308 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1421 



Society, took on character and standing. Mem- 

 bers came in rapidly so that in 1907 the society 

 had accumulated a slight surplus and felt it 

 could branch out in the publication of a second 

 journal, Chemical Abstracts, for which there 

 was a decided need. With the publication of 

 Chemical Abstracts chemists realized that the 

 American Chemical Society was to be the cen- 

 tral organization for chemistry in America and 

 was interested solely in the advancement of 

 American chemistry and the welfare of Amer- 

 ican chemists. With increasing numbers its 

 income grew and in 1909 it was able to satisfy 

 another crying need by publication of the 

 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chem- 

 istry. The increasing activities of the society 

 so pleased the chemists of America that new 

 members continued to join the society, and the 

 society grew. With numbers its income further 

 increased, and it was able to spend more money 

 on its varied activities and improve the quality 

 and size of its journals. More money was 

 spent on its general meetings and more money 

 was returned to its local sections for activity 

 throughout the country. 



With the war came added duties. Its presi- 

 dent and council placed the society at the dis- 

 posal of the government and through its efforts 

 over 4,000 chemists were enrolled, as such, in 

 uniform for chemical work during the war. At 

 the same time practically all of its membership, 

 in uniform and out, was engaged directly or 

 indirectly in war work. 



Up to this time the literature of the Amer- 

 ican Chemical Society had had for its main 

 object the enlightenment of chemists. During 

 the war it became apparent that it was ex- 

 tremely important that correct chemical infor- 

 mation be also furnished to the public through 

 the daily press and the Neivs Service was or- 

 ganized. A year later in order to foster the 

 growth of chemical literature in English the 

 American Chemical Society established its 

 series of Chemical Monograxihs, both scientific 

 and technological, and assigned a paid editor 

 to each. Again the society induced the Re- 

 search Council, with the society's support, to 

 enter upon the compilation and publication of 

 Critical Tables of Chemical and Physical Con- 

 stants. In 1917 the society published, at a 



cost of approximately $40,000, a Decennial 

 Index to Chemical Abstracts and in 1920 en- 

 tered upon the publication of an annual for- 

 mula index to Chemical Abstracts. 



The inception and continuation of each of 

 these activities was made possible only by the 

 increased number of chemists supporting the 

 American Chemical Society and its resultant 

 increase in income. Each was inexpensive in 

 its infancy but with growth increased in cost. 

 This growth is made apparent by the following 

 table : 



1907 1921 



Membership 3,400 15,000 



Jour. Amer. Chem. Society, 



Cost $ 6,752.18 $ 48,000.00 



Chemical Ahstracts, Cost.-. 12,668.05 100,000.00 

 Jour. Indus, and Eng. 



Chem., Cost (1909) 7,478.70 82,000.00 



A. C. S. Neics Service, Cost 



(1919) 2,069.88 13,000.00 



Chemical Monographs, Cost 2,150.00 



Local Sections, Cost 2,323.63 9,792.69 



Total society expenditures, 



Cost 27,248.89 325,000.00 



The society's success has been due to its 

 democratic organization; to the fact that every 

 member has an equal voice in its affairs; to its 

 form of government; to its sixty local sections, 

 patterned after our national government, each 

 electing representatives to the governing body; 

 to the easy removal and constant rotation of 

 its officers and representatives; to the high 

 character of its publications; but chiefly to the 

 fact that through niunbers it has been able to 

 accomplish results and return to its member- 

 ship much more for each doUar individually 

 expended than can be shown by any other tech- 

 nical society in any country in the world. Ac- 

 cording to the treasurer's report published in 

 1921 the expenditure per member for 1920 was 

 as follows: 



Journal $ 3.23 



Abstracts 5.84 



Industrial Journal 4.84 



News Service 57 



Local Sections 55 



Secretary's Office 1.43 



Treasurer 's OflSce 22 



President's Office 02 



General Meetings 12 



Monograplis 15 



Miscellaneous 07 



Total $17.04 



