October 22, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



553 



petent chemist justly provokes contempt 

 and distrust. 



Nor is the time so far distant when even 

 our biggest railroads had not begun to 

 realize how they missed the constant serv- 

 ices of a staff of chemists, so as to advise 

 them in the various chemical problems 

 which present themselves in the operation 

 of a well-organized railroad system. 



Some time ago, I visited the plant of the 

 National Cash Register Company, in Day- 

 ton, Ohio; one of its most interesting de- 

 partments was its well-equipped chemical 

 laboratory, where no end of chemical ques- 

 tions relating to the manufacture of purely 

 mechanical devices have to be studied and 

 solved. No up-to-date motor-car works is 

 complete without its chemical department 

 and the same remark holds good for all 

 well-organized engineering concerns. 



In the United States, the importance of 

 chemistry has been appreciated first in its 

 relation to agriculture. So obvious was 

 this, that we set an example to all other na- 

 tions of the world by the number and ex- 

 tent of our federal and our state chemical 

 agricultural laboratories. This, more than 

 anything else, was the entering wedge of 

 applied chemistry in this country, which 

 extended, later on, to the government serv- 

 ice, the Geological Survey, the Bureau of 

 Standards and the Bureau of Mines. Nor 

 did the useful effect stop there. Many of 

 our federal chemists, our state chemists, 

 have left public service, to accept better 

 paying positions in private industries; but 

 these men trained in public service, im- 

 planted their high aims and scientific ways 

 in some of our commercial enterprises, 

 which needed it badly. I know of some 

 eases where this beneficial influence changed 

 radically the whole tone of the commercial 

 organization, from its manufacturing to its 

 selling department, and introduced, instead 

 of reckless, sordid commercialism, a spirit 



of fairness and efficiency which soon proved 

 the more profitable policy. 



In this and similar directions the chem- 

 ist can exercise a valuable moral influence 

 on the community. If you think it over, 

 you will find that the quest for efficiency 

 lies close to the path of honesty, justice 

 and equity. 



Here also the chemist has much to learn. 

 In some instances, I have been astounded at 

 the almost childlike attitude of mind of 

 some of our chemists who are too ready to 

 sell their services to anybody who has a 

 temporary use for them, irrespective of the 

 underlying motives or purposes. 



Some lawyers tell me that they never 

 have the slightest difficulty in hiring chem- 

 ical experts to defend contradictory opin- 

 ions. For instance, it is quite amazing how 

 some chemists, in their eagerness to please 

 their employers, will overlook their own 

 ignorance of the most elementary prin- 

 ciples of patent law, as well as their super- 

 ficial acquaintance with the many details of 

 intricate technical questions, while not hesi- 

 tating to furnish cock-sure opinions which 

 encourage infringers or industrial pirates 

 to trespass on the rights of intellectual 

 property of others. Much ruinous patent 

 litigation would be avoided in this country, 

 and invention would be better encouraged, 

 if we had more men of the type of that 

 well-known British electrical expert who 

 never hesitates in court to tell the simple 

 and direct truth, regardless whether it kills 

 or saves the case of his client; his state- 

 ments are so highly valued and respected 

 that the judges accept them without suspi- 

 cion, and the same expert is frequently re- 

 tained by the two opposing parties, whom 

 he serves impartially, and who gladly pay 

 him higher fees than to a mere litigation- 

 acrobat-expert, or a chemical "ambulance- 

 chaser. ' ' 



The ethics of our profession have been 



