SCIENCE 



Friday, Mat 5, 1916 



CONTENTS 

 The Training of Chemists: Professor Alex- 

 ander Smith 619 



Beseareh as a National Duty: Dr. Willis K. 

 Whitney 629 



The Committee on Policy of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science . . 637 



Scientific Notes and News 638 



and Educational News 640 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



Public Health WorTc: Dr. Harold F. Gray. 

 The Centigrade Thermometer : A. H. Sabin. 641 



Scientific BooTcs: — 



The International Union for Cooperation in 

 Solar Mesearch: Professor George C. Gom- 

 STOCK. Goooh on Bepresentatvve Procedures 

 in Quantitative Chemical Analysis: Pbo- 

 l^ssoR H. P. Talbot. Nelson on the JBm- 

 bryology of the Honey Bee: Dr. Alexander 

 Petrunkevitch 642 



Scientific Journals and Articles 645 



Special Articles: — 



The Presswe of Sound Waves: Professor 

 E. P. Lewis. Budimentary MammKB in 

 Smine: Dr. Edward N. Wentworth 646 



The National Academy of Sciences 648 



USS. intended for publicatien snd books, etc., intended fer 

 nrlew ikeuld be aent to Frofeuor J. McEeen Cattell, Gairisen- 

 •B-HudBOn. K. Y. 



THE TRAINING OF CHEMISTS i 

 The address of Dr. Whitney on researcli, 

 which follows mine, deals with that aim of 

 the chemist which always receives the most 

 enthusiastic recognition, namely, the elabo- 

 ration of the content of the science, the 

 farther coordination of that content, and 

 the expansion of the boundaries of chemis- 

 try. But thorough training is indispensa- 

 ble before original work can begin. A 

 genius, without adequate training, seems to 

 know by instinct what information he needs 

 and where to find it. He devises new meth- 

 ods when those which he has learned fail. 

 He reaches the goal, in spite of all handi- 

 caps. Better training would have saved 

 him some needless loss of time, but often 

 would not have improved the final result. 

 Geniuses, however, are few and far between. 

 The advancement of the science would be 

 fitful if it depended upon them alone. The 

 greater part of the additions to chemical 

 knowledge are made by men with an apti- 

 tude for the science, it is true, but with 

 nothing approaching genius of the higher 

 order. With them, the thoroughness of the 

 previous training is, therefore, a very po- 

 tent factor. At the other extreme, in the 

 case of the chemist who does mainly routine 

 analyses, who corresponds to the drafts- 

 man as distinct from the architect, the 

 training he received must determine 

 largely the value of his results. In 

 all the intermediate cases, where intelli- 

 gent study of an individual situation is de- 

 manded, and new adaptations to special 

 purposes are required, training in the prin- 



1 Address delivered in TJrbana at the opening of 

 the Chemical Laboratory of the University of Illi- 

 nois, April 19, 1916. 



