44 Transactions Tennessee Academy of Science 



CHEMISTS' PRESENT OPPORTUNI- 

 TIES AND DUTIES 



BY J. I. D. HINDS, CASTLE HEIGHTS SCHOOL, LEBANON, TENN. 



[Read before the Academy, December 1, 1916.] 

 For my present purpose I shall divide chemists into two classes, 

 pure or theoretical chemists, and industrial chemists. To the first 

 class belong those who are doing research work independently, that 

 is, in nobody's interest, with the sole purpose of adding to the store 

 of chemical knowledge, and without the idea of making money out 

 of the results of their researches. Chemists of this class have not 

 been particularly affected by the European war, except as their work 

 has been interrupted, especially in the countries at war. They are 

 usually in the employ of universities, or of the national or State 

 governments, and are working for the advancement of science and 

 for the general good. 



To the pure chemists there are now open many rare opportuni- 

 ties. There are vast fields unexplored in physical chemistry, elec- 

 trochemistry, radiochemistry, in the study of the nature of the atom 

 and of the molecule and of colloids. None of these bid fair to have 

 much commercial importance unless it should be in the study of 

 the atom. If we can ever learn how to decompose and recompose 

 the atom, we may find access to stores of energy which will dwarf 

 all those which we now possess. Our utilizable sources of energy 

 are chemical action, water power, electricity, and the sun. Water 

 power traces back to the sun and electricity is made available 

 through chemical or mechanical energy. The atomic disintegration 

 of a gram of radium or of uranium develops something like a mil- 

 lion times as much energy as the combustion of a gram of coal. 

 This energy of atomic decomposition is peculiar, having character- 

 istics not possessed by the energy of chemical action. This atomic 

 decomposition is spontaneous and we know of no way either to 

 cause it or prevent it. 



The |)ure chemist is alliuislic lie ihiiiks lilllc of the conuner- 

 cial value of his discoveries, lie takes as much interest in estimat- 

 ing the weight of the hydrogen atom as in measuring the heat of 



