296 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. Xo. 36. 



Moissan,* tlie production of carborundum 

 by Acheson, the production of the various 

 carbides bj' Moissan, Wilson, Borcher and 

 others are of great interest from both the 

 technical and scientific side. Whether the 

 calcium carbide, which has been so much 

 discussed and seems such a valuable mate- 

 rial for the production of acetylene, will at 

 once take and hold the high position as- 

 signed to it by its inventors is still an open 

 question. But whether it shall find ex- 

 tended application in the industries or not; 

 whether it will prove too expensive to com- 

 pete with benzene as an enricher of an illumi- 

 nating gas, or as a raw material for the 

 synthesis of alcohol or other substances in a 

 commercial way, it mil serve as a con- 

 venient and sufficiently inexpensive source 

 of acetjdene for experimental purposes, and 

 it will therefore without doubt still become 

 the starting point for many valuable in- 

 vestigations. ISTikodem Caro f has already 

 applied the method of Berthelot to the sj'n- 

 theses of alcohol with acetylene liberated 

 from calcium carbide and shown that the 

 yields are so far from the theoretical amounts 

 that immediate application in this direction 

 is at least doubtful. But the results illus- 

 trate the possibilities of the advancement 

 of the science through these technical or 

 semi-technical methods. 



It would be impossible in such a discus- 

 sion as this to cover more than a few of the 

 ■manifold ways in which the science of 

 chemistrj- has been advanced by the indus- 

 tries, their wants and their wastes. The 

 former have led to the establishment of the 

 great systems of technical schools provided 

 with the magnificent library and laboratory 

 equipments, the state and national experi- 

 ment stations, the various official boards 

 and commissions for the studj^ of those 

 questions which immediately affect the gen- 

 eral welfare, and from each and all of these 



*Chemische Industrie, 1895, 931. 

 fCheni. Industrie, 1895, 226. 



sources come reports of advances which are 

 most gratifying. The latter,* that is, the 

 industrial wastes, gave us new elements 

 and new compounds and so furnished the 

 material for the establishment of new 

 laws. The soap-boiler's lye gave iodine, the 

 wastes of salt gardens gave bromine, the 

 mother liquors from the springs gave cae- 

 sium and rubidium, the acid chambers se- 

 lenium and thallium, and the mines and 

 metallurgical works gave gallium and ger- 

 manium. 



Whether we consider this side of the sub- 

 ject of the advancement of our science from 

 one direction or another, we shall find 

 ample encouragement for combination of 

 forces and for closer union of professional 

 and technical workers in our general field 

 of activity. For the benefits from one side 

 must bring reciprocal benefits fi-om the 

 other. f The principle of action and reaction 

 is as true and as applicable here as in the 

 great domain of physics. Necessity is the 

 most natural stimulant to effort, and honest 

 investigation must call to her aid all knowl- 

 edge whatever its source and all methods 

 however they may be acquired, and where 

 this is the moving spirit progress is most 

 active. Dr. Ostwald says most justly that 

 " the secret of German industrial chemistry 

 is the recognition that science is the best 

 practice." Is it not equally true that 

 practice which leads to the development 

 of truth is the best science ? 



William McMurtrie. 



New York. 



AMERICAN MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 

 The eighteenth annual meeting M^as held 

 in the buildings of Cornell Universitj', 

 Ithaca, I^. Y., August 21-23. It was 

 characterized by a large and enthusiastic 

 attendance and a very important progi-am 



* Eoscoe and Schorlemnier, Treatise on Chemistry 

 III. pt. III. 15. 



tGaro. Ber. d. d. Oiera. Gesell. 25, E. 991 Meyer, 

 Gescliichte der Cliemie, 469-470. 



