810 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 386. 



article, in brief, must merely state a few 

 points of interest dealt with more in detail 

 by the committee. Over two hundred col- 

 leges, including the leading universities of 

 the United States, gave the committee sta- 

 tistics. Scarcely a dozen answers came 

 from Canada and no requests for informa- 

 tion were sent to Mexico. 



A lengthy table is given showing the in- 

 crease in the number of students in chem- 

 istry (inorganic, organic, physical and 

 agricultural) during the past twenty-five 

 years. While the figures are not to be re- 

 lied upon for several reasons, some very 

 interesting information was gained; for 

 instance, there is a very marked number of 

 students specializing in chemistry; the 

 courses have been much diversified by 

 means of the increase in the number of in- 

 structors, teaching fellows, laboratory 

 assistants, etc. 



In regard to equipment: Large sums 

 have been spent "by many institutions, some 

 having even been established since the 

 founding of the American Chemical So- 

 ciety. A few chemical departments re- 

 ported large endowments. While in many 

 cases through private beneficence institu- 

 tions have been provided with commodious 

 and in some instances magnificent labora- 

 tories, as at Yale, Columbia, Chicago, Cor- 

 nell and Leland Stanford, Jr., and in 

 others, as the Universities of Nebraska and 

 Washington, the states have supplied the 

 needs in many departments, there is still a 

 crying demand for better equipment and 

 better accommodation. Some few reported 

 their equipment as sufficient. 



While much information in regard to 

 buildings, floor-space, etc., was secured, an 

 itemized statement of such was impracti- 

 cable. A conservative statement, averaging 

 all, is that the accommodations for students, 

 teachers and chemists in America have in- 

 creased in the proportion of one to twenty- 

 five. 



Two interesting tables are included in 

 the report touching directly upon the num- 

 ber of professors teaching organic chem- 

 istry; the number of students taking lecture 

 work in organic chemistry, laboratory work 

 in organic chemistry; and the number of 

 professors, instructors and students doing 

 research work in organic chemistry. It 

 appears almost beyond conception to realize 

 that in only five or six colleges were re- 

 searches in organic chemistry conducted in 

 1876, while now over thirty institutions 

 offer excellent opportunities for such re- 

 searches and the total number of students 

 carrying them out in these institutions is 

 much over a hundred (1900). Twenty-five 

 volumes of the American Chemical Journal 

 speak eloquently of Ameiican researches in 

 organic chemistry. (Report on Organic 

 Chemistry was prepared by W. A. Noyes.) 



The report contains a complete history 

 of the development of physical chemistry 

 in America (by Louis Kahlenberg) . At the 

 founding of the Chemical Society there was 

 not a single instructor of physical chem- 

 istry in America. In fact it may be said 

 that this phase of the subject has been 

 recognized only within the last decade, yet 

 at present there are several chairs of phys- 

 ical chemistry in America, and all of the 

 more important institutions offer instruc- 

 tion in that subject under an adjunct pro- 

 fessor or instructor in charge of it. An 

 outline is given also of the aspirations and 

 aims of physical chemistry in America, and 

 a promising indication of accomplishment 

 is had in the Journal of Physical Chem- 

 istry, now in its fifth volume. 



Agricultural Chemistry (by C. L. Par- 

 sons). — The report in reviewing agricul- 

 tural chemistry has considered the estab- 

 lishment of many of the agricultural 

 colleges a few years preceding the found- 

 ing of the Society. Not long afterward, 

 in 1882, the Association of Official Agri- 

 cultural Chemists, which has done and 



