Januaey 31, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



173 



simplest conditions for thermochemica] 

 measurement. But such reactions might 

 be difScult to identify, if indeed, they are 

 possible at all. These considerations are 

 obvious enough, but, unfortunately, they 

 are sometimes ovei'looked. 



Of the second great problem of chem- 

 istry, the nature of chemical combination, 

 I need say little more. Some of the sub- 

 ordinate questions which groAV out of it 

 have been already mentioned, and each of 

 them is a center of activity in the chemical 

 research of the day. The entire field, 

 however, is not covered, and here and there 

 we can see evidences of neglect. First, we 

 need to know under what conditions chem- 

 ical change is possible. Then, if we would 

 truly understand what chemical attraction 

 means, we must study much more fully 

 than hitherto its relations to other forces. 

 How do heat, or light, or electricity in- 

 augurate a reaction, and how are they pro- 

 duced by it? Questions of equilibrium are 

 important, but they are siibordinate to 

 these. Furthermore, is chemical union of 

 one kind only, or do we confuse different 

 phenomena imder the single name? Some 

 authors write of atomic and molecular com- 

 binations as if they were distinct ; are they 

 really so, or is the separation nothing more 

 than a confession of ignorance? For ex- 

 ample, what is water of crystallization? 

 Here is one of the commonest phenomena 

 of chemistry entirely unexplained. 



Up to this point I have considered the 

 needs of chemistry from the theoretical 

 side alone, as if we had only a matter, of 

 pure science to deal with. But the question 

 has other aspects, of equal importance to 

 us, and these now claim our attention. In 

 order to enlarge the possibilities of re- 

 search, what more do we need in the way 

 of opportunities and resources? 



To the sporadic, the piecemeal, the al- 

 most accidental character of scientific in- 

 vestigation I have already referred. Rarely 



do we fijid a man who can take up a large 

 problem in a large way, mth all its rami- 

 fications and details ; even the most favored 

 investigator must confine his personal work 

 within narrow bounds, and do the best he 

 can in his own corner. The greater part 

 of chemical discovery has been the result 

 of individual effort— the work of men who 

 labored independently of one another, with 

 rare cooperation, and often under condi- 

 tions of the least favorable kind. By an 

 army of volunteers, undisciplined and un- 

 ofiicered, the victories of science have been 

 won. The time is now ripe for something 

 better — how to organize research is the 

 problem to be solved. 



I do not mean to imply, by this sug- 

 gestion, that any existing agency for re- 

 search should be destroyed, or even sup- 

 planted; for such a proposition would be 

 foolish in the extreme. Individual initi- 

 ative, personal enthusiasm, are too precious 

 to be lost; they have their part to play in 

 the development of science ; and the small- 

 est fact, discovered by the humblest worker, 

 ■wall always be welcome. I do believe, how- 

 ever, that present conditions may be im- 

 proved; that the efficiency of the indi- 

 vidual can be increased; and to this end I 

 urge upon your consideration the possi- 

 bility of cooperation between those investi- 

 gators who happen to be laboring in the 

 same field. Ten men, pulling together, can 

 do more than twenty who are apart. 

 Duplication of effort, the useless repetition 

 of work, can at least be avoided. 



On several former occasions I have ad- 

 vocated, as the most urgent need of science, 

 the regular endo-^anent of research. By 

 this I do not mean the payment of salaries 

 to men working at random, who shall each 

 choose his own small problem and attack 

 it in his own way. Such a procedure would 

 increase facilities, no doubt, but it might 

 prove to be wasteful in the end. I look 

 rather to the establishment of institutions, 



