538 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1006 



results with those of others. In Europe, espe- 

 cially in Germany, research is never seriously 

 delayed by lack of a needed preparation, 

 whereas, none of our supply houses carry a 

 full stock of chemicals. To obtain a single 

 gram of some particular substance, needed for 

 a few preliminary tests, frequently causes 

 weeks of delay, as well as the disproportionate 

 custom house and brokerage expenses involved 

 in the importation of small quantities. Be- 

 sides, owing to the better centralization of 

 scientific laboratories in Europe, and the exist- 

 ence in each case of a fairly complete set of 

 specimens accumulated in the researches of 

 large numbers of academic investigators, it is 

 comparatively easy to obtain by correspondence 

 research material or typical specimens for 

 comparison. In this country, on the other 

 hand, laboratories are scattered throughout 

 the numerous colleges and universities, and 

 there are no established rules by which speci- 

 mens must be deposited with the laboratory. 

 In smaller laboratories, especially, the chances 

 of preservation after the departure of the 

 investigator are not very good. It would be, 

 consequently, very much more difficult to ob- 

 tain such specimens here. I would suggest, 

 therefore, that a chemical museum be estab- 

 lished in New York, to perform for the Amer- 

 ican chemists the functions that the Smith- 

 sonian Institution so admirably carries on for 

 the benefit of American naturalists. This 

 museum would not attempt to be a popular 

 show-place, but would embody, in the first 

 place, as complete a collection as possible of 

 chemically pure materials of the rarer kinds, 

 so as to supplement, but not in any manner 

 compete with, the stock of commercial supply- 

 houses. Any scientific investigator would be 

 entitled to borrow or purchase material re- 

 quired for immediate experimentation, and 

 all used articles would be replaced as quickly 

 as possible. 



In the second place, it would be a depository 

 for specimens of new substances obtained in 

 American research. Every chemist would be 

 invited to send to the museum a small quan- 

 tity of each substance newly prepared by him, 

 not, indeed, as an evidence of the good faith 



of his investigation, but, rather, to enable 

 future workers to obtain such material, either 

 for comparison, or for further experimenta- 

 tion with the least possible delay. Many sub- 

 stances that are now carried away from uni- 

 versities by students who subsequently aban- 

 don chemical research, or which belong to the 

 families of deceased chemists who do not 

 know what to do with them, would thereby be 

 rescued from oblivion, and might ultimately 

 become of the greatest value for a special 

 purpose. 



Thirdly, this museum would invite chemical 

 manufacturers to send standard samples of 

 their products, and thereby facilitate the com- 

 mercial relations between consumer and manu- 

 facturer. 



To such a museum there could be attached 

 a competent staif of workers for the prepara- 

 tion of samples not otherwise available. In 

 the analysis of samples submitted as official 

 standards, we should have the beginning of 

 that Chemische Reichsanstalt which is now 

 the chief object to which German chemists 

 are directing their attention." 



Page 126 : " . . . We have detailed some of 

 the more striking advantages which the new 

 building is expected to confer upon the chem- 

 ical profession as a whole, as well as upon 

 its individual votaries; is it an exaggeration 

 to characterize the constitution of the Chem- 

 ists' Building Company itself as a new era 

 in the chemical industry of our country? 

 In scanning the list of shareholders, we find 

 representatives of nearly every important 

 concern, or even the larger companies them- 

 selves ; but that this is not a ' trust,' in the 

 sense so obnoxious to the yellow journalist, is 

 demonstrated by the conditions of the partner- 

 ship. No shareholder can receive more than 

 3 per cent, dividends, and the surplus can not, 

 under any circumstances, accrue to his bene- 

 fit within the next fifty years. This associa- 

 tion, therefore, is not for individual profit, but 

 for the raising of the standards of chemical 

 industry and research in the United States. 

 If we recognize what the Verein zur Hebung 

 der chemischen Industrie, founded by Hof- 

 mann and Werner Siemens, has done for 



