January 31, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



165 



more a chemical art; photography, a mod- 

 ern science, rests upon chemical foun- 

 dations ; with the aid of the electric furnace 

 new chemical industries are spx'inging into 

 existence; and every one of these agencies 

 reacts upon the chemist, by increasing the 

 demand for his services and his wares. In 

 Germany this development of applied 

 science has gone the farthest; and in that 

 country a single establishment may employ 

 from fifty to more than a hundred chemists 

 in its regular work. Some of these men 

 are analysts merely, but others are engaged 

 in systematic research, which has both 

 science and industry in view. This appre- 

 ciation of research as such is something to 

 which few of our American manufacturers 

 have attained; and it marks the highest 

 step yet taken in the line of industrial 

 progress. The modern era began when 

 hand labor, which means individualism, 

 gave way to machinery; but the machine 

 is a symbol of organized intellectual power, 

 and science is the bed-rock of its founda- 

 tion. Chance and supposition are out of 

 place in the industrial world of to-day. 



Turning now to the governmental side 

 of science, we find that the services of the 

 chemist are everywhere in demand. Every 

 civilized government now maintains chemic- 

 al laboratories, and for purposes of the 

 most varied kind. The accuracy of the 

 coinage is determined by the assayer ; sup- 

 plies for public use are tested by analytical 

 methods ; taxes are assessed in terms which 

 need chemical interpretation ; the armor of 

 the battleship and the explosive of the tor- 

 pedo depend for their efficiency upon the 

 skill with which our work is done. The 

 sanitation of cities; their water supply; 

 the disposal of sewage ; the ef£ectiven-ess of 

 antiseptics ; the quality of gas for lighting 

 or of asphalt for paving; the warfare 

 against the adulteration of food— all of 

 these questions are essentially chemical in 

 character, and are, or should be, settled in 



the official laboratory. The aggregate of 

 this work is something enormous; and yet, 

 like commercial chemistry, it has utility, 

 not science, in view. Science may advance 

 because of it, but that is not the main pur- 

 pose ; the application of existing knowledge 

 to public uses, and the creation of new 

 knowledge are two distinct things. Here 

 again chemistry is a servant, nothing more. 



Throughout the scientific bureaus of the 

 government this secondary character of 

 chemistry appears. In the Geological Sur- 

 vey it is an aid to geology; in the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, agricidture is to be 

 advanced; in the medical service of the 

 army or the navy, the interests of medicine 

 come first. Chemistry for its own sake has 

 as yet little or no governmental support; 

 astronomy is encouraged, geology receives 

 assistance, the biological sciences are given 

 opporttmities for growth; but our profes- 

 sion is merely utilized, without thought of 

 its significance, its laborers being too often 

 overworked and underpaid. 



In an incidental way, however, the gov- 

 ernmental laboratories accomplish some- 

 thing for pure science, albeit with little 

 direct encouragement and in spite of diffi- 

 culties. The official chemist, unlike his 

 commercial brother, is not always crowded 

 for time; his work can be done in a some- 

 what more leisurely manner, for it is un- 

 affected by any demand for immediate 

 financial returns; and so abstract re- 

 searches, if they bear in any way upon the 

 problems which are assigned him, are some- 

 times within his reach. Chemistry owes 

 much to investigations of this class; and 

 the papers which issue from official labo- 

 ratories are by no means to be despised. 

 Good work is done, but there ought to be 

 more of it ; research should become a recog- 

 nized duty, rather than an employment for 

 spare time. It would be well if every gov- 

 ernment could be made to see that the use 

 of science implies the encouragement of 



