NOVEMBEB 11, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



651 



proving the ventilation of the subways, 

 which we observe being tried out from 

 time to time, are at best mere palliatives 

 and not actual preventives. No chemist is 

 a member of this commission. Not long 

 ago a vacancy occurred in a most impor- 

 tant commission due to the resignation of 

 the chemist member of the board. A peti- 

 tion signed by half a hundred prominent 

 chemists was sent to the governor request- 

 ing the appointment of a chemist who was 

 recognized as one of the world's authorities 

 and regarded the most eminent among his 

 colleagues in that particular field. A 

 courteous acknowledgment was returned, 

 but the private secretary received the ap- 

 pointment. 



These matters are not referred to in a 

 spirit of peevish criticism, and are not true 

 of New York alone, but are mentioned in 

 order to emphasize the importance of the 

 part the chemists should play in the public 

 weal and how that happiness can be en- 

 hanced. For it is a fact that the chemist 

 does not measure up to his full value and 

 importance in the summation of municipal 

 and communal affairs. We can not always 

 blame some political party in this matter. 

 Sometimes they are not guilty, and even if 

 they were, I feel that it is not right for us 

 to shift the blame. Rather let us assume 

 the entire responsibility, for, in truth, we, 

 the chemists, are guilty. 



Now, how are we to remedy this state of 

 affairs? Can it be remedied? To the lat- 

 ter, I say "yes." In answer to the former 

 question, I will say that conditions can be 

 helped, not fundamentally, perhaps, but 

 specifically, by the Section taking up some 

 one matter at a time — for example, the es- 

 tablishment of a dignified advisory scien- 

 tific commission, untrammeled b}^ political, 

 official, religious or social associations, 

 which shall hold itself in readiness for con- 

 sideration erf every serious problem pre- 

 sented to it, and exert such a power in 



public opinion that its advice must be 

 taken. I will go further ; if the Section take 

 this matter up, and, having settled upon 

 a policy, present it with sufficient strength 

 to the proper authorities, it is not improb- 

 able that a clause establishing such a com- 

 mission may be inserted in a revised 

 charter of the city. The study of and a 

 frank discussion of local problems must 

 become the policy of the Section, however, 

 if anything of real value is to be accom- 

 plished, for chairmen come and chairmen 

 go, but a principle lives on. And this prin- 

 ciple shall be established. 



We can strike at the root of the failure 

 of the chemist to occupy his proper place 

 in the body politic through our educa- 

 tional institutions. In this, the Section can 

 be helpful in advising with the various 

 teachers. Twenty years' experience has 

 convinced me that no man or woman, what- 

 ever may be his or her calling, has a right 

 to an academic degree unless the training 

 laid out for such an acquirement involves 

 one course in chemistry. In that general 

 course the relation of the individual to the 

 community, the chemist and the common- 

 wealth as it were, should be brought out 

 and hammered home. In this manner a 

 few generations of graduates, not them- 

 selves chemists, but men of education in 

 fact, who have learned the value of the 

 chemist in the community, will make the 

 principle felt. For college men will more 

 than ever rule our country. In the mean- 

 time, the universities and technical schools 

 must see to it that their graduate chem- 

 ists, chemical engineers or engineer-chem- 

 ists, have not only acquired superior pro- 

 fessional proficiency, but a broad culture 

 which fits them to deal with these great 

 problems with tactful force. We may be 

 but tillers of the soil now, but the harvest 

 to be reaped will repay the labor spent. 



Charles Baskerville 

 The College of the City of New Yobk 



