December 26, 191 8] 



NATURE 



329 



other in England is responsible for the success 

 of England's munitions programme is an 



American. " 



This lesson was not lost upon the authorities 

 of the United States when it was recognised that 

 they would be forced to take their part in crushing- 

 tin- great conspiracy against the freedom of the 

 world. How they took it to heart is the purpose 

 of Dr. Parsons's paper to show. 



In the first place they at once instituted a census 

 of American chemists. It was started in February, 

 1917, and was kept up without interruption. By 

 July, 191 7, some 15,000 chemists had sent in par- 

 ticulars of their address, age, place of birth, 

 lineage, citizenship, dependents, places of instruc- 

 tion, chemical experience at home or abroad, 

 military training, publications, research work, etc. 

 The data obtained were indexed and cross- 

 indexed by the American Chemical Society work- 

 ing in conjunction with the Bureau of Mines. 

 When America entered the war every chemist was 

 directed to keep the society informed as to his 

 military status and duties. The president of the 

 American Chemical Society had already offered 

 without reservation the services of its members 

 to President Wilson in any emergency that 

 might arise. The society recommended tin- 

 use, in their respective fields, of all trained 

 chemists, and urged that those of special 

 ability should be held to the work they could 

 best perform. Influential committees of repre- 

 sentative men were formed to consider how the 

 war service of chemists could best be made, and 

 a plan for the "Impressment of Chemists and for 

 I 'reservation of tin Supply of Chemists" was 

 drawn up, and the aid of the technical Press was 

 enlisted in making known tin- procedure. A large 

 number of the chemists engaged on war work 

 were obtained by means of the classified list. 

 Practically all the chemists who early entered the 

 Ordnance Department with commissions were 

 obtained through the American Chemical Society 

 ts officers. The lis; was equally useful to the 

 Bureau of Mines when it entered upon the subject 

 is-warfare. All the bureaux and departments 

 in Washington consulted it from time to time as 

 the necessity arose. 



From the first (says Dr. Parsons) the chemical 

 personnel of the Army and Navy and the civilian 

 bureaux was partly civilian and partly military. As 

 the war progressed the proportion of chemisN in 

 uniform naturally increased as tin- men were taken 

 from the Army and assigned to chemical duty. The 

 question is stiil a disputed one — to be settled probably 

 only when the war is over — as to whether a chemist 

 can serve best in a civilian or a military capacity. 

 Certainly in both capacities tin demand for chemists 

 has been unprecedented, and the development of 

 rh> mistry in modern warfare to those in touch with 

 the advanremi-nt made seems almost a fairy-tale. 



Considerations ol bid the attempt to 



follow in detail Dr. Parsons's account of the vari- 

 ous organisations for co-operative research which 

 were instituted in practically every university and 

 polytechnic throughout the States, nor can we 

 deal fully with the story of how the various 

 NO. 2565, VOL. I02] 



sei tions and sub-sections of the chemical warfare 

 service were eventually organised and co- 

 ordinated. This service was ultimately established 

 as a unit of the national Army, being, Dr. 

 Parsons claims, "the first recognition of chem- 

 istry as a separate branch of the military service 

 in any country or any war." 



Dr. Parsons pays a well-merited tribute to the 

 zeal and sense of duty with which practically the 

 whole of the chemical profession in America 

 entered upon this work. "The organisation was 

 rapidly built up and contained the names of the 

 most prominent chemists in the country, as well 

 as those of hundreds of young chemists who will 

 later become prominent." 



In reading this interesting story it is impossible 

 to avoid being struck with the evident ease with 

 which the civilian element was promptly merged 

 into and made to co-operate with the bureaucracy 

 when the necessity arose. It may be that in a 

 democracy like America public departments are 

 more in actual touch with the public than with 

 us. There is seemingly less of that aloofness and 

 jealousy of outside interference and advice which 

 are apt to characterise our public offices. The Civil 

 Service of America is not less highly organised 

 than our own, and as regards its knowledge and 

 appreciation of modern necessities and conditions 

 it is, perhaps, in some respects, better equipped. 

 That our Government offices have something to 

 learn in this respect is evident from the consider- 

 able importation of "business men " into the 

 Government service that it has been necessary to 

 make during the last four years. It cannot truth- 

 fully be said that all our public departments have 

 invariably risen to the emergencies with which 

 they have had to deal, and certain of those most 

 directly concerned with the conduct of the war, 

 and with the conditions which have arisen out of 

 it, have been most faulty in this respect. It may 

 be, to adopt the Prime Minister's phrase, they 

 have too many "vested prejudices" to contend 

 with. 



We have now had the story of the American 

 chemist in warfare from one who is well qualified 

 to tell it. May we not hope that before very long 

 someone equally well qualified to deal with the 

 experiences of his English confrere may give us 

 a similar account? The record may not be quite 

 so satisfactory in all respects, as our cousins 

 had our mistakes to warn them and our experi- 

 ences to guide them, as Dr. Parsons admits. But 

 in spite of mistakes, and of a certain tardiness 

 on the part of those entrusted with the conduct of 

 the war to realise the importance of chemistry in 

 modern warfare, and to welcome the skilled assist- 

 ance which was offered them, the story is highly 

 creditable to us, and will bear comparison with 

 that of which a short account has been given. As 

 already stated, it constitutes a chapter in our 

 section of the history of the war, and should be 

 made known for the satisfaction of those who 

 have lived through the anxieties of the past and 

 for the instruction and benefit of those who come 

 after us. T. E. Thorpe. 



