28o 



NA TURE 



[July 20, 1905 



establishment of a New England section at Boston. ' He 

 spoke of the advantage which resulted from the holding of 

 regular meetings within reach of members as being a con- 

 siderable addition to that ensuing from the possession of 

 the valuable journal of the society, which he described as 

 in itself worth many times the cost of membership. 



Sir William Ramsay's presidential address of the previous 

 year dealt with the results of thirty years' experience in 

 the education of chemists, education being understood as 

 the production of an attitude of mind rather than the 

 imparting of definite knowledge, though the latter could 

 not be neglected. Dr. Nichols considered the " attitude 

 ol mind " undoubtedly the pith of the matter. The young 

 chemi-:t fresh from college was only, after all, just pre- 

 '■ u cd to learn how to apply the knowledge he had acquirea, 

 and to build on it by his daily experiences. As to some 

 extent taking up the question where Sir William Ramsay 

 laid it down, he proposed to discuss the question of the 

 management of a chemical industrial organisation. The 

 plan he proposed to outline, though it might differ widely 

 from the views held by others as the result of their ex- 

 periences, was the outcome of many years of observation 

 and work, and had stood the test of years in a company 

 operating more than a score of plants, widely separated 

 and yet all wjrking as a unit. 



Below the board of directors, with its officers and ex- 

 ecutive committee, the following departments vifere neces- 

 sary, viz. ; — purchasing, sales, transportation, finance, con- 

 struction, operating, research or investigation, and statis- 

 tical. To harmonise these, two committees were re- 

 quisite : — (i) a manufacturing committee, consisting of the 

 managers of the operating, construction, purchasing, and 

 investigation departments, the chairman being the chair- 

 man of the executive committee ; and (2) a sales committee, 

 composed of the managers of the sales, operating and 

 purchasing departments, with a member of the executive 

 committee. 



The operating department was one of great complexity 

 and importance, and needed a manager and assistant 

 manager. Of the chemists employed, evidence is required 

 not merely that they have received a good education and 

 have completed a technical course of instruction, but that 

 they are of good judgment and capable of assuming re- 

 sponsibility. It is desirable that they should have some 

 knowledge of mechanical engineering and the general 

 principles of construction, though in his experience so rare 

 was a complete combination found that it was usually 

 necessary to engage good chemists with but a moderate 

 knowledge of engineering, or good engineers with only an 

 elementary knowledge of chemistry. It was to be hoped, 

 however, that as a result of the improved instruction in 

 technical chemistry now being given, men would be turned 

 out better prepared in this respect than had hitherto been 

 the case. The great thing, however, was that the man should 

 be practical, trustworthy, hard-working, and possessed of 

 natural ability and the capacity for development and 

 advancement, or, as Sir William Ramsay puts it, " have the 

 right attitude of mind." The beginner should be kept long 

 enough on one subject to make rapid and accurate analyses 

 and at the same time be encouraged to make himself 

 familiar with all the different methods of analysis bearing 

 upon his particular work, and to be sure that he tho- 

 roughly understands the basic principles and theory upon 

 which the work rests. After a sufficient experience along 

 these lines, he arrives at a position where he may be able 

 to improve existing methods or even invent new ones ; 

 but of course all new methods must be tested by rigid 

 experiment. 



In a works laboratory a variable degree of accuracy is 

 required, depending upon the object for which the analysis 

 is made. In some cases a tenth of i per cent, variation 

 would not be serious. In other cases a ten-thousandth of 

 I per cent., or even much less, is highly important, and 

 as the object is to turn out analyses of the required ac- 

 curacy in the least amount of time, it is of great advantage 

 for the chemist to have such general knowledge of the 

 use to be made of each analysis as will enable him to 

 avoid waste of time in unnecessary accuracy. For routine 

 work it is becoming more and more the custom to employ 

 in works laboratories bright young men, graduates of 

 high schools. Such young men are, of course, useful, but 



NO. 1864, VOL. 72] 



unless they pursue their scientific studies outside, as, for 

 instance, at night schools, they are not likely to make great 

 advances. In every laboratory there must be a chemist in 

 control, who in turn shall be supervised by the chief 

 chemist of the company. Unnecessary duplications being 

 avoided, a force thus organised becomes capable of doing 

 an enormous amount of work in a given time and with 

 great accuracy. 



The beginner confines his duties for a number of months, 

 and frequently for years, to a works laboratory, and in- 

 cidental to his analytical work he gains a certain know- 

 ledge of the general routine which obtains at that plant. 

 After the laboratory service, if the chemist has displayed 

 ability to advance, he is promoted to a position which will 

 bring him into direct contact with the manufacturing pro- 

 cesses, and his duties will gradually change from those 

 of analyst to those of a manufacturing assistant, until 

 he has become proficient enough to warrant promotion 

 to the position of assistant superintendent, to which he 

 is thereafter advanced at the earliest opportunity, either 

 at the works at which he has received his tuition or at 

 another works where such a position has become vacant. 



The assistant superintendent is under the direction of 

 the superintendent, and from him should receive a regular 

 training in all the various duties pertaining to the position 

 of superintendent, and when such a position becomes 

 vacant, the assistant who, in the judgment of the de- 

 partment, is best qualified to fill the advanced position, is 

 recommended for the promotion. The ability to administer 

 chemical works can be obtained only by experience, and 

 realising this fact the most efficient superintendents should 

 act as teachers to the younger men in their development 

 from one position to another. 



Chemists who are not attracted by outside or works 

 positions, but who prefer research work, naturally gravitate 

 in due time from the works laboratory to the research 

 laboratory. Occasionally one is found whose ambitions lie 

 in the direction of mercantile affairs, for which he thinks 

 the experience of the chemical laboratory will best qualify 

 him. As a rule, however, the educated chemist does not 

 select advancement in the sales department;, or other 

 business parts of the organisation, nor does it often happen 

 that he is qualified. 



The chemist, to succeed in technical work, must strive 

 for material results. It has been my experience that the 

 post-graduate course seems to incline him towards the 

 search of learning rather than to its application. He must 

 have a clear, logical mind, a singleness of purpose, and 

 he must be able to separate the essential from the non- 

 essential. This is true of all professions, but it is par- 

 ticularly true in chemical work, where the essential must 

 be selected from an unusually large assortment of non- 

 essentials. 



The efficiency of a navy depends very largely on the 

 " man behind the gun." So with chemists in a works 

 or laboratory. The personal equation has much to do with 

 the results. There is no " royal road " to success here. 

 The rewards are for those who are willing to pay the 

 price, and that price includes constant and intelligent work. 

 The habit of study is rarely acquired after college days, 

 and if the undergraduate does not develop it he should 

 seek a less exacting profession than that of chemistry, 

 unless his ambitions will be satisfied with the daily grind 

 of routine work. 



The investigation department is that part of the manu- 

 facturing organisation which deals with all the new pro- 

 positions of a technical nature. Its work, which is en- 

 tirely distinct from current manufacturing, has to do with 

 new, and the improvement of old processes. A new pro- 

 position remains under the control of the investigation de- 

 partment from the time of its inception until sufficient 

 data have been obtained to enable the construction depart- 

 ment to design the necessarv plant, if one be authorised 

 by the executive committee. It is turned over to the operat- 

 ing department only after the process is working smoothly 

 and the results considered satisfactory. 



The organisation of the investigation department should 

 be sufficiently broad to permit the consideration of a manu- 

 facturing proposition from the points of view of the business 

 man, the chemist, the engineer, and the patent attorney. 

 It consists of the manager, a chemical council composed 



