July 31, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



149 



principle in our science that no task of this 

 kind once carried out need ever be repeated, 

 for the finished work should be kept contin- 

 ually and regularly at the disposal of those 

 whom it concerns. 



In other words the International Insti- 

 tute of Chemistry is to have a function sim- 

 ilar to that exercised by the Eeichsanstalt 

 of Technology in the revision and correction 

 of thermometers, voltmeters and other in- 

 struments. Formerly the correction of a 

 thermometer or other measuring instrument 

 was the work of many weeks, now it is done 

 by the Reichsanstalt in a very short time, 

 and with far greater accuracy than is pos- 

 sible to an isolated physicist. 



In chemistry to-day, likewise, there are 

 a large number of tasks which must be done 

 over and over again by the individual, be- 

 cause what has once been performed is not 

 always accessible to the public. Just as the 

 Reichsanstalt of Technology can make the 

 correction of thermometers much more cer- 

 tainly and reliably than the average physi- 

 cist could (without a disproportionate 

 expenditure of energy) because this mechan- 

 ical work is done regularly and systema- 

 tically at the central bureau so these eter- 

 nally recurring chemie tasks could be 

 incomparably better and more accurately 

 carried out at a central bureau than by the 

 average inexperienced chemist. And if the 

 regret is voiced, as it has been to me, that 

 the useful art of making effective collections 

 of literature would be entirely lost 

 through the founding of an international 

 institute of chemistry, the answer is that 

 the loss of the art would mean no actual 

 loss at all. For once the International In- 

 stitute of Chemistry is founded it will fur- 

 nish a permanent and perpetual organ of 

 the whole science, which will perform its 

 special functions far better than isolated 

 chemists have performed them, and which 

 will therefore make this sort of skill in the 

 individual absolutely superfluous. 



In a certain stage of its development the 

 human embryo has gills, inherited from 

 its aquatic ancestors. No one laments the 

 fact that these gills never develop. For 

 the conditions of man's life have become 

 such that those organs would never be 

 used. So the existence of the International 

 Institute of Chemistry will alter working 

 conditions for the future chemist so that 

 he will not need to acquire skill in the sort 

 of work which can be done by the Institute 

 far better, and it would be a waste of time 

 and energy for him to try to acquire these 

 obsolete functions. The more the individual 

 chemist can be emancipated from such me- 

 chanical tasks which give a disproportion- 

 ate amount of trouble because of their in- 

 frequeney, the more time and energy he 

 will have for the real investigation which 

 depends on his special training. 



THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SCIENCE 



A process is going on in chemistry which 

 we have often observed in other phases of 

 civilization. A hundred years ago the 

 housewife was obliged not only to make 

 bread, but to dip candles and boil soap. 

 To-day these duties have been taken from 

 her by special manufactories, and she has 

 leisure to devote herself with greater zeal 

 and success to her duties in the domain of 

 the rearing of children. In just the same 

 way a division of labor is taking place in 

 all other fields. Man is constantly becom- 

 ing more and more a creature working only 

 with his brains, who leaves mechanical or 

 partially mechanical operations to ma- 

 chinery. It need not be further empha- 

 sized that by such systematic cooperation, 

 by the development of highly developed 

 organs, infinitely more can be accom- 

 plished than under the earlier conditions 

 of haphazard individual work. In the his- 

 tory of chemistry we certainly can find in- 

 stances where extremely difficult compila- 

 tions were carried on at first by one man, 



