92 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 629 



I have said that while we shall aim to 

 cover the whole field of chemistry, the work 

 can not be done so fully or in such detail 

 as we could wish, simply for the reason 

 that our means are still insufficient. It 

 will be necessary to condense in some fields, 

 except as to articles that appear in less 

 known languages and in the less accessible 

 publications. Unimportant articles and 

 those which relate to local matters of little 

 or no general interest, or which are of a 

 statistical nature, will receive but brief 

 notice or be mentioned by title only. At 

 the start, it will be impossible to cover the 

 ground fully because of the enormous num- 

 ber of publications concerned and the in- 

 accessibility of many of them. But as the 

 undertaking becomes systematized and the 

 society grows— and it is my firm belief that 

 it will rapidly grow if the present mem- 

 bership gives it the loyal support asked for 

 and thus supplies the means for develop- 

 ment — the weak spots will be gradually 

 mended. To adequately cover the ground, 

 however, a far larger fund than that af- 

 forded by the increased dues must be avail- 

 able. If the present experiment is success- 

 ful in accomplishing the ends aimed at, it 

 is felt that we can go before the public that 

 is able to give and ask for large contribu- 

 tions to a permanent publishing fund with 

 far better grace and prospect of success 

 than was possible before we had shown our 

 willingness to help ourselves as far as cir- 

 cumstances permitted. 



If the project for a Perkin Library in 

 the . city of New York, with its salaried 

 staff, becomes a reality, it Mall help much 

 to supplement a lack of fullness that our 

 abstract journal may show, for many of 

 our educational centers are weak in 

 library equipment and very many of our 

 industrial workers are far removed from 

 libraries of any kind. It is proposed that 

 the Perkin Library shall be in duplicate, 

 so far as possible, so as to permit the loan- 



ing of books to applicants in any part of 

 the country, and also the furnishing of 

 more detailed information as to the con- 

 tents of any particular article or series of 

 articles, which our abstracts might fail to 

 afford. 



Having thus outlined the somewhat criti- 

 cal situation in our society and the steps 

 thus far taken to counteract tendencies 

 fatal to the society's fullest development, 

 let no one cherish the thought that other 

 difficulties will not arise that will demand 

 the most careful leadership. The chief of 

 these, perhaps, can be readily foreseen, for 

 it has already manifested itself in the 

 formation of independent specialized socie- 

 ties. It is the belief of myself, and prob- 

 ably of many others, that this tendency is 

 one which in itself should not be unduly 

 restricted, but that it should be guided 

 along lines most conducive to the welfare 

 of all concerned, that is to say, the differ- 

 entiation of the society into special sections 

 should be regarded as a result desirable 

 in itself because inevitable and therefore to 

 be considered as a part of the general 

 policy of the society, to be kept constantly 

 in view and acted on as circumstances de- 

 mand. In the opinion of most of our 

 members, the time is not yet ripe to in- 

 augurate such a policy, though circum- 

 stances have arisen which may make it 

 highly desirable to begin very soon. Pre- 

 mature departure in this direction on a 

 large scale, however, would be ill-advised 

 and unsafe. The society must first be 

 placed on a basis so firm and secure that 

 success will be assured from the start. It 

 is necessary to gather into our fold a much 

 larger membership than we now have, and 

 no step that we can take to bring about 

 this increase will, in my opinion, be more 

 effective than the formal expression by the 

 society of its adoption of this intention as 

 a cardinal article of its fixed policy. A 

 natural result would be that existing spe- 



