November 22, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



703 



depurtment of chemistry here ; many links 

 of friendship already bind our faculties; 

 our joint efforts to advance the ideals of 

 chemical research and instruction will 

 surely cement still closer these ties ! 



Julius Stieglitz 

 The University of Chicago 



TEACHING OF GHEMISTRY IN STATE 

 UNIVERSITIES 



A NEW gpoch in chemistry has begun in 

 the United States. Development along the 

 lines of pure, industrial and applied chem- 

 istry is everywhere evident. The interest 

 now taken by our universities, by our great 

 industries and especially by our national 

 government, bears evidence of wonderful 

 progress. During the past decade, how- 

 ever, the Americans have asked themselves 

 why other countries which can not be com- 

 pared with our own in wealth and natural 

 resources have surpassed us in nearly 

 every phase of manufacturing and indus- 

 trial chemistry. Indeed we can not under- 

 stand how it has come about that the 

 United States, by far the richest country 

 in the world, is so far behind Germany in 

 nearly all lines of manufacturing chem- 

 istry. 



To one familiar with the European and 

 especially the Gterman industries, the an- 

 swer seems comparatively simple, depend- 

 ing upon only a few principles, some of 

 which I wish to briefly preface at this time. 

 Germany leads the world in chemical in- 

 dustry, because of her persistent scientific 

 study of every phase of industrial work. 

 For nearly a century her watchword has 

 been "science, industry and economy." 

 She has spent all of her energies along ap- 

 plied chemical lines, and has brought to 

 bear every possible resource which could be 

 utilized in the furthering of her manu- 

 facturing conquests. She has long since 

 realized the fact that to take an active part 

 in the industrial world power, she must 



match her science against the wealth and 

 natural resources of other rich countries 

 like our own. That she has succeeded is 

 borne out by a glance at her export sta- 

 tistics. 



By far the most important factor in the 

 development of the chemical industries in 

 Germany has been her universities. The 

 German universities have perhaps cost the 

 nation more than any other one institution, 

 except her army. Unlike German militar- 

 ism, however, the universities have been the 

 best financial investment the nation has 

 ever made. For two hundred years these 

 great universities have been the nerve 

 centers, yea, even the very brains, of the 

 whole nation. During the last century 

 they have played a unique and important 

 part in this wonderful industrial develop- 

 ment. Without them, her mineral indus- 

 tries would not be worth a passing con- 

 sideration. Without them, her coal-tar, 

 her beet-sugar and scores of other great in- 

 dustries would, in all probability, barely 

 exist to-day. Without them, Germany 

 would still be a fourth instead of a first 

 class industrial power. Without them, I 

 doubt if 'the nation could have lived 

 through the fierce storms which have, from 

 time to time, swept over the empire. With- 

 out losing the dignity of the univei-sity, 

 without losing the highest ideals of 

 scholarship, they have joined the purely 

 scientific with the commercial side of the 

 nation, bringing about conditions which 

 have completely changed the life, the finan- 

 cial and social conditions, of the nation. 

 This wonderful change has been brought 

 about as Van't Hoff has well said, "entirely 

 by a hearty cooperation between the scien- 

 tific laboratories of the nation and the 

 technical and industrial work." 



But other nations have universities. 

 Why have they not done for their respect- 

 ive countries what the German universities 

 have done for Germany? The United 



