850 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 805 



good salesman would have shown immedi- 

 ate results, and so forth. Things go along 

 that way for a while until the research de- 

 partment is abolished with the recurring 

 remark: "Research does not pay, we've 

 tried it." 



In other eases, where some results are 

 obtained, the matter is taken out of the 

 hands of the chemist before he has had 

 time to fairly try and develop it on a 

 large scale. The subject is now entrusted 

 to the superintendent or the foreman, who 

 seldom is a friend of the scientifically 

 trained man, and nearly always resents 

 anything which might diminish the pres- 

 tige of "established practical experience." 

 Like in all new processes, defects are soon 

 shown, and in the natural order of things, 

 repeated failures and renewed trials on a 

 practical scale are required before there is 

 any possibility of regular utilization. The 

 research chemist is allowed very little in- 

 tervention at this stage of the work, and 

 often, remarks are heard how imperfect 

 the whole thing was "before so-and-so, 

 the practical man, had his say." Finally 

 initial expenses are charged against the re- 

 search department, and profits credited to 

 the "practical man." 



A research department is a very difficult 

 thing to organize and to run. It is not 

 enough to provide a building and the nec- 

 essary appliances; it is not enough to pro- 

 vide typewriters, card-indexing systems, 

 and office force, and all the red tape con- 

 nected with it ; it is not sufficient to engage 

 one or more well-behaved university- or 

 college-graduates with the necessary help- 

 ers, and to let them work under an orderly 

 businesslike manager. You might as well 

 try to produce masterly paintings by in- 

 staUing an office management and a well 

 organized paint and brush department, 

 and a library containing all that has been 

 written on the art of painting next to a 



splendidly equipped studio, and then leave 

 out the real artist who will do the painting. 

 Nay, the most important, the almost ex- 

 clusive factor in a successful research lab- 

 oratory is the research chemist himself. 

 If he is not a man who has a soul alive 

 with his subject, if he is not enthusiastic- 

 ally imbued with his opportunities, if he 

 is not qualified for his task not only by 

 scientific training but specially by a nat- 

 ural gift of discrimination between what 

 is most important in a problem and what 

 is secondary tfl it, you might as well fill 

 a hall with the marble statues of Greek 

 poets and imagine that they will write 

 poetry for you. 



Then if you find the man who has all the 

 true qualifications, you may still paralyze 

 his action by too much red tape, too much 

 interference in his work. A good research 

 chemist will do more and better work with 

 pots and pans from the "ten-cent store" 

 in a shed or in a barn, where he is his own 

 master, than in a splendidly equipped 

 laboratory where he gets irritated and inr 

 terfered with by others who do not under- 

 stand him. 



I sometimes doubted whether it was 

 really worth while for a young man to take 

 up research work single handed, when so 

 many people with abundant facilities were 

 at work. What show, for instance, does 

 an organic chemist have in studying a 

 problem for which in Germany some large 

 chemical companies employ hundreds of 

 research chemists. To this I can answer 

 that some of the most striking examples of 

 successful research were the result of 

 privately conducted work with modest 

 means ; in fact, I know of several instances 

 where a research chemist who had created 

 himself a reputation by work carried out 

 privately under adverse circumstances, 

 showed disappointing results as soon as he 

 became part of a vast organization. 



