OCTOBEB 30, 190S] 



SCIENCE 



591 



is fiuislied, and wliether lie lias been to 

 a university or to a pol}i;eelinic matters 

 little; he joins the band of those who 

 subsist on but who do nothing to advance 

 chemical indust^J^ He enters a works; 

 the manufacturer does not realize exactly 

 what his chemist ought to do, but he ex- 

 pects some immediate results, and in con- 

 sequence is generally disappointed; the 

 lack of success of the chemist is put down 

 to his ignorance of practical matters, and 

 there is an outcry for technical education ; 

 science is most unjustly discredited, and 

 any suggestion of spending money on re- 

 search work is scouted as a mere waste. 



The consequence is that if there is a 

 scientific problem which intimately con- 

 cerns all the members of some large in- 

 dustry, what eoui-se do they adopt! 

 Through their trade journal, and as an 

 association representing a total capital of 

 which I should not like to hazard a guess, 

 they offer a bronze or possibly a silver 

 medal, or may even offer the extravagant 

 sum of 201., to the happy person who will 

 provide them with a solution. It is diffi- 

 cult to imagine the class of solvers to whom 

 these princely rewards may appeal, more 

 difficult still to believe that any useful re- 

 sult can be attained, and it is almost in- 

 credible that such methods should be 

 adopted by any influential industrial 

 organization. This way of attempting to 

 get research work "on the cheap" is cer- 

 tainly not unknown even in more en- 

 lightened countries, but that is hardly a 

 sufficient justification for its employment. 



Contrast these methods with those 

 adopted by the Badische Anilin- und Soda- 

 Fabrik and Meister, Lucius & Briinig in 

 their attempts to solve the problem of the 

 commercial synthesis of indigo. Could 

 there be a greater antithesis ? If five thou- 

 sand copies of Brunck's Paper on this sub- 

 ject^ could be circulated among the manu- 



^Ber., 1900, I., Ixxi. 



facturers of this country— a task which 

 might be fittingly undertaken by the So- 

 ciety of Chemical Industry— the study of 

 the truly magnificent results attained by 

 the systematic application of pure science, 

 and of the indisputable evidence of their 

 commercial value, might prove an object- 

 lesson far more effective than argument 

 for the accomplishmeut of a sorelj' needed 

 reform. 



Now if we are to meet successfully the 

 veiy formidable scientific and commercial 

 organization opposed to us in chemical in- 

 dustry, we must perforce adopt the methods 

 of our competitors ; not only must we learn 

 patience and perseverance, but we must also 

 call to our aid the best brain-power avail- 

 able. We must recognize clearly that the 

 seieutific-works chemist, the only man who 

 is likely to make discoveries of commercial 

 value, must be thoroughly trained in the 

 methods of research by those best qualified 

 to do so, and we must not imagine that 

 when he enters the works he should or could 

 immediatelj' become an engineer and a com- 

 mercial expert; his place is in the research 

 laborator}^ The practical man— that is to 

 saj^, the man who has a thorough and useful 

 knowledge of some particular manufactur- 

 ing process — must be trained under prac- 

 tical men in the works, and we must not 

 imagine that a course of evening classes will 

 convert him into an expert chemist. The 

 ideal man who combines high scientific 

 training and sound practical knowledge 

 can not be produced unless the period of 

 his education is extended to half a life- 

 time, and even then only through the coop- 

 eration of the chemistry teacher and the 

 manufacturer. 



The great proportion of the original work 

 now done in this country, judging from the 

 published records, is absolutely free from 

 any utilitarian bias ; the time, brain-power 

 and money devoted to this work are consid- 

 erable, and the results from a scientific 



