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SCIENCE 



[X. S. Vol. XXVIIl. No. 722 



point of view eminently satisfactory. If 

 even a fraction of the same skill and energy 

 were brought to bear under proper condi- 

 tions on problems of applied science, who 

 can doubt but that the effect on our chem- 

 ical industries would be one of vast impor- 

 tance? And yet it is the rarest possible 

 occurrence to find any record of research 

 work undertaken with a commercial object 

 even in the natural home of such records, 

 the Journal of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry. 



One reason for this may be that the dis- 

 coveries made in the works-laboratories are 

 not given to the world at large, but are 

 quietly and lucratively applied in some 

 secret manufacturing process. Another 

 reason, unfortunately the more probable 

 one, may be that nearly all the principal 

 research workers are completely shut off 

 from any industrial influences. 



Now the worker in pure science, unaided 

 by the advice of the manufacturer and 

 business man, has little chance of solving 

 any important technological problem, ex- 

 cept as the result of accident; he has not 

 the requisite acquaintance with commercial 

 conditions, does not realize the enormous 

 difference between operations on the labo- 

 ratory and the manufacturing scales, or, if 

 he does so, is unable to enter fully and with 

 confidence into questions of fuel, labor and 

 so on, which often determine the success 

 or otherwise of a process. Further, much 

 of the research work of direct commercial 

 value concerns methods for reducing the 

 cost of processes already in operation, and 

 demands an intimate practical knowledge 

 of these processes. 



It is obvious, therefore, that, even if all 

 the research capacity of the country were 

 henceforth devoted to purely technical mat- 

 ters, any great improvement in our indus- 

 tries could hardly be anticipated without 

 the active cooperation of the manufacturers. 



There are other ways in which it might 



be possible to obtain the active cooperation 

 of the manufacturers. Any individual or 

 firm interested in a problem of applied 

 science might be invited to found a tem- 

 porary research scholarship at the univer- 

 sity or other institution for the definite 

 object of the particular problem in ques- 

 tion. The maximum period during which 

 such a scholarship would be tenable might 

 be fixed beforehand, so that the financial 

 liability of the founder would be limited 

 and proportionate to the importance of the 

 object in view. The holder of the scholar- 

 ship might be nominated by the university, 

 or by the founder and the university joint- 

 ly, and suitable conditions would be drawn 

 up to insure the interests of the founder; 

 he would, of course, have the benefit of all 

 the results of the work, and would secure 

 the patent-rights of any new invention, sub- 

 ject possibly to the payment of a small 

 percentage of the profits to the university 

 and to the holder of the scholarship. Dur- 

 ing the tenure of the scholarship the holder, 

 and also the founder, would have the ad- 

 vantage of the scientific knowledge of the 

 university; the scholarship holder would 

 also be allowed to gain practical experience 

 in the works, and, if successful, there is 

 little doubt but that he would have the 

 option of working the process on the large 

 scale and of obtaining permanent employ- 

 ment under satisfactory conditions. After 

 a given period the scientific results of the 

 work would be published through the usual 

 channels in the ordinary way. 



This idea of applied research scholar- 

 ships had taken shape in my mind when I 

 happened to come across a book recently 

 published in the United States, called ' ' The 

 Chemistry of Commerce, ' ' in which I found 

 that a similar proposal had been made by 

 the author, R. K. Duncan, professor of 

 industrial chemistry at the University of 

 Kansas. The scheme is there worked out 

 in some detail, and a form of legal agree- 



