726 
sonal quarrels among many scientific men 
have been carried in this country, and we 
are glad to say that there is no instance in 
which these quarrels between chemists have 
come into our organization to influence our 
action and mold our policies or to cause the 
growth of faction and the promotion of 
feuds. 
There is enough for every one ta do in 
this country without wasting his energies 
with envy of the accomplishment of others. 
About the most unprofitable occupation 
into which a man can fall is to complain 
of a lack of appreciation. It is doubtless 
true that in many cases the worthy man is 
cheated of his dues and the unworthy re- 
ceives a reward out of all proportion to his 
services. These are accidents, which are 
due to the imperfection of human nature, 
and not to any peculiarity of scientific pur- 
suits. There should be room for the phi- 
losophy of life in chemical science as in 
every other. The sensible way is to ac- 
cept what happens, and not to degenerate 
into a kicker or the carrier of a club. The 
chips which are found on the shoulders of 
our associates are usually magnifications of 
the motes in our own eyes, and not due to 
the deposition of any really ligneous ma- 
terial upon the clavicle of our supposed 
enemy. We have plenty to do in this 
world without going about knocking off 
hypothetical chips. I have the profoundest 
sympathy for the man with a just griev- 
ance, and I know how many have them, 
but there is no greater nuisance than this 
same man with this same just grievance. 
The man who shuts his mouth, compresses 
his lips and bears the pain and humiliation 
without a sign is the one who wins our ad- 
miration in the end and often turns disaster 
into good. 
With a proper appreciation of the dignity 
of our profession, we will therefore do our 
work as well as we can and be glad of the 
greater success of our professional brethren, 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Von. XIII. No. 332. 
and not find in it a cause of sorrow and de- 
jection. Every man who succeeds in chem- 
istry does a work to elevate our profession 
and to help us all, and therefore, even from 
a selfish motive, we should be glad of his 
achievements. I realize how hard it is to 
see others preferred when we feel convinced 
that we should have had it, and yet I must 
be allowed to praise the courage of the man 
who with a smile on his face and a true 
feeling of well-wishing in his heart can con- 
gratulate the more successful man not with 
hypocritical words, but with a real senti- 
ment of satisfaction. 2 
There is one special way in which I think 
our great organization can do much to ele- 
vate the dignity of chemical science. I 
have spoken of the fact that chemistry does 
not appeal directly to the public imagina- 
tion, and for this reason many of our best 
people do not have a true appreciation of 
the value of chemical services. An honor- 
able and praiseworthy part of our profes- 
sion is the rendering of professional .ser- 
vices of a chemico-technical nature to the 
great industries of the world. Too often 
the promoters of these industries, the men 
with the money, the men on the boards of 
directors, and the stockholders, do not ap- 
preciate the real value of the services they 
ask for. A great corporation is perfectly 
willing to pay a great lawyer $10,000, $15,- 
000 or even $50,000 for professional ser- 
vices, whereas if a chemical expert should 
ask $1,000, it would produce a kind of cor- 
porative hysteria or nervous prostration, 
while, in point of fact, the technical ser- 
vices demanded would probably be of far 
greater financial utility than the legal ser- 
vices so much more liberally paid for. 
There has been a tendency among some 
of our profession to foster this spirit of con- 
tempt for the value of chemical services of 
a professional nature, not intentionally, I 
am glad to say, but because of.a feeling, 
which I can hardly describe, that it is not 
