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'SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 715 



for him to assimilate all the information 

 along these lines that comes his way. 



At the same time the chemist should 

 know his limitations. He is not an engi- 

 neer and does not pretend to be ; he simply 

 reaches out for that small portion of the 

 field of engineering where machinery comes 

 in contact with his chemicals. In this 

 limited field he may acquire and pretend 

 to special information, but beyond it he 

 would do well not to go. Let him rather 

 call his brother engineer into consultation 

 when he gets beyond his depth, so that the 

 brother engineer may in return more 

 readily call the chemist in consultation, to 

 the mutual advantage of both. 



The next place where I think the average 

 chemist's stock of information could be 

 profitably enlarged is in his knowledge of 

 what industries use the common chemicals 

 and how they use them. You will notice 

 throughout that I use the term common 

 chemicals. I realize perfectly that if a 

 young man undertook to inform himself 

 fully and broadly regarding all chemicals, 

 along the various lines I have indicated 

 from the beginning of this address, he 

 would die of old age before graduation. 

 Throughout all I have said I refer only or 

 mainly to the three or four dozen chemicals 

 which are largely used and widely dis- 

 tributed. Chemicals are manufactured for 

 one purpose and only one— to make money. 

 Chemicals are used for one purpose and 

 only one— to make more money, and the 

 sooner a chemist learns how and why this 

 and that chemical is used the more valu- 

 able he becomes to himself or his employer. 



Two mottoes that might well adorn the 

 walls of any chemical works, judging from 

 the view-point of the owners, are: First, 

 "This is not a charitable institution"; 

 second, ' ' If you can 't make good get out. ' ' 



A student in an institution like your 

 university here is furnished with every op- 

 portunity and every facility for either 



practise or investigation work, and no ex- 

 pense is considered too great if it leads 

 to a discovery of some new fact, new law 

 or new relationship of chemicals. The 

 student at the same time is surrounded by 

 a group of thoroughly trained investiga- 

 tors ready and willing to give him informa- 

 tion or direct him where to obtain it. 



"When the chemist is in actual practise, 

 however, he is usually discouraged in 

 spending either time or money in any work 

 which does not show very strong prob- 

 ability of bringing fairly immediate re- 

 turns. He is in a position of one who is 

 expected to give information, not to re- 

 ceive it, and the answer to the questions 

 asked him is not always found in the back 

 of the book. 



Going back to the details of uses of com- 

 mon chemicals, the chemist will be required 

 to have more or less familiarity with a 

 great number of industries such as rubber, 

 glass, leather, tanning, silk, cotton, ice- 

 making, cement, etc., in order to know 

 what kind of chemicals these industries 

 use and what grades of chemicals they 

 require. 



To resume the chief points to which I 

 think young chemists do not pay sufficient 

 attention and do seem to me of extreme 

 necessity in their work are, first, a knowl- 

 edge of the commercial importance of 

 chemicals and the availability of these 

 chemicals. Second, a knowledge of the ac- 

 tion of common chemicals on materials 

 ordinarily used in the construction of ap- 

 paratus. Third, a knowledge of power ac- 

 cessories and transmission machinery. 

 Fourth, a knowledge of the industries in 

 which common chemicals are used and how 

 they are used ; and last, a knowledge of the 

 impurities existing in the common chem- 

 icals as they appear on the market. 



J. E. Teeple 

 50 Church Street, 

 New Yokk City 



