OCTOBEB 29, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



599 



cells. The second year was occupied largely 

 in working out and depositing a satisfac- 

 tory semipermeable membrane in the cells, 

 the third year, in making a sufficiently 

 strong and accurate manometer and the 

 means of joining the manometer to the cells. 

 The following two years were required for 

 constructing constant temperature rooms 

 and baths where osmotic-pressure readings 

 could be taken without temperature fluc- 

 tuations in the cells. It was then five or 

 six years from the time he started the work 

 until he could make the first reliable set of 

 osmotic pressure readings. During all this 

 time Professor Morse was assisted by one or 

 two men besides the three or four graduate 

 students who worked with him each year. 

 The following eight or ten years he made 

 osmotic-pressure observations with glucose 

 and cane sugar in water solutions at tem- 

 peratures from to 80 degrees. 



He has finally established that the os- 

 motic pressure of dilute solutions obeys the 

 gas laws. Each individual unit of this 

 great work, upon which the score or more 

 candidates received their doctor's degree, 

 could only be called research work when 

 considered as a part of the general problem. 

 Each man's contribution was of course a 

 separate piece of original investigation. 



The German army, more than any other 

 agency, is now forcing upon the world the 

 value of chemical research. It is the Ger- 

 man chemists who have won the battles in 

 Russia, Belgium and France, and the 

 United States is now sitting up and taking 

 notice, with the result, we hope, of finally 

 getting the recognition that this branch of 

 science deserves. Secretary Daniels is be- 

 coming aware of this, for he is recently 

 reported to have said : 



The time was, that when we thought of battles, 

 we thought of men. We were told by great leaders 

 who had not looked into the future that the na- 

 tions with the most men would win. Now it is not 



men, it is munitions and inventions, and to-morrow 

 it will be neither — it will be chemistry. 



The reason why the chemist has not re- 

 ceived popular recognition like the physi- 

 cian, the engineer, the physicist or the 

 geologist is that the activity of the chemist 

 is outside the realm of comprehension of 

 the average individual and he sees nothing 

 imposing or spectacular with which to asso- 

 ciate the chemist. He may admire the deli- 

 cate shades of his wife's costume without 

 considering what part the chemist had in 

 producing them, and every day of his life 

 he comes in contact with something or other 

 upon which the chemist has left his finger 

 prints. 



The greatest problem confronting the 

 profession to-day is that of getting recog- 

 nition and support from the public, through 

 its legislative bodies, but, as I mentioned 

 before, the European war has done more 

 than any one thing to secure the desired 

 recognition. 



The question has doubtless arisen in your 

 minds, why it is that scientific research in 

 Germany and other European countries 

 occupies a higher plane than in America. 

 To me the reason is obvious, and it is this: 

 In Germany there is popular recognition 

 for the research man. Everybody knows 

 his worth to the state and to civilization. 

 The manufacturer is especially appreciative 

 of his work and is glad to cooperate even 

 to his own disadvantage and loss in trying 

 out certain processes or marketing given 

 chemical substances whose demand may be 

 very limited. Four out of five such ven- 

 tures may be a loss to the manufacturer, but 

 the fifth proves such a success that it over- 

 balances the other four, and therefore if the 

 manufacturer had not accredited the re- 

 search work of the one who made the propo- 

 sitions, not one of the ventures would have 

 been tried. This popular confidence in the 

 value of chemical research has led to al- 



