Januaey 18, 1907] 



SCIENCE. 



87 



profession,' whose chief demand is for 

 'methods and many of them' relating to 

 their restricted work only, and who will 

 not avail themselves of general literature, 

 though it may be freely offered for their 

 use. The problem as to this class is dif- 

 ficult, and one writer sees no solution 

 ' except through a selected membership and 

 increased cost of the Journal/ for 'print- 

 ing more high-class technical papers would 

 not help the matter much.' 



A further quotation from the letter 

 already mentioned may be given to show 

 the feeling of the writer at the time, and, 

 as he claims, of others, and as bearing on 

 the question of a fair standard of excel- 

 lence for papers submitted for publication. 

 "If a man attains a chief professorship in 

 a small college or a junior professorship 

 in a large university, I doubt very much 

 whether he has exhibited any higher 

 ability than the technical chemist who 

 maintains himself in a position where he 

 has approximately the same number of 

 assistants, ' ' a belief which is perhaps justi- 

 fied. He goes on to say: "Either a just 

 scale of relative attainment must be recog- 

 nized or two societies must naturally re- 

 sult, and I am convinced that the narrow- 

 ness of a large portion of both the indus- 

 trial and teaching chemists of the country 

 will finally compel a separation, whatever 

 is done. However, if an attempt is to be 

 made to keep what is two societies in other 

 countries in one here, I think that an 

 independent committee composed of works 

 chemists alone should be appointed to in- 

 vestigate the whole subject of inducements 

 to works chemists to contribute to the 

 Journal and to formulate general prin- 

 ciples as to what should and what should 

 not be considered high-class technical mat- 

 ter. * * * If the colleges would take the 

 initiative and develop some plan of co- 

 operation similar to that proposed by Mar- 

 dick on pages 133-138 of the Chemical 



Engineer for January, 1906, there would 

 be more hope for the American Chemical 

 Society getting along without a split." 



It is doubtless true that the feeling of 

 narrowness referred to in the foregoing 

 extract exists to some slight degree among 

 both educational and industrial chemists. 

 There is among a small section of those 

 connected with educational institutions a 

 preference for a society based on a high- 

 grade membership and this feeling finds 

 its counter expression among some tech- 

 nologists who are so shortsighted as to 

 think they have no need for the worker 

 in non-technical lines. The feeling is, how- 

 ever, far less strong than it was a few 

 years ago, and is destined, I think, to com- 

 plete eradication. To this end, the best 

 efforts of the conservative members of both 

 classes should be persistently and strenu- 

 ously directed. It should become the fixed 

 policy of the society to foster cordial rela- 

 tions among its members and to manifest 

 a spirit of the broadest liberality in the 

 enactments of its governing body. At the 

 same time, those engaged in industrial pur- 

 suits must always remember that although 

 they equal in number the educators and 

 their students, or may even forfli a ma- 

 jority of the society, it is none the less 

 true that the former are and no doubt will 

 continue to be the greater producers of 

 new and original matter, and hence be 

 deserving of greater consideration in pro- 

 portion to their numbers than those who 

 are less productive. It is the new in chem- 

 ical science that makes possible industrial 

 advance, therefore the fullest consideration 

 should be shown those who by their dis- 

 coveries in pure science may thus be lay- 

 ing the foundations for future industrial 

 enterprises. It should be immaterial 

 whether this comes more largely from one 

 class of workers than from another. 



On one point referred to in the discus- 

 sion — that relating to the unwillingness of 



