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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 747 



such instruction to the university, where it 

 could be the handmaid of pure science in 

 its highest aspect. It is indeed possible 

 that the former course may yet be followed 

 in this country in consequence of the atti- 

 tude of the university toward applied sci- 

 ence, but if so, it would seem to be in con- 

 sequence of following the lines of least 

 resistance instead of adopting the wisest, 

 broadest and most effective policy. It would 

 seem that a divorce of science as applied to 

 the great industry of agriculture, from the 

 close and intimate touch with the highest 

 and best in pure science, and from the 

 finest academic atmosphere which the coun- 

 try can supply, would be an equally great 

 misfortune to science in both its pure and 

 applied form. In this connection, it is of 

 the utmost importance that the college and 

 university teacher of science, in its rela- 

 tion to agriculture, as well as men in train- 

 ing for research positions in the agricul- 

 tural experiment stations, should have 

 approached the university through an agri- 

 cultural college of as high standing edu- 

 cationally as other institutions of collegiate 

 grade, and that they shall not enter this 

 university field without the close touch 

 with agriculture and with the allied sci- 

 ences which such agricultural colleges af- 

 ford, since this is essential to their highest 

 usefulness. 



That which is most needed at the present 

 time is to provide iiniversity education 

 from the view-point of agriculture, and this 

 ought to have immediate and splendid sup- 

 port. 



At a time when agricultural chemistry is 

 "under fire" it is especially fitting to con- 

 sider its requirements and to judge it by 

 its fruits. The very nature of the subject 

 brings the teacher of agricultural chemistry 

 in the college, and the experiment station 

 investigator in close touch with the farmer 

 and hence a knowledge of practical matters 

 is indispensable to his highest success and 



usefulness, a requirement which has forced 

 from the ranks some of the general chem- 

 ists who have tried to enter the field of 

 agricultural chemistry. The conditions 

 imposed have made the field a particularly 

 favorable one for the young man who has 

 been reared on the farm, who has had an 

 agricultural college education and who is 

 thus in position not only to give the farmer 

 the advice and counsel which he seeks, but 

 also to be governed by sound judgment in 

 his scientific deductions in their bearing 

 upon agricultural matters. The very fact 

 that a more or less general knowledge of 

 several sciences, and thorough training in 

 general chemistry are required, has forced 

 the student in this line to prepare himself 

 more fully for his work in the past, than 

 in many of the other sciences related to 

 agriculture. These combined features fur- 

 nish a splendid preparation for the admin- 

 istrative duties devolving upon the director 

 of an agricultural experiment station. In 

 fact it is doubtless due to these considera- 

 tions that a great proportion of the agri- 

 cultural experiment station directors in this 

 country and in Europe have been chosen 

 from the ranks of the agricultural chem- 

 ists. Thus this science has yielded special 

 fruit by way of leaders in agricultural in- 

 vestigation in addition to its vast number 

 of other contributions to our general agri- 

 cultural progress. 



It is needless to cite what the agricul- 

 tural chemist, from the time of Liebig to 

 that of Hellriegel, has contributed to agri- 

 culture; since the men and their work are 

 too well known and appreciated to require 

 enumeration. It can not be disputed that 

 without the aid of agricultural chemistry 

 modern agricultural progress would have 

 been impossible and the world would now 

 be crying for food. Indeed, even a casual 

 survey of the fruits of agricultural chem- 

 istry and of its benefactions to the people 

 justify not only its past existence, but for 



