878 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1042 



thermic production of steel alone. How- 

 ever, metallurgical research laboratories 

 are still comparatively uncommon. Very 

 few iron furnaces or smelting plants are 

 without a control laboratory, which has 

 come about notwithstanding the opposi- 

 tion of "practical men," and the research 

 laboratory will eventually win a similar 

 victory. 



The great problems at present in the 

 metallurgy of zinc are in the concentra- 

 tion of the ore and in the treatment of 

 flotation concentrate. The latter produces 

 the troubles that fine ore always does ; it is 

 difficult to roast, and the distillation of it 

 is attended with troubles. 



Viewing the present status of the practise 

 in zinc smelting, one is impressed by the 

 high extraction results, the low fuel con- 

 sumption made possible by regenerative 

 gas-firing, and the reduction of labor in- 

 volved in the art. 



In copper metallurgy, the leaching of 

 copper ores and electrolytic deposition for 

 precipitating are receiving increased atten- 

 tion. In electrolytic copper refining, 

 promising progress has been made in the 

 treatment of anode slimes; and more at- 

 tention is being paid to the recovery of by- 

 products, new uses for two of which, 

 selenium and tellurium, are required. 



COOPERATION BETWEEN SCIENCE AND 

 INDUSTEY 



While those engaged in a profession 

 which has so many ramifications as has 

 chemistry in its numerously various appli- 

 cations to all modern activities, must co- 

 operate to effect advancement, before such 

 cooperation can be effective, there must be 

 a mutual understanding between chemists 

 as a profession and industrialists. Many 

 American chemical manufacturers still 

 follow rule-of-thumb methods without hav- 

 ing any idea of the underlying principles 



which are immutable. These manufac- 

 turers must be induced to recognize the 

 actuality of such principles and to realize 

 fully that an actual comprehension thereof 

 is necessary for the attainment of that 

 measure of success necessary to maintain 

 uniform quality and maximum output of 

 product. 



In tliis connection, I may say that the 

 system of practical cooperation between 

 industry and learning, founded by the late 

 Dr. Eobert Kennedy Duncan, has had eight 

 years of trial. The outcome of my eminent 

 predecessor's labors. The Mellon Institute, 

 through its industrial fellowship system, 

 represents a happy and successful alliance 

 between science and industry, for a valu- 

 able and permanent relation has been estab- 

 lished by the solution, at the institute, of 

 many important manufacturing problems. 



THE METHODS OP ATTACKING INDUSTRIAL 

 PROBLEMS 



When a chemical industry has problems 

 requiring solution, these problems can be 

 attacked either inside or outside of the 

 plant. If the policy of the management is 

 that all chemical problems are to be inves- 

 tigated only within the establishment, a 

 research laboratory or at least a research 

 chemist must be provided for the plant or 

 for the company. At present, in the United 

 States, probably not more than 100 manu- 

 facturing establishments have research 

 laboratories or employ research chemists, 

 although at least five companies are spend- 

 ing over $100,000 per year in research. In 

 Germany, and perhaps also in England, such 

 research laboratories in connection with 

 chemical industries have been much more 

 common. The great laboratories of the 

 Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik and of 

 the Elberfeld Company are striking exam- 

 ples of the importance attached to such 

 research work in Germany, and it would 



