490 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1169 



The necessity of realizing these relation- 

 ships in everyday life has been persistently 

 urged for two generations by men of sci- 

 ence, but it has taken the present world 

 crisis and its consequent interruption of 

 our commercial relations to show how much 

 more should have been done. The pre- 

 paredness programs of this and other na- 

 tions, as well as the utterances of thought- 

 ful men in responsible positions in various 

 walks of life, bids us hope that the lesson 

 has now, in a measure, been learned. In 

 a recent address before the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science an 

 able chemist says : 



The press bears Tvitness through the appearance 

 of innumerable articles and letters that the people 

 of this country have begun to perceive the dangers 

 that will inevitably result from a continuance of 

 their former attitude, and to understand that in 

 peace, as in war, civilization is at a tremendous 

 disadvantage in the struggle for existence unless 

 armed by science; and that the future prosperity 

 of this empire is ultimately dependent on the prog- 

 ress of science and very especially of chemistry. 

 If, as one result of the war, our people are led to 

 appreciate the value of scientific work, then per- 

 haps we shall not have paid too high a price. 

 (The same view has been expressed by many emi- 

 nent American chemists.) 



A similar note of warning is sounded by 

 a continental writer in discussing the ques- 

 tion of whether we shall have a precarious 

 or a lasting peace. He says : 



It would be a dangerous mistake to suppose that 

 any readjustment of frontiers could afford a suffi- 

 cient guarantee for future peace, or that war in- 

 demnities, protective tariffs and the like could 

 oblige the peace-breakers to renounce their 

 schemes. ... At the future (peace) congress, 

 among the seats reserved for the delegates of the 

 Great Powers, one seat should remain vacant, as 

 reserved to the greatest, the most redoubtable, 

 though the youngest of Powers: Science in scarlet 

 robes.2 



Before taking up a discussion of the re- 

 lationship of chemistry and life, it may be 



2 Eeinach, S., Nation, June 15, 1M6. 



worth while to inquire as to the general 

 attitude of the public toward the work of 

 the chemist. If you ask the first person 

 you meet, or if you get the opinion of the 

 newspaper man or other influential citizen, 

 about the work of the chemist, he is apt to 

 tell you that the chemist is a man who can 

 analyze substances, and detect falsification 

 in them ; but he is not likely to tell you that 

 the chemist has any important relationship 

 to the commercial development of the enter- 

 prise in question. How many in this audi- 

 ence, for example, think of the chemist 

 when they pour their "Karo" on their hot 

 cakes at breakfast, when they read the 

 headlines of the daily paper and learn that 

 a wireless message has been flashed across 

 the ocean; when they step into an automo- 

 bile to start the day's work, or when, the 

 work completed, they while away the time 

 of the evening watching the screen in some 

 motion picture show? Nevertheless, in the 

 successful working out of each of these the 

 chemist has played an important and, in 

 some cases, a vital part, but I have not time 

 here to give particulars. 



Let me give you a concrete example of 

 what I mean. Whenever one thinks of the 

 Panama Canal one's thoughts turn at once 

 to the chief engineer, Col. Goethals. He is 

 the one to receive the medals, the honorary 

 degrees, the thanks of Congress, the pro- 

 motion to higher rank in the army, and 

 finally to be named governor of the Canal 

 Zone. Do not misunderstand me : I am not 

 complaining of this recognition of the 

 man's undoubted merit, because Goethals 

 was unquestionably the moving spirit in 

 the undertaking, and certainly worthy of 

 all the honors that have come to him. But 

 when we come to survey the case a little 

 more closely, we see that there are at least 

 three other factors for neither of which 

 Goethals was personally responsible, but 

 without the support of any one of which he 



