July 10, 1884] 



NA TURE 



247 



this bind of work is not recognised, advance in their positions, 

 becoming assistant demonstrators, 4c., and eventually pro- 

 fessors, and as they have not learnt to practically realise the 

 value of research by being in the habit of conducting it them- 

 selves, or of seeing others do so, when they become professors 

 they will naturally not encourage students to undertake it in 

 their laboratories, and it is to be feared that we are already 

 suffering in this way, and that this is one of the causes why the 

 new laboratories which have been opened are doing so little to 

 add to our store of fresh knowledge. 



It is said that students cannot be induced to stay longer than 

 is necessary to go through the ordinary course of qualitative and 

 quantitative analysis, and can this be wondered at when they do 

 not see anything else going on of sufficient interest to make them 

 feel it would be a great advantage for them to do so ? Would it 

 be the case if higher work were being enthusiastically carried 

 on ? The fact that many of our students are found to leave this 

 country and go to Germany, where research is carried on with 

 so much zeal, I think gives an answer to this question. 



In all chemical laboratories there are without doubt differ- 

 ent classes of students : some who have no right to be there, 

 having no care for science ; those who have not sufficient capa- 

 city to proceed with its study beyond an elementary stage ; and 

 those who are capable of becoming efficient chemists. Of course 

 it would be but waste of time to attempt to make the first two 

 classes remain and engage in research. It is to be feared, how- 

 ever, that some are not unfrequently thought to belong to the 

 second class who really, if sufficiently interested in their science 

 by the example of others, would be found to be possessed of no 

 mean ability. When a young man is made to realise that he 

 may be the discoverer of new facts, or does discover new facts, 

 he gets a new impulse, which alters the whole current of his 

 thoughts and actions. 



There can be no doubt that when a professor, his assistants, 

 and advanced pupils are enthusiastically engaged with research, 

 their influence is found to act even on beginners, who, if they 

 possess any scientific spirit at all, will realise that the ordinary 

 course of analysis is but a preliminary thing, and will thus be 

 induced to use their best energies to master it that they also may 

 try their hand at original work. 



That this condition of things is calculated to fill laboratories 

 with students is seen from the fact that on the Continent, where 

 the greatest scientific activity prevails, the laboratories are the 

 most crowded, and this is the kind of activity we want in this 

 country, where our students pre-eminently possess all the faculties 

 for original work, but as they are not cultivated these are not 

 developed. 



There is also another class of students who study chemistry, 

 but the fruit of their study is so extremely small, that it is difficult 

 to realise that it possesses any practical value. I refer to medical 

 students ; yet there are good teachers and good laboratories em- 

 ployed in the work, in fact a very large amount of valuable 

 power is u^ed for it ; but it seems almost like the employment of 

 a large amount of power to raise a weight to a certain distance 

 and then let it fall again, and year after year to continue the 

 same thing, never raising it sufficiently high that it may be placed 

 in a useful position. The present condition of things cannot but 

 be disheartening both to students and to teachers. Medical 

 students have so much to learn that it it is sad they should have 

 heir time in studying chemistry in the way they do. 

 If there is any value in chemical products as curative agents, if 

 there is any value in physiological chemistry, or any importance 

 in toxicology, surely medical students should have a sound know- 

 ledge of chemical science, and not simply learn to detect an acid 

 and a base in a mixture, an operation which is of no value 

 except as an intermediate exercise, to be followed by more 

 advanced work. 



Tire only cure for the evil appears to be either that their term 

 1 if study should be lengthened, or that other subjects which are 

 of less importance should be withdrawn from the curriculum, so 

 as to enable them to work at this science sufficiently. Unfortu- 

 nately medical men have as a rule acquired so imperfect a know- 

 ledge of chemistry themselves that they have found it to be of 

 little value, and therefore do not sufficiently see how important 

 its proper study would be to students. It is evidently high time 

 that some steps were taken to economise the present waste of 

 time and power, and that we should hear of some good work 

 proceeding from the numerous, and in many cases well-appointed, 

 chemical laboratories connected with our hospitals. 



Of late years much attention has been given to the subject of 



technical or applied chemistry, ami it is to be hoped that this 

 movement will be so judiciously carried on that much will be 

 done for perfecting and developing the chemical manufactures 

 in this country ; but it appears that there is an idea in the public 

 mind that there are two kinds of chemistry in existence, one 

 suitable lor the manufacturer, and the other suitable for the scien- 

 tific man ; and unless this idea can be successfully eradicated, it 

 is to be feared that much of the value of this movement will be 

 lost, and we shall be left in the position of followers instead of 

 leaders ; copyists of what others are doing, instead of being 

 originators of new processes and industries. 



In the present state of things students who are to be manu- 

 facturers are supposed to know enough chemistry when they have 

 acquired a knowledge of ordinary analytical methods, and the 

 result is that we have but very few efficient chemists in our 

 works. On the Continent, however, we find a very different 

 state of things : first of all, in their chemical works they usually 

 have a much larger staff of chemists than we do, and secondly, 

 their chemists are efficient men. 



The chemists preferred in Germany are those who have had a 

 thorough training, and taken their degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 

 and shown their power as chemists by conducting original research, 

 and in many cases have been for some time assistants to the 

 professors in their research laboratories. Those from the 

 Polytechnics are not so much valued, except in relation to their 

 knowledge of engineering, mechanics, &c. 



What do we see as the result of the employment of high-class 

 chemists in Germany? First, we notice that chemical industries 

 are developing and increasing there more than in any other 

 country ; and secondly, that the manufacturers are able to 

 make their products in a very economical manner, and as a con- 

 sequence supply them at a low price. Men who have studied 

 chemistry sufficiently to do analysis and look after existing pro- 

 cesses which are well known are certainly useful in their way • 

 but we want more than this ; we want men who have had theii 

 minds so trained by carrying on research that they may be 

 imbued with a spirit of investigation, and be able to improve or 

 entirely change processes in use, and to keep up their knowledge 

 of chemical science, so as to be able to grasp the importance of 

 new scientific facts, and make them subservient to the industries 

 they are engaged in. 



The chemists from the German Universities, when entering 

 chemical works, naturally have but little knowledge of technical 

 processes. This they have to acquire, but unfortunately they 

 then only are likely to see those operations which are carried on 

 in the particular industry with which they become connected. 

 Those who study in the Polytechnics have a certain advantage in 

 this particular, inasmuch as they can become acquainted with 

 processes carried on in a variety of manufactures ; and what is 

 wanted nowadays is something like what would result from a 

 fusion of the work of the Universities and the Polytechnics, i e. 

 scientific tiaining similar to that in the former, with a general 

 knowledge of engineering, mechanics, &c, and the methods 

 adopted in carrying on processes on the large scale, this latter 

 not being confined to one industry only, but alsj to industries in 

 general, so that great breadth of knowledge may be acquired. 

 With men so trained we might expect to see our chemical 

 industries flourish, and keep at lca>t abreast of those on the 

 Continent. 



It is to be hoped that some such standard of training will be 

 undertaken at the Central Institute of the City and Guilds of 

 London. It wou'd be a sad thing to find the munificence of the 

 City Companies resulting only in perpetuating the present kind 

 of imperfectly trained chemists, who are incapable of advancing 

 the chemical industries of this country, so that our manufacturers 

 not unfrequently find it necessary to send to the Continent for 

 more competent men. 



In this retrospect of the work which is being carried on in 

 relation to chemistry, it may be thought by some that an undue 

 weight has been given to that which is going on in Germany, 

 and too little to that which is being carried on in this country ; 

 but I think if any one will impartially compare one with the 

 other, this will not be found to be the case. Science, however, 

 has no nationality, and as chemists we cannot but be thankful 

 that it is being actively s'udied, whether abroad or in our own 

 country: but we must feel that it is our duty to do our part, 

 especially when we see, from the work which has been and is 

 being done in this country, that nationally we have the charac- 

 teristics which qualify us to take a prominent position in work ol 

 this nature. 



