NCE 



Friday, January 8, 1915 



CONTENTS 

 The American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science: — ■ 



The War and the Chemical Industry: Dr. 

 Wm. H. Nichols 37 



The Relief of Our Pacific Coast : Dr. J. S. 

 DiLLEB 48 



The International Commission on Boundary 

 Waters 57 



The American Ambulance Hospital in Paris. 58 



Charles Sedgwick Minot 59 



Scientific Notes and Neics 59 



University and Educational Neios 62 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Fraternities and Scholarship: Professor 

 L. B. Walton. Sentiment versus Educa- 

 tion. John N. James. The Cotton Worm 

 Moth: Dr. A. P. Saunders. Meteorological 

 Observations in Germany: Dr. C. Abbe, Jr. 63 



Scientific Books: — 



Grinnell on the Mammals and Birds of the 

 Lower Colorado Valley: Dr. F. B. Sumner. 

 Lewkowitsch an the Chemical Technology 

 and Analysis of Oils, Fats and Waxes : Pro- 

 fessor A. H. Gill 65 



Special Articles: — 



The Nitrogen Nutrition of Green Plants: 

 Dr. Chas. B. Morrey 69 



The Philadelphia Meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence: Ernest Lee Worsham 70 



MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 

 review should be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 

 On-Hudson, N. Y. 



THE WAB AND THE CHEMICAL INDUSTE¥i- 

 Philadelphia was the cradle of chemis- 

 try in this country. What was possibly 

 the first chemical society in the world was 

 founded here in 1792. A few years later 

 one of its members addressing the society 

 said: 



The only true basis on which the independence 

 of our country can rest is agrieitlture and manu- 

 factures. To the promotion of these nothing 

 tends in a higher degree than chemistry. It is 

 this science T\hich teaches man how to correct the 

 bad qualities of the land he cultivates by a proper 

 application of the various species of manure, and 

 it is by means of a knowledge of this science that 

 he is enabled to pursue the metals through the 

 various forms they put on in the earth, separate 

 them from substances which render them useless, 

 and at length manufacture them into various 

 forms for use and ornament as we see them. If 

 such are the effects of chemistry, how much 

 should the wish for its promotion be excited in 

 the heart of every American! It is to a general 

 diffusion of knowledge of this science, next to the 

 virtue of our countrymen, that we are to look for 

 the firm establishment of our independence. And 

 may your endeavors, gentlemen, in this cause, en- 

 title you to the gratitude of your fellow citizens. 



Considering the time when these words 

 were spoken, we must marvel at the vision 

 of the future which must have illumined 

 the mind of the speaker. If in the last 

 clause quoted he had said "ladies and 

 gentlemen" it would have been complete. 



But Philadelphia was also the cradle of 

 the chemical industry in this country, and 

 up to the present day occupies a very im- 

 portant part of that field. Some of the 

 pleasantest recollections of my earlier life 



1 Address complimentary to the citizens of Phil- 

 adelphia given by Dr. Wm. H. Nichols at the 

 Philadelphia Meeting of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science. 



