OPENING OF CHEMISTS' BUILDING 129 



develop the ideal side of human nature, and the chemist, 

 more perhaps than the votary of natural science or the de- 

 votee of the so-called humanities, is led to an intense interest 

 in human development. 



Our science aspires not only to know, but also to do. On 

 the one hand, it leads us to delve into the secrets of nature, 

 in the minute atom as well as in the far distant stars, in the 

 living cell as well as in the crystallized relics of the convul- 

 sions from which this earth was born; on the other, it leads us 

 to apply this knowledge to the immediate needs of man, be 

 it in safeguarding his health, in ministering to his material 

 or esthetic wants, or in regulating his commerce and in facil- 

 itating his utilization of the earth's resources. These many 

 points of contact with nature and with human interest will be 

 the theme of the eminent men whom I shall have the privi- 

 lege of introducing this afternoon and will be illustrated at 

 greater length in the scientific meetings which are to follow; 

 it is enough that we recognize at this moment that this ver- 

 satility of method and of purpose must necessarily enlarge the 

 viewpoint of the chemist, and that we seek therein the mo- 

 tives for the ready cooperation in the present enterprise. 



Our shareholders content themselves with a moderate re- 

 turn for their money and have agreed that any surplus profits 

 shall accrue to the benefit of chemical science. They hope 

 that the facilities afforded within these walls will redound 

 to the benefit of mankind and the prosperity of the country. 



May I emphasize the word "facilities"? There are two 

 ways of aiding a man or a cause : by addition to the income or 

 reduction of the expense. The pecuniary result to the bene- 

 ficiary may be the same, but the moral one is far different; it 

 is not only the beggar who is pauperized by the cash gift and 

 uplifted by the aid which enables him to earn his own live- 

 lihood. Arts and sciences may be stimulated by prizes and 



