August 19, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



145 



of chemical training, familiarity with chem- 

 ical literature, enthusiasm for research and, 

 above all, a thorough understanding of theo- 

 retical principles, which alone gives the in- 

 vestigator the ability to interpret observations 

 and devise sound and effective methods of 

 attack. The above qualities are essential to the 

 research chemist, regardless of whether he is 

 in an industrial or a university laboratory. 

 For in the development of an industrial proc- 

 ess, the first stage is in the laboratory and here 

 the problem differs from a problem in " pure " 

 research only in one particular, viz., that it is 

 directed toward a definite commercial object. 

 The same thoroughness should be sought, the 

 same methods employed and precisely the same 

 qualities on the part of the investigator are 

 necessary. 



Those of us therefore who are charged with 

 the responsibility of university instruction in 

 graduate chemistry should set our faces 

 against the tendency in evidence around us to 

 place the emphasis in teaching upon the prac- 

 tical, necessarily at the expense of the funda- 

 mentals. 



This does not in any sense mean that uni- 

 versity laboratories should avoid attacking 

 problems the solution of which is of impor- 

 tance to industry. On the contrary, one of 

 the happy developments of the past few years 

 has grown out of the opportunity which has 

 been afforded to large numbers of university 

 professors to get in close contact with some 

 of the problems of commercial chemistry. 

 Many of these problems, of fundamental and 

 far reaching importance to the industries, have 

 been taken into the university laboratory and 

 the professor brings to their study his ripe 

 knowledge and experience, his patience and 

 resourcefulness which, combined with the ma- 

 terial facilities at his command, offer the 

 promise of sure progress in their solution. 

 Already substantial contributions along a 

 number of lines have been made and we may 

 confidently look forward to greater achieve- 

 ments in the future. The universities may 

 very properly take advantage of the opportuni- 

 ties thus presented to render a high service to 

 the community. But there are also dangers 



inherent in the situation. "While rendering 

 this service, we must sedulously avoid sacri- 

 ficing the ideals of pure science. We must 

 keep out of our university laboratories the 

 spirit of commercialism and not allow our 

 interest in these problems of applied chem- 

 istry to lessen our interest in the large num- 

 ber of even more fundamental questions which 

 happen to be of less immediate practical im- 

 portance. 



In the foregoing discussion we have partly 

 anticipated the answer to a question which 

 has been frequently discussed in recent years, 

 I refer to the matter of cooperation between 

 the universities and the industries. How can 

 the university laboratory render the most 

 valuable service to chemical industry? How 

 can industry cooperate with the university toi 

 the end that the interests of both may be best 

 served? It must be clear that these interests 

 are mutual; more particularly, that any plan 

 which enables the university more effectively 

 to perform its function of advancing scien- 

 tific knowledge and training chemists will be 

 beneficial to industry and anything which in- 

 terferes with or in any way hampers the uni- 

 versity laboratory in the performance of these 

 primary functions must ultimately be harm- 

 ful to industry. 



Recognizing the importance of this question 

 and fully conscious of the wisdom of properly 

 guiding the movement already under way look- 

 ing toward a closer relation between the uni- 

 versities and the industries, the American 

 Chemical Society, under the recent presidency 

 of Dr. Stieglitz, authorized the appointment 

 of a committee to study and report upon the 

 subject. The committee consists of leading 

 educators and representatives of industry and 

 I believe is still engaged in studying the 

 question in the effort to formulate a plan by 

 which the desired ends may be accomplished 

 without injury to the university. 



The opening paragraph of a tentative re- 

 port made by the committee reads as follows: 



The most important contributioa which the 

 universities can make to the development of in- 

 dustry in this country is to supply the industries 

 with sufficient numbers of men thoroughly and 



