140 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1390 



upon to reexplore the natural resources of the 

 country and to find, if possible, within our 

 own borders raw materials which we had for- 

 merly imported, and many important and un- 

 expected discoveries were made. The physicist 

 was presented with a host of problems, prob- 

 lems in light, in sound, in electricity, in wire- 

 less transmission, etc., and in the attempt to 

 solve these problems contributed materially to 

 the advancement of our cause and to the 

 general welfare. The engineer, working in 

 conjunction with the physicist and chemist, 

 gave body and substance to the discoveries of 

 the latter, and gave besides an example of the 

 power of concentrated and intelligent eifort 

 to solve engineering difficulties of all kinds, 

 which won the admiration of the world. The 

 various branches of medical science, repre- 

 sented by the physician, the surgeon, the physi- 

 ologist, the pharmacologist and others, all ren- 

 dered a service of inestimable value, the mem- 

 ory of which will long be enshrined in the 

 thought of the world. I refer not only to the 

 direct service in mitigating immediate hu- 

 man suffering, but also, and more important 

 even than that, to the advances in medical 

 science which were made. And so we might 

 call the roll of the sciences and each could 

 respond vsdth a record of achievement, of 

 things actually accomplished for the welfare 

 of our country and the world. 



It is perhaps true that no branch of science 

 was given the opportunity of rendering more 

 conspicuous or more vital service than that 

 of chemistry. It is scarcely too much to say 

 that for a period of two years the whole or- 

 derly course of scientific research in chemistry 

 was suspended. In 1917 the country was con- 

 fronted with a very large number of practical 

 chemical problems, some of them of an ex- 

 tremely complex and difficult nature, the 

 prompt solution of which was imperatively de- 

 manded. These problems may be grouped un- 

 der two general heads. Since foreign sources 

 were to a large extent cut off as early as 1914, 

 we were faced with the task of supplying the 

 ordinary everyday needs of the community for 

 the vast number of substances in the manu- 

 facture of which chemistry played an essential 



part, and these problems were far from being 

 satisfactorily solved in 191Y. The second 

 group included the multitudinous problems 

 which had to do directly with the prosecution 

 of war. In order to meet the situation thus 

 presented the critical nature of which could 

 hardly be exaggerated, practically the entire 

 research and manufacturing facilities of the 

 country were drafted. The extent to which 

 the research personnel of the country was 

 drawn into some branch of industrial or war 

 work was truly amazing. Never before had 

 this country witnessed such intensive chemical 

 effort. For the industrial chemist it did not 

 as a rule call for any very radical change in 

 the nature of his work. To him it meant, in 

 the main, redoubled effort in the line he was 

 accustomed to, or in related lines. But for 

 the large number of university men who were 

 able to give a portion or all their time, the 

 change was more radical. In many cases they 

 abandoned, for the time being, the researches 

 upon which they were engaged and addressed 

 themselves to the solution of certain definite 

 problems, not chosen by themselves, but pre- 

 sented by the exigencies of war. These men 

 came from various colleges and universities 

 in all sections of the country and for nearly 

 two years gave themselves over to an entirely 

 new experience, viz., an intensive study of 

 definite problems which were essentially indus- 

 trial in nature, in that they were in most 

 cases directed toward ultimate large scale 

 operation. After working out a particular 

 problem in the laboratory it then became 

 necessary, with the cooperation of the engi- 

 neer, to put the process being developed 

 through the various stages leading finally to 

 large scale production. 



The very great chemical activity which 

 characterized this period and particularly the 

 conspicuous success which was attained by 

 the chemist in the solution of many of the 

 difficult problems presented to him have had 

 important results in several directions. 



1. The chemist finds himself in a more fa- 

 vorable position than he formerly held in the 

 eyes of the general public. It was not so very 

 long ago that to the average man in the street, 



