September io, 1908J 



NA TURE 



455 



take investigations for local manufacturers and merchants 

 in connection with difficulties which may be met with in 

 their works or business. This method of securing the 

 interest and support of those engaged in applied chemistry 

 may or may not be workable according to the conditions 

 under which such cooperation is carried out. The staff 

 and the laboratories of a university or polytechnic cannot 

 be placed at the unrestrained and gratuitous disposal of 

 any manufacturer who is in some trivial difficulty, nor 

 can the choice of the subjects to be investigated be decided 

 by the governing body. If however the arrangements, 

 pecuniary and otherwise, are left entirely in the hands of 

 those directly concerned, namely, the manufacturer and 

 the responsible head of the chemistry department, the 

 scheme should then prove e.\ceedingly valuable, and should 

 be adopted as widely as possible. It should be under- 

 stood, and the fact might even be advertised by the govern- 

 ing body, that for purposes of research work in applied 

 chemistry — but not of course for analytical work — the 

 laboratory of the university, college, or polytechnic is, 

 under certain conditions, at the service of the manufac- 

 turers ; that although primarily and unswervingly devoted 

 to work in pure science, such institutions recognise that, 

 for their own interests, they must do all they can to assist 

 chemical industries. 



It might be thought that these conditions prevail at the 

 present time, and that any manufacturer, if he so choose, 

 may consult the university staff on any problem in which 

 he is interested. Possibly this is true to a limited extent, 

 but in most institutions the members of the staff are 

 restrained from undertaking any outside work ; in others, 

 such work may only be done with the sanction of the 

 authorities. 



These conditions, of course, are only laid down because 

 the governing body believes that tliey safeguard the 

 interests of the institution, and if it were shown that their 

 enforcement is really contrary to those interests they would 

 soon be abrogated. Many or all such authorities readily 

 permit the members of their staff to undertake outside 

 examination work because they consider this course to be 

 to the advantage of their institution ; but how incomparably 

 more important is the object of gaining the confidence and 

 support of the manufacturers. 



Pray do not let it be imagined that this is some subtle 

 scheme for increasing the pecuniary rewards of the 

 teachers. I greatly fear that to many of those who are 

 now engaged in research work the suggestion that they 

 should give some attention to applied chemistry would be 

 very distasteful, simply because it would involve an 

 immediate encroachment on the time, already far too 

 limited, which they are able to give to the immediate 

 scientific problem which is one of their principal joys in 

 life. To those who might have fears of this kind I would 

 point out that there would soon be some compensation ; 

 once the cooperation of the manufacturers is secured, the 

 demand for research chemists would expand, and the 

 laboratories would be filled with students whose help in 

 pure science would be invaluable. 



The possible objection that the teaching staff would 

 devote too much time to applied work and neglect other 

 duties is one which could be left for the governing body 

 to deal with unsparingly. If the institution took some 

 percentage of all extraneous remuneration, or any similar 

 arrangement were made, the funds thus provided could 

 be used for increasing the staff of assistants and demon- 

 strators — a most desirable reform in itself. 



One of the greatest advantages of a working arrange- 

 ment such as that here indicated would be that, like the 

 method already suggested, it would lead to the evolution 

 of what is otherwise almost unattainable — namely, men 

 thoroughly trained in both science and practice. The 

 research students of the teaching institution, engaged on 

 a given problem for a manufacturer, would of course be 

 allowed to study its practical aspects in the works ; on the 

 other hand, works-chemists, with considerable practical 

 experience, would be granted permission to proceed to the 

 university laboratory, where they would study the problem 

 with the assistance of the highest scientific knowledge, 

 and acquire further training in the methods of research. 



Combinations such as these could hardlv fail to lead 

 to valuable results, which would form the subject of 



NO. 2028, VOL. 78] 



patents ; the monopolies thus acquired would place the 

 manufacturers in a favourable position, and the revival of 

 our chemical industries would follow in due course. There 

 is nothing Utopian in this scheme, and there are no great 

 initial difficulties to be overcome ; it may be set in opera- 

 tion by the manufacturer, and possibly also, as will be 

 indicated later, by the worker in pure science. Reading 

 between the lines certain records which have recently 

 appeared in the science journals and the patent lists, it 

 may even be inferred that such arrangements are already 

 in force in one of our large industrial centres. 



There are other ways in which it might be possible to 

 obtain the active cooperation of the manufacturers. Any 

 individual or firm interested in a problem of applied science 

 might be invited to found a temporary research scholarship 

 at the university or other institution for the definite object 

 of the particular problem in question. The maximum 

 period during which such a scholarship would be tenable 

 might be fixed beforehand, so that the financial liability 

 of the founder would be limited and proportionate to the 

 importance of the object in view. The holder of the 

 scholarship might be nominated by the university, or by 

 the founder and the university jointly, and suitable con- 

 ditions would be drawn up to ensure the interests of the 

 founder ; he would of course have the benefit of all the 

 results of the work, and would secure the patent rights 

 of any new invention, subject possibly to the payment of 

 a small percentage of the profits to the university and to 

 the holder of the scholarship. During the tenure of the 

 scholarship, the holder, and also the founder, would have 

 the advantage of the scientific knowledge of the university ; 

 the scholarship holder would also be allowed to gain prac- 

 tical experience in the works, and, if successful, there is 

 little doubt but that he would have the option of working 

 the process on the large scale and of obtaining permanent 

 employment under satisfactory conditions. After a given 

 period the scientific results of the work would be published 

 through the usual channels in the ordinary way. 



This idea of applied research scholarships had taken 

 shape in my mind when I happened to come across a book 

 recently published in the United States, called " The 

 Chemistry of Commerce," in which I found that a similar 

 proposal had been made by the author, R. K. Duncan, 

 Professor of Industrial Chemistry at the University of 

 Kansas. The scheme is there worked out in some detail, 

 and a form of legal agreement to be signed by the 

 university authorities and by the founder of the " Industrial 

 Fellowship " is suggested. 



Thinking it would be of interest to know how the plan 

 had worked out in practice, I wrote to Prof. Duncan and 

 received a reply a few weeks ago. He very courteously 

 informed me that five industrial fellowships had already 

 been established in his laboratories, that the agreements 

 for two additional ones were being prepared, and that 

 he might have obtained more, but wished to proceed con- 

 servatively ; also that he had no reason to doubt the entire 

 practicability of the scheme, and that experience had 

 shown that the terms of the agreement could be made 

 more favourable to the university than those which were 

 first drawn up. One of the new conditions is that the 

 industrial fellowship holder shall give two hours a week 

 gratuitous instruction in the work of the chemistry depart- 

 ment — an arrangement which has proved to be of great 

 inspirational value. The fellowships are tenable during 

 two years, and are of the value of 500 dollars or 1000 

 dollars per annum. 



It is too soon to be able to form any opinion as to the 

 commercial importance of the work carried out under this 

 scheme, but it is obvious that the foundation of such 

 scholarships for the study of general or special problems 

 in applied chemistry is most desirable. One of their great 

 advantages would be that they might be founded by those 

 manufacturers who cannot afford permanently to engage a 

 research chemist. Large and successful firms like the 

 I'nited .Alkali Co., Brunner, Mond and Co., and many 

 others which can employ a staff of chemists, are of course 

 eminently capable of managing their own affairs without 

 outside assistance or advice, and it is only for those which 

 are less prosperous that the foregoing suggestions are 

 made. 



The great benefits which are conferred on pure science 



