November 11, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



653 



mterchange of views, these organizations 

 have increased to a large number (Appen- 

 dix II.) — to such an extent, in fact, that 

 some begin to overlap, and the fear has 

 been expressed that varied attempts to ad- 

 vance knowledge by organization may re- 

 sult in discouraging individual effort. For 

 the obviation of conflict, it has been sug- 

 gested that the International Association 

 of Academies have the ultimate control of 

 every new international undertaking. In 

 purely scientific organizations of an inter- 

 national character this may be desirable, 

 but the congresses of applied science have 

 demonstrated their value and will continue 

 to exist without ulterior control — although 

 cooperation is expedient — since their fields 

 are sufficiently restricted and interdepend- 

 ent, that fine academic discrimination is 

 not required. 



Schuster- has distinguished three types 

 of international organizations. According 

 to him, the first aims merely at collecting 

 information ; the second is intended to fix 

 fundamental units or to initiate agreements 

 on matters in which uniformity is desired; 

 while by the third type of organization a 

 more direct advance of knowledge is aimed 

 at and research is conducted according to 

 a combined scheme. We may say in gen- 

 eral, however, that an international organ- 

 ization does not entirely come within any 

 single one of these divisions, but it is of 

 value to classify the associations according 

 to their main purpose. 



In 1893, the World's Congress Auxiliary 

 and the American Chemical Society united 

 in calling a meeting of the chemists of the 

 world to attend a general chemical con- 

 gress. This was held in connection with 

 the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and 

 about two hundred attended. The efforts 

 made by the organizing committee were fol- 

 lowed with most gratifying success, and the 



''feature, 74, 233. 



chairman, H. W. Wiley, suggested the es- 

 tablishment of a triennial international 

 congress of chemistry to meet at various 

 centers. This recommendation was taken 

 under consideration and initiated a move- 

 ment which resulted in the formation of a 

 permanent congress. A committee repre- 

 senting the American Chemical Society re- 

 quested the chemical societies of the world 

 to appoint similar committees of confer- 

 ence, in order to consider whether it was 

 desirable and practicable to organize a 

 series of international chemical congresses, 

 "in which the chemists of the various na- 

 tions can regularly meet together for a 

 discussion of questions of common inter- 

 est." How favorable the response was, 

 will be apparent from what follows. 



The first International Congress of Ap- 

 plied Chemistry was held at Brussels, 

 under the patronage of the Belgian govern- 

 ment, in 1894. It was divided into four 

 sections. The first of these dealt with 

 sugar chemistry, and here analytical ques- 

 tions were discussed. In the second sec- 

 tion, agricultural chemistry, attention was 

 paid especially to the determination of 

 phosphoric acid. Section III., food and 

 public hygiene, was rather general in its 

 aims, but the congress endeavored to settle 

 the minima of impurity allowable in dis- 

 tilled liquors and the best process for fix- 

 ing the melting points of fats. The fourth 

 section dealt with biological chemistry. 

 At this congress it was decided to hold the 

 meetings biennially and Paris was selected 

 for the reunion in 1896. 



The second International Congress of 

 Applied Chemistrj' was opened under the 

 patronage of the French government, and 

 lasted ten daj's. To promote the interests 

 of the congress committees had been or- 

 ganized in most countries, and through the 

 French Foreign Office all the principal 

 governments were invited to send dele- 



