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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 768 



varied entertainment on a suitable scale for the 

 large company, but was arranged to display some 

 'Of the exquisite ancient art recovered in Egyptian 

 excavations, the expenses of which were borne by 

 the Mond family. In the adjoining home of Mr. 

 Robert Mond there was perhaps the best exhibi- 

 tion of colored photographs, many talcen by him, 

 in any private collection. One also saw there 

 pure nickel and cobalt in various forms, and the 

 various carbonyls of nickel, iron, cobalt and pal- 

 ladium, some shown the first time. 



The American Ambassador, the Hon. Whitelaw 

 Eeid, gave a dinner to the American commission- 

 «rs on Whit-Monday evening at Dorchester House, 

 followed by a reception attended by over 1,000 

 members. Br. Messel also entertained the Amer- 

 ican members at tea at the White Hart Hotel, 

 after the visit to Windsor Castle, Wednesday 

 afternoon. 



The following general receptions were held: 



May 26 — Reception by the Lord Mayor and 

 Corporation of the City of London at the Guild- 

 Tiall. 



May 27 — Reception at the Foreign Office. 



May 29 — Reception by the London Section of 

 the Society of Chemical Industry at the Univer- 

 sity of London. 



June 1 — Reception at the Natural History 

 Museum. 



The London ladies' committee did everything 

 for the comfort and pleasure of the visiting ladies. 

 A charming garden party was given by them at 

 the Botanic Gardens, to which the men were also 

 invited. The season was just right for a magnifi- 

 cent display of rhododendrons and laurel. 



On Friday evening. May 28, a joint banquet of 

 the congress and the Society of Chemical Industry, 

 which met in annual session the day before the 

 -congress convened, was held in the Crystal Palace. 

 Sir William Ramsay, supported by Professor 

 Raphael Meldola, retiring president of the Society 

 of Chemical Industry, presided over the 1,500 

 ladies and gentlemen present. 



The president proposed the toasts, " The King," 

 ■" Foreign Rulers " and " Our Friends from 

 Abroad." With the last he coupled the names of 

 Nichols, Brauner, Gautier, von Bottinger, Piutti 

 and Hoogewerff.' 



Dr. Nichols, replying for America, said that he 

 resided in New York, spent his summers in Can- 

 ada, and was a representative of the Mexican 



' The writer is indebted to the official steno- 

 graphic reports of the Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry for notes of these speeches. 



government. As a commissioner of the United 

 States government and the official representative 

 of the American Chemical Society he thanked the 

 hosts for their wonderful hospitality. While the 

 chemist owed much to the world, the world owed 

 much to the chemist and it would owe more 

 before it owed less. In the great problems of the 

 future just about to commence, the building up 

 rather than the pulling down of the universe, the 

 chemists of America would do their share. 



Professor Bohnslav Brauner replied in English 

 for the Austrian Imperial Monarchy. Thirty 

 years ago he had studied under the distinguished 

 honorary president, Sir Henry Roscoe, when he 

 was preaching a crusade against the domination 

 of the " rule of thumb " and he rejoiced that the 

 highest in the land now declared that the " rule 

 of thumb " was dead, and the Congress of Applied 

 Chemistry was the one to give it its cowp de grace. 



Professor Armand Gautier, speaking in French, 

 said that the entente cordiale existing between the 

 English and French chemists dated back to the 

 period when Priestley went to Paris, when Lavoi- 

 sier called Black his master and when Napoleon 

 allowed Humphry Davy to travel in France with 

 his assistant Faraday at a time when every 

 Englishman was forbidden French soil. 



Dr. von Bottinger trusted, in German and Eng- 

 lish, that the congress would not only further the 

 work of science but the amiability and friendship 

 among all nations. 



After Professor Piutti had said a few words for 

 Italy, Professor Hoogewerf, of Holland, spoke for 

 the other nations, whose representatives were 

 mentioned later in alphabetical order beginning 

 with Argentina and ending with Turkey. Dr. 

 Hoogewerff referred to the founding of the theory 

 of ions by Faraday, Ramsay's discovery of the 

 noble gases and the recent apparent demonstra- 

 tion of the disintegration of what was formerly 

 regarded indivisible. The sulphuric acid industry 

 had its birth not far from London, the first city 

 to be lighted by coal gas, and the Scotchman, 

 Young, laid the foundation of the shale industry 

 and Perkin began the coal-tar industry. 



An elaborate display of fireworks in the grounds 

 of the palace closed the proceedings. Special 

 trains conveyed all to and from the city. 



On Saturday morning. May 29, the King re- 

 received a deputation from the congress accom- 

 panied by Sir Henry Roscoe, Sir William Ramsay 

 and Mr. William Macnab (honorary general sec- 

 retary) . The following constituted the deputa- 

 tion: Dr. W. H. Nichols (America), K. K. Regier- 



