584 REPORT — 1901. 



Section B.— CHEMISTRY. 



President of the SECTioif — Professor Percy F. Frankland, Ph.D., F.R.S. 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 



The President delivered the following Address: — 



Tlie Position of British Chemistry at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century. 



Tavo circumstances unite in rendering this jear especially appropriate for the 

 survey and valuation of all departments of British life and organisation — the 

 dawn of a new century, the close of the Victorian era. It is a moment when not 

 only the nation as a whole, but every group of persons drawn together by what- 

 ever bond, and indeed each individual for himself, must involuntarily ask the 

 question, Are we progressing or receding, or are we standing still ? Upon us, 

 then, who are bound together by the common interest which we have in that 

 science to which this Section is devoted there forces itself the question, AVhat is 

 the position of British Chemistry at the present moment, how does this present 

 bear comparison with the past, and what are the prospects for the future P 



To bring before you some considerations with respect to the answer which 

 should be given to this question, or rather series of questions, will be my 

 endeavour in responding to the honour which has been conferred on me of 

 inaugurating the work of our Section at this Meeting of the Association. 



It is with no light heart that I undertake this task, for there are present here 

 to-day those whose much longer experience and far more intimate connection with 

 the progress of our science render it presumption on my part to address them on 

 this subject at all. 



It is v/ell known that the history of British Chemistry, as indeed that ot 

 British Science in general, is a very remarkable one : it is almost entirely made up 

 of achievements which are the result of private initiative ; and the persons who 

 have taken part in the making of this history have, with some notable exceptions, 

 not been servants of the State, and have thus differed from the makers of scientific 

 history in almost every other country in the world. Thus the opportunities for 

 the investigations which are recorded in the ' Transactions ' of our Chemical 

 Society have, for the most part, not been provided out of the public purse, but 

 by private individuals or by institutions which have been created by private 

 benefaction. 



This unique condition of things is well illustrated by taking up a volume of 

 the ' Chemical Society's Journal ' and glancing at the table of contents. 



Thus in the volume for 1881, taken at random, we find that, out of the seventy- 

 five original communications which it contains, only thirteen emanate from 

 Government laboratories, whilst what will surely not a little surprise the scientific 

 historian of some centuries hence is the circumstance that there are only foui* 

 communications from the so-called ' ancient seats of learning ' of the United 

 Kingdom, no fewer than three of which are by one and the same investigator. 



