April 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



565 



must be trained not merely in chemistry, 

 but in mechanical engineering as well. 

 Training in business and departmental 

 management is also highly desirable. 

 However perfectly a plant and its ap- 

 paratus may be designed and erected, it 

 will not necessarily give successful results 

 unless every machine, furnace, still, con- 

 denser, tower, etc., is operated under the 

 management of a man who is fully con- 

 versant with the function of every detail 

 of the apparatus. In order to obtain in 

 every way the best possible results, the 

 superintendent is greatly handicapped if 

 he has not received a full education and 

 practical training in chemical engineering. 

 "Without the proper scientific knowledge 

 that governs all the operations, he never 

 fully understands the true reason for all 

 the things that are done under his control. 

 The inevitable outcome of such unintel- 

 ligent management results in the contin- 

 uance of a low standard of skill in all the 

 working force under him. The apparatus 

 is not run to the best advantage, thus 

 lowering the quality and raising the cost 

 of the goods produced. On the contrary, 

 if the superintendent is properly educated 

 in chemical engineering and has had a 

 proper training as an assistant superin- 

 tendent or practical investigator, and es- 

 pecially if he has a natural fondness for 

 machinery and mechanics, then success will 

 crown all his work. Whenever there is a 

 difficulty — something breaks down and bad 

 results follow— then he will at once clearly 

 define the reason for the trouble and take 

 the proper steps in completely correcting 

 the evil. He gives true reasons for every- 

 thing that is done in the various depart- 

 ments of the plant. He sees much going 

 on that is unreasonable, and step by step 

 he brings the unsatisfactory work up to a 

 higher and higher standard. His assist- 

 ants are chemical engineers, and he inspires 

 great confidence and interest in them by a 



course of training that causes them to think 

 and reason from every standpoint, so that 

 before taking action, everything having an 

 important bearing on the chemical, phys- 

 ical, engineering, business and labor sides 

 of the problem in hand is most carefully 

 considered. 



By such a course of training the young 

 men learn " to think systematically and, 

 guided by a master of the art, they rapidly 

 learn to make the best use of their edu- 

 cation in applying it to important practical 

 work. It is quite natural for the impulsive 

 youth to put into practice the first thought 

 that comes to his mind. In the practical 

 training that he should receive I must im- 

 press upon you the importance of making 

 him consider every problem most carefully 

 and from all sides, before taking action. In 

 this manner he wiU acquire a habit of not 

 acting quickly or without deep considera- 

 tion. You will find that men who have 

 thus been made to think and reason broadly 

 and in a systematic manner, will put into 

 practice what may be considered good 

 sound judgment. Such men are bound to 

 make a success in the practical application 

 of their chemical engineering. 



In a large chemical or metallurgical 

 works, or any other establishment where 

 the processes are controlled by chemical 

 analysis and where the raw and finished 

 products are bought and sold for values 

 governed by analysis, it is necessary to 

 have a well-appointed chemical laboratory. 

 In large plants where many chemists are 

 employed, an able chemist should be at the 

 head of the analytical as well as the re- 

 search laboratory; the chemists in the 

 analytical laboratory are not always col- 

 lege graduates, as most of the work is of a 

 routine nature, requiring great skill in 

 manipulation but not necessarily an exten- 

 sive knowledge of chemistry. These men, 

 when confined to this work, have no op- 

 portunity to employ engineering skill ex- 



