574 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 745 



metallic ores, as now conducted, involves the 

 ■use of exhaiistible material both as ore and as 

 fuel. 



In most industries, however, the two sets of 

 considerations are combined. Portland ce- 

 ment, for example, is made from inexhaustible 

 substances, but is burned with exhaustible 

 fuel. The latter factor in the industry, 

 therefore, is the one to be carefully con- 

 sidered, while the first factor is negligible. 

 Taking industry by industry we shall find 

 that this condition of affairs is general, and 

 that each one must be studied by itself with 

 reference to its inexhaustible, reproducible 

 and exhaustible elements. In doing this a 

 clear notion can be obtained as to the real 

 needs of a given industry, and our attention 

 can then be concentrated upon those features 

 of it which particularly demand economy. 

 We shall be able to locate evils with greater 

 accuracy; to diagnose the industrial diseases, 

 so to speak, and then to look intelligently for 

 remedies. Many of the remedies must be 

 sought for along chemical lines of research, 

 which will develop economical processes of 

 manufacture, utilize materials that are now 

 wasted, or substitute cheap for costly sub- 

 stances. Cheap and costly, however, are 

 words which need qualification. A substance 

 or a process which is cheap to-day may be in 

 reality wasteful with a temporary reduction 

 in price at the cost of some permanent econ- 

 omy. For our purposes the two words imply 

 a deeper discrimination than is carried by 

 their ordinary use. Temporary efficiency and 

 cheapness are to be discountenanced, while 

 permanent economy for the benefit, not only 

 of the nation but of the whole human race, is 

 to be encouraged. This principle is sound, 

 but its practical applications wiU involve 

 many difficulties, and develop many conflicts 

 with special interests. Like all ideals it can 

 not be realized absolutely, but it represents a 

 standard of action towards which we must 

 move, even though the ultimate goal of per- 

 fection may never be attained. Evils can be 

 mitigated, although they may not be entirely 

 removed. 



The American Chemical Society now num- 



bers more than four thousand members, scat- 

 tered through all the states and territories of 

 the union and represented in every one of our 

 great productive industries. These chemists 

 are at the same time progressive and conserv- 

 ative in their work, for they are both discov- 

 ering new utilities and protecting old ones 

 from loss. We believe that every member of 

 the organization is necessarily in sympathy 

 with the great forward movement for econ- 

 omy, and that in our society the National 

 Conservation Commission will find a most 

 powerful and willing ally. 



F. W. Clarke, 

 H. W. Wiley, 

 C. H. Hertt, 

 S. W. Parr, 

 E. B. Dole 



80IENTIFI0 NOTES AND NEWS 



The Koyal Academy of Stockholm has pre- 

 sented Mr. Thomas A. Edison with its Adels- 

 kiold gold medal for his inventions in connec- 

 tion with the phonograph and the incandes- 

 cent light. This medal is conferred once in 

 ten years. 



Professor Cleveland Abbe, of the U. S. 

 Weather Bureau, has been elected an honorary 

 member of the Royal Meteorological Society. 



The Alumni Association of Columbia Col- 

 lege and the School of Mines gave a dinner to 

 Dean J. H. Van Amringe, professor of mathe- 

 matics in Columbia University, on April 3, to 

 celebrate his birthday and a half century of 

 teaching at Columbia College. A loving cup 

 was presented to him. 



It is announced that President Taft has re- 

 quested Surgeon General Wyman to draw up 

 a tentative plan for the consolidation under 

 one bureau of the agencies exercised by the 

 federal government for the preservation of the 

 public health. 



M. Jungfleisch has been elected a member 

 of the Paris Academy of Sciences in the sec- 

 tion of chemistry as successor to the late M. 

 Ditte. 



Mr. Charles S. Sherrington, professor of 

 physiology in Liverpool University and Mr. 

 William H. Maw, editor of Engineering, are 



