Apeil 9, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



571 



other organizations and the governors of more 

 than twenty states. The commission, in its 

 elaborate investigations, had, so to speak, 

 taken stock of our natural resources, and its 

 report, therefore, was essentially statistical 

 in character. It had estimated the magnitude 

 of each particular resource, and had studied 

 the rate of consumption of such substances as 

 lumber, coal, iron, etc. It discussed the wast- 

 age of the land by preventable erosion, and its 

 efFects not only upon agriculture but also in 

 reducing the navigability of streams. Ques- 

 tions like these were treated at considerable 

 length, and their general character is all that 

 need be mentioned just here. The data of the 

 commission were mainly classified under four 

 headings, namely, minerals, forests, lands and 

 waters, and under each one the evils to be 

 remedied were pointed out with all the em- 

 phasis and clearness which the statistical 

 method of investigation made possible. The 

 commission cleared the ground for study into 

 the prevention or limitation of future waste; 

 and the problem of conservation can now be 

 taken up in a more intelligent manner than 

 has been possible hitherto. We now know 

 better than ever before what the evils and 

 dangers really are; the nest step is to dis- 

 cover remedies, and then, finally, to apply 

 them. The public attention has been aroused ; 

 the people of the country are awakening to 

 the necessity of greater prudence and economy 

 in the use of our resources, and definite lines 

 of action can now be laid down with a reason- 

 able probability that they will be followed. 

 Fortunately the reports of the commission 

 are neither sensational nor unduly pessi- 

 mistic; the results of their conferences are 

 presented seriously, and in such a manner as 

 to compel consideration; they are therefore 

 all the more likely to produce permanent 

 effects of great benefit to the American peo- 

 ple. The utterances of the mere alarmist 

 rarely carry conviction; but disclosures like 

 these made by the Conservation Commission 

 can not be disregarded. 



Up to the present moment chemistry has 

 had little to do with the investigations of the 

 commission. Henceforward the chemist must 



be called upon in many ways, for the waste of 

 resources is often preventable by chemical 

 agencies. Chemistry has already done enough 

 to prove its potency, and its influence is felt 

 in every branch of industry. Adopting the 

 classification of the commission, we shall find 

 the chemist active under every heading. 

 Under minerals, we must note that metallurgy 

 is essentially a group of chemical processes by 

 which the metals are separated from the ores; 

 a separation which may be either wasteful or 

 economical. Within recent years, within the 

 memory of members of this society, the avail- 

 able wealth of the world in metals has been 

 enormously increased. By the cyanide proc- 

 ess for extracting gold, ores are now profitably 

 worked which were formerly worthless, and 

 at the same time the demand for mercury has 

 been decreased. The Bessemer process for 

 steel making, now also modified for use in 

 copper smelting, is purely chemical; and its 

 later modification, the Gilchrist-Thomas 

 process, applies similar principles to phos- 

 phatic ores, which were previously of little 

 value. Furthermore, in the last-named proc- 

 ess, phosphatic slag is produced, which is use- 

 ful as a fertilizer and helps to relieve the 

 drain upon our rapidly wasting supplies of 

 phosphate rock. Chemists are now studying, 

 with much success, the problem' of preventing 

 corrosion in iron, a research which will pro- 

 long the life of iron structures and thereby 

 reduce the waste of ore. The use of coal 

 slack by briquetting methods is largely based 

 upon chemical investigations; the salvage of 

 by-products from coke ovens, such as tar and 

 ammonia, is wholly due to chemical research; 

 coal is further economized by the study of 

 boiler waters and the consequent prevention 

 of boiler scale. Even inferior coals, lignites, 

 are now converted into what is known as pro- 

 ducer gas, and so are transformed into the 

 best kind of fuel. Petroleum is refined by 

 chemical means, and every fraction of it is 

 saved, either as- illuminating oil, as gasoline, 

 as a lubricant, as vaseline, or as paraffin. 

 These are all notable achievements, but 

 greater are yet to come. Enormous quanti- 

 ties of valuable substances are thrown into 



