452 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 718 



standard, he -will apply the proper correction. 

 In cases of dispute between two laboratories, 

 an analysis by each of the standardized 

 sample, each working by its usual method, will 

 usually lead to a satisfactory agreement. 



The materials which it is proposed to 

 standardize fall into two groups. The first 

 group comprises substances to be employed for 

 standardizing volumetric solutions. These 

 may be either the solutions themselves, or com- 

 pounds of exactly known content used in 

 establishing the true titer of the solutions be- 

 longing to the industrialist's laboratory. In 

 the case of about six of the most used and 

 most permanent, it would probably be well to 

 furnish the solutions and also the standard 

 compounds. The second group comprises 

 standardized samples of commercial materials, 

 by the use of which the manufacturer can con- 

 trol his entire analytical process. This work 

 has already been begun. Its development 

 must naturally be slow, since the field is im- 

 mense, and in some cases special industrial 

 laboratories have perfected methods of an- 

 alysis which for commercial reasons have 

 never been published and which are superior to 

 those in general use or to those which would 

 be at the command of the bureau. Excep- 

 tional cases of this kind need not, however, 

 stand in the way of the adoption of the gen- 

 eral scheme. To decide what portion of the 

 whole field should be first occupied and what 

 left to future growth is a matter that would 

 require very careful study and need not be 

 even toiTched on here. The question whether 

 the standard solutions or substances should 

 be furnished by the consumer and standardized 

 by the bureau or whether they should be 

 furnished outright by the bureau is a matter 

 of detail which practical considerations would 

 settle. The cost of executing such a pro- 

 grame as that suggested need not be a serious 

 obstacle. From the standpoint of the manu- 

 facturer it would be economy to pay very 

 liberal fees for the work, especially in view of 

 the fact that the standardized materials would 

 be consumed in small quantities only and 

 mainly for the purpose of establishing sec- 

 ondary standards. 



Whether it is desirable for the bureau to 



undertake to work out standard methods of 

 analysis, is a question that may fairly be 

 looked upon as an open one. For myself I 

 should be inclined to answer it in the nega- 

 tive. The scope of work is wide enough with- 

 out this. The difficulty which any institution 

 must have in deciding for the industrial 

 laboratory which are the methods that would 

 be practical for it are insuperable. A method 

 that would be eminently practical for one 

 would be the reverse for another having com- 

 mand of facilities more or less wide. More- 

 over it is impossible for any outsider to know 

 what the analytical problems are which the 

 industrialist has to handle, and in very many 

 cases the latter will on no account furnish the 

 information. Nevertheless, while for the rea- 

 sons stated, the writer does not believe it to be 

 wise for the bureau to make the investigation 

 of analytical methods a part of its functions, 

 yet it must of necessity investigate many such 

 methods as an incident in the carrying out of 

 other work, and it will, of course, not refrain 

 from giving to the world the benefit of such 

 work by timely publication. 



The chemical profession in this country is 

 only now coming to a consciousness of itself. 

 When it has fully done so, it will doubtless 

 have a Bureau of Applied Chemistry of its 

 own, together with other good thin^, but the 

 day is probably still distant. It owes it to 

 itself, in the meantime, neither to be backward 

 in acknowledging the great work that the 

 Bureau of Standards has already accom- 

 plished, nor in demanding that its scope 

 should be extended and its relations be made 

 more intimate with our chemical industries, 

 whose future is already looming up greater 

 than any man can now fully realize or 

 forecast. 



Launcelot Andrews 



St. Louis, 

 July 24, 1908 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 The Worh of John Samuel Budgett, Balfour 

 Student of the University of Cambridge. 

 Being a Collection of his Zoological Papers, 

 together with a Biographical Sketch by A. 

 E. Shipley, F.E.S., and Contributions by 



