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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1135 



the B.Se. degree, and to devote that time 

 to research work which would qualify for 

 a higher degree. In this connection an ex- 

 cellent object-lesson is at hand, for the out- 

 put of research work from the Scottish 

 universities has very greatly increased 

 since the scheme of the Carnegie Trust for 

 the institution of research scholarships has 

 come into operation. Thanks to these 

 scholarships, numbers of capable young 

 graduates, who otherwise for the most part 

 would have had to seek paid employment 

 as soon as their degree courses were com- 

 pleted, have been enabled to devote two or 

 more years to research work. Of course 

 it must be recognized that not every chem- 

 ist has the capacity to initiate or inspire 

 investigation, and that no amount of train- 

 ing, however thorough and comprehensive, 

 will make a man an investigator unless he 

 has the natural gift. At the same time, 

 whilst only the few are able to originate 

 really valuable research work, a large army 

 of disciplined men who have had training 

 in the methods of research is required to 

 carry out experimentally the ideas of the 

 master mind. Moreover, there is ample 

 scope in industrial work for chemists who, 

 although not gifted with initiative as in- 

 vestigators, are suitably equipped to super- 

 vise and control the running of large-scale 

 processes, the designing of appropriate 

 plant, the working out on the manufac- 

 turing scale of new processes or the im- 

 provement of existing ones — men of a thor- 

 oughly practical mind, who never lose sight 

 of costs, output and efficiency, and who 

 have a sufficient knowledge of engineering 

 to make their ideas and suggestions clear 

 to the engineering expert. Further, there 

 has to be considered the necessity for the 

 work of the skilled analyst in the exami- 

 nation of raw materials and the testing of 

 intermediate and finished products, al- 

 though much of the routine work of the in- 



dustrial laboratory will advisedly be left 

 in the hands of apprentices working under 

 the control of the chemist. Lastly, for the 

 buying and selling of materials there should 

 be a demand for the chemist with the com- 

 mercial faculty highly developed. There 

 is, indeed, in any large industrial establish- 

 ment room for chemists of several different 

 types, but all of these should have had the 

 best possible training, and it must be the 

 business of our higher teaching institutions 

 to see that this training is provided. 



On more than one occasion I have ex- 

 pressed the opinion that every chemist who 

 looks forward to an industrial post should 

 receive in the course of his training a cer- 

 tain amount of instruction in chemical 

 engineering, by means of lectures and also 

 of practical work in laboratories fitted out 

 for the purpose. The practicability of this 

 has been proved in more than one teaching 

 institution, and experience has convinced 

 me that chemists who have had such a 

 course are generally more valuable in a 

 works — whether their ultimate destination 

 is the industrial research laboratory or the 

 control of manufacturing operations — than 

 those who have not had their studies di- 

 rected beyond the traditional boundaries of 

 pure chemistry. (I used the word "tradi- 

 tional" because to my mind there is no 

 boundary line between the domains of pure 

 and of applied chemistry.) A course in 

 chemical engineering, preferably preceded 

 by a short course in general engineering 

 and drawing, must, however, be introduced 

 as a supplement to, and not as a substitute 

 for, any part of the necessary work in pure 

 chemistry, and consequently the period of 

 undergraduate study will be lengthened if 

 such a course is included; this is no dis- 

 advantage, but quite the contrary. I am 

 glad to say that the University of Glasgow 

 has recently instituted a degree in applied 

 chemistry, for which the curriculum in- 



