694 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 673 



respect is to spray the growing crop with 

 the solution of a chemical which kills the 

 weeds and does not injure the crop. The 

 chemical employed for this purpose is 

 ferrous sulphate in a ten-per-cent. so- 

 lution. It does not injure cereals, corn 

 or even grasses and clover, but destroys 

 or retards the growth of the most noxious 

 weeds to such an extent that the yield 

 of crops has been increased twenty per 

 cent. 



One of the greatest services which chem- 

 istry has rendered to the amelioration of 

 the farmer's vocation is the protection as- 

 sured against artificial and fraudulent imi- 

 tations of numerous genuine products. A 

 few of the most vicious abuses, through 

 which the farmer and consumer suffered 

 alike, were the sale of oleomargarine for 

 genuine butter, which almost destroyed the 

 dairy industry; the sale of artificially col- 

 ored distilled vinegar for cider vinegar, 

 which caused millions of bushels of apples 

 to rot in the orchards of the country; the 

 sale of glucose for maple syrup and honey ; 

 the sale of skim milk for whole milk; and 

 the sale of skim-milk cheese for full cream 

 cheese. 



It is gratifying to refer to the aid which 

 the governments of all civilized nations 

 have given in recent times for the purpose 

 of elevating and perpetuating the art of 

 agriculture, the industry most important 

 to the welfare of humanity. Agricultural 

 colleges and experiment stations, agricul- 

 tural departments, both national and state, 

 have been established and richly endowed. 

 These are filled with earnest and honest 

 investigators, who are working diligently 

 and faithfully to disseminate truths, al- 

 ready established, among the rural popula- 

 tion and to discover new ones, by which 

 this noble vocation may be advanced. May 

 the good work go on. 



H. A. Webber 



RELATION OF CHEMISTRY TO THE 

 INDUSTRIES 



I AM gratified that an opportunity has 

 been given me to be present on this occa- 

 sion and take part in the installation of 

 the new head of the department of chem- 

 istry of this great university. To me it is 

 a matter of no little significance, and to all 

 of us, interested, as we are, in the promo- 

 tion of the work of the institution and its 

 material and scientific progress, it is almost 

 the beginning of a new era in its develop- 

 ment. We may congratulate ourselves that 

 the officers charged with the duty of seek- 

 ing out and appointing the new incumbent, 

 should have had such good fortune in their 

 search, and should have chosen so well. 

 But I know you will sympathize with me 

 when I say that the pleasure and gratifica- 

 tion which comes to us now must be tem- 

 pered by the remembrance of the real cause 

 which brings us together: the early and 

 untimely removal of the late head of the 

 department. To me it brought keen sor- 

 row. I knew Dr. Palmer as a youth, just 

 emerging into manhood. Earnest, enthu- 

 siastic, industrious and skilful, he came to 

 his work with qualities of mind calculated 

 to make him a leader among his fellows, 

 and to cause him to quickly take a high 

 position in his chosen profession. A per- 

 sistent reader of the literature even in his 

 student days, a deep and accurate thinker, 

 a rapid manipulator, confident of the accu- 

 racy of his results, he was able to accom- 

 plish more within a given time than most 

 men; and all this, combined with a vivid 

 and useful imagination, made possible for 

 him splendid progress in research and 

 opened for him a career which must cer- 

 tainly have placed him in the forefront of 

 the profession, and made him a leading 

 chemist in his eoimtry and in the world. 



As a teacher the same qualities made him 

 successful. Students respect and follow 



