Januaey 18, 1907] 



SCIENCE. 



growth of our educational institutions and 

 of the facilities for prosecuting research 

 therein. This leads to a consideration of 

 a further cause for the comparatively slight 

 increase in technical papers in the last five- 

 year period. The student and his instruct- 

 or have absolute freedom in the matter 

 of publication, subject to the one limitation 

 of a satisfactory standard. The industrial 

 chemist, on the other hand, is hampered 

 and restricted by the unwillingness of most 

 employers to make public the discoveries 

 originating in their laboratories. This 

 policy is apparently quite as firmly adhered 

 to at the present day as in former times, 

 and acts as a very real deterrent of publi- 

 cation of the work of chemists thus em- 

 ployed. Their discoveries are not their 

 own property, and if made public often 

 appear in the guise of patent specifications, 

 in which are embodied the results of a vast 

 amount of chemical work, much of which 

 never gets into print in any other form. 

 For this reason, such comparisons as are 

 shown by the table above referred to may 

 not be altogether fair to pure science. A 

 just comparison should take account of the 

 work embodied in the ever-increasing num- 

 ber of patents applied for. If this could 

 be accurately determined, the ratio in the 

 quoted table might not seem at all dispro- 

 portionate. Nevertheless, there has been a 

 marked disinclination on the part of many 

 technical chemists to publish in our Jour- 

 nal, and this disinclination it is the pur- 

 pose of the management of the society to 

 remove if possible. How this is to be done 

 will now be considered. 



From the foregoing it is apparent that 

 the chief cause acting against the fullest 

 development of our society is the dissatis- 

 faction of a large number of our technical 

 members with present conditions, which 

 chiefly relate to the Journal of the society. 



The committee already referred to as 

 having met at Ithaca last June for the 



purpose of formulating the wishes of the 

 industrial chemists, offered a number of 

 suggestions which have already been pub- 

 lished in the Proceedings, pages 57 and 58. 

 These received the favorable consideration 

 of the council, at whose deliberations the 

 technical members of the committee were 

 present by invitation, and they are in sub- 

 stance as follows: 



1. That publication in full of all official 

 methods adopted by official organizations 

 the world over be made in the Journal. 



2. That the present reviews, covering the 

 general advances in chemistry, be con- 

 tinued. 



3. That for the benefit of that class of 

 technical chemists whose environment tends 

 to cause them to regard chemistry as a 

 trade rather than a profession, 'an attitude 

 which can not fail to react unfavorably 

 upon the individual and the profession at 

 large,' something may be accomplished by 

 the publication of high-class articles from 

 recognized authorities, treating of the ad- 

 vance and outlook in the different fields of 

 chemistry. These will differ from the re- 

 views heretofore published and to be con- 

 tinued in that they shall deal with broad 

 conclusions and the trend of thought, and 

 be so written as to be of general interest 

 and calculated to keep all members in touch 

 with the more important developments in 

 the different fields of chemical work. 



4. That the foregoing articles shall be 

 supplemented by other general statements, 

 similar to those that have from time to 

 time appeared in the Journal, showing the 

 progress, from a chemical standpoint, of 

 special industries. By endeavoring to ob- 

 tain these through direct application to 

 manufacturers' associations covering spe- 

 cial industries, it is thought that closer 

 cooperation between manufacturers and 

 the society, of mutual benefit to each, 

 might be secured. 



5. That the whole field of chemistry the 



