WOMEN IN CHEMISTRY 219 



Massachusetts. During this long and laborious investiga- 

 tion she analyzed more than forty thousand samples of 

 water. These analyses exhibited the condition of the water 

 from all parts of the state during all seasons of the year 

 and were of the greatest value in solving a number of 

 important problems in state sanitation. 



But notwithstanding the drafts made on her time and 

 energy by her classwork in the laboratory and her occupa- 

 tion as sanitary engineer for scores of public and private 

 institutions, she still found leisure to engage in many im- 

 portant movements which had in view the public health 

 and the betterment of sanitary conditions in city and coun- 

 try. It is safe to say that no one ever put her knowledge 

 of chemical science to more practical use or made it more 

 perfectly subserve the public weal than did Mrs. Richards. 

 To spread among the masses a knowledge of the principles 

 of sanitation, to make them realize how indispensable to 

 health are pure food, pure water, pure air and life-giving 

 sunshine was her great mission in life, and in this she dis- 

 played an energy and a tireless zeal which were an inspira- 

 tion to all with whom she came into contact. 



This indefatigable woman, it is proper to record here, 

 might have distinguished herself as a discoverer in chemi- 

 cal science had she elected to devote her life to original 

 research rather than to utilizing the knowledge already 

 available for the welfare of her fellows. Thus, after a 

 careful analysis of the rare mineral samarskite, she found 

 an insoluble residue which led her to believe might contain 

 unknown elements. This view she repeatedly expressed to 

 her co-workers in the laboratory. But she was unwilling 

 to take from what she regarded more important work the 

 time necessary for making investigations which might have 

 given her undying fame as a discoverer. For not long 

 afterward this insoluble residue, in the hands of two 

 French chemists, yielded the exceedingly rare elements, 

 samarium and gadolinium. 



