, the projectors also hope to induce the 

 American chemists to deposit with the Museum samples of 

 all new substances prepared in their researches, to serve a 

 similar purpose as do type specimens in a museum of natural 

 history as standards of comparison for future investigators. 

 Here we should have the first chance of facilitating chemical 

 research in America by cooperation, instead of by subsi- 

 dizing individual investigations. It will take some time to 

 perfect the plans; but if it can be accomplished, the student 

 in a Rocky Mountain college will be within as easy reach of 

 his materials as his fellow in a large city of the East. 



We have detailed some of the more striking advantages 

 which the new building is expected to confer upon the chemi- 

 cal profession as a whole, as well as upon its individual vo- 

 taries; is it an exaggeration to characterize the constitution 

 of the Chemists' Building Company itself as a new era in the 

 chemical industry of our country? In scanning the list of 

 shareholders, we find representatives of nearly every impor- 

 tant concern, or even the larger companies themselves; but 

 that this is not a "trust," in the sense so obnoxious to the 

 yellow journalist, is demonstrated by the conditions of the 



