PROGRESS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY 239 



interplay of active forces whose statutes are more general still. What 

 is the nature of chemical change, and what laws govern its trans- 

 formations of energy? These, to my mind, are the most general ques- 

 tions of dynamical chemistry. They are raised by every reaction, 

 and they involve the consideration of all the physical forces. The 

 problems of thermo-chemistry, of electro-chemistry, of optical chem- 

 istry, are mere special cases arising under the more universal gen- 

 eral laws, and they will cease to exist when the latter have been 

 discovered. So ideal a condition may never be reached, but we can 

 approach it. 



How, now let me ask, shall the work of the future be done? Hitherto 

 individual initiative has been the chief agency in effecting progress, 

 and each man has handled his own problems in his own way. By 

 individual geniuses the greatest discoveries are made, but they are 

 tried and tested by the collective intelligence of many laborers, more 

 humble, perhaps, but also more patient and thorough. The genius 

 is fortunate, but science has use for plodders as well, who furnish the 

 commonplace facts that are the raw material from which laws and 

 generalizations are developed. The great thinker needs only oppor- 

 tunity and encouragement; the rank and file of investigators, it 

 seems to me, require something more. We need not fear that personal 

 effort will cease; and still we may fairly ask whether it is sufficient 

 for the tasks which are now waiting to be done. 



One result of individualism in scientific research is evident. Our 

 knowledge increases irregularly, unsymmetrically with one phase 

 over-developed and another neglected. In every group of data there 

 are gaps to be filled, side by side with needless duplications. One man 

 finishes a research only to find himself anticipated by some more 

 fortunate worker, and he feels that his labor has been thrown away. 

 Competition is a good thing, but cooperation is better, for it insures 

 that economy of effort which is as important in intellectual affairs as it 

 is in the factory or in commerce. Can we, without stifling enthusiasm, 

 without harming the individual, encourage the organization of re- 

 search, and so give to science a swifter growth and a more perfect 

 symmetry? That vague but potent agency, "the spirit of the time," 

 has taken "organization" for one of its watchwords, and we cannot 

 escape from its spell. Collectivism and individualism, however, are 

 not necessarily antagonistic; they are two forces acting side by side, 

 and each helping the other. A man best develops himself when he 

 works in harmony with his fellows. 



Chemical societies are an invention of the nineteenth century, and 

 they stand for one step in the right direction. In their meetings, 

 by conference and discussion, and in their publications, by making 

 research effective, they have done much to encourage investigation, 

 and to avert, in some measure, useless duplications of effort. Through 



