148 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1022 



the gist of all ehemic knowledge will be presented 

 in a clear and trustworthy manner. 



If one compares this abundance of new 

 problems to which a little thought would 

 add many more, with the means at the dis- 

 posal of the International Association of 

 Chemic Societies, one perceives the great 

 disparity between them. 



Many of the undertakings suggested re- 

 quire for their execution an institute at 

 some fixed place, in which the requisite ac- 

 cessories, primarily a permanent and ex- 

 haustive library of chemical literature, are 

 at hand ; and where the methods of execu- 

 ting these new and difficult tasks can re- 

 ceive systematic test and improvement. 

 Besides the organization of the scientifically 

 trained chemists of the world, which has 

 been practically accomplished by the Inter- 

 national Association of Chemical Societies, 

 it seems absolutely necessary to consider the 

 creation of an establishment to perform the 

 tasks set by this general body. 



Immediately after the adjournment of 

 the Association in the first days of May, I 

 undertook as a task logically resulting from 

 the formation of the Association, to consider 

 providing for that permanent work-place, 

 and endeavored by means of a provisional 

 plan of organization to discover whether 

 and in what way this great new problem 

 could be solved. Since I was almost im- 

 mediately fortunate enough to discuss them 

 at length with Ernest Solvay in Brussels, 

 these plans gained greatly in clearness, and, 

 I believe, in possibility for realization. 

 This successful organizer at that time ex- 

 pressed himself as ready, if the arrange- 

 ments decided upon met with his approval, 

 to contribute toward the founding of the 

 Institute, a quarter million francs ($50,- 

 000). Unfortunately because of the pres- 

 sure of his various business interests he 

 felt it necessary to decline the permanent 

 directorship of such an institute, which at 



first there was a prospect of his assuming. 



AN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OP CHEMISTRY 



I considered my plan further, and at- 

 tempted by means of a number of different 

 sketches for its organization to form a clear 

 idea of the various possibilities. 



The proposal here presented is the result 

 of those considerations; and is merely in- 

 tended at present to show the feasibility of 

 the new project! Naturally, all sorts of 

 impracticabilities will become incorporated 

 in such a new conception. These will be 

 recognized and remedied as the institute ex- 

 pands and evolves. However, even now we 

 can form a general idea of the operation of 

 such an international institute. Such an 

 institute seems to me so appropriate and 

 desirable, that I feel the time is come to 

 transform thoughts into action. Chemic 

 science should be provided as soon as pos- 

 sible with the exceptionally versatile and 

 far-reaching aid which would come from 

 such an institution. 



TASKS OP THE INSTITUTE 



To guard at the very beginning against 

 possible misunderstanding it should be 

 emphasized that the proposed International 

 Institute of Chemistry is to be in a certain 

 sense a complement to the institutes for 

 scientific investigation which were founded 

 on the occasion of the centennial of the Uni- 

 versity of Berlin. Not in the highest 

 spheres of creative scientific work are to be 

 the labors of the International Institute of 

 Chemistry; on the contrary those tasks in 

 the realm of chemical science which are 

 ever recurring in the same form are to be 

 carried out there once for all, and placed at 

 the service of every one; especially the lit- 

 erary reference work and everything con- 

 nected with it ; that is, the most trivial and 

 routine labors which are necessary for the 

 advancement of the science. Consequently 

 in the future it should be a fundamental 



