NOVEMBEK 5, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



637 



which the University of Pittsburgh and its 

 Mellon Institute are now rendering the public, 

 and congratulated them upon the establishing 

 of the new chair of research in pure chemistry 

 as one of the most effective ways of furthering 

 research and a momentous step in the direction 

 of building up a splendid new graduate school. 

 He believed that a university's true greatness 

 was not measured by the magnificence of its 

 plant, the size or athletic prowess of its stu- 

 dent body, but by escellence of its graduate 

 school, and that the standard of the latter was 

 determined by the amount and quality of its 

 production of genuinely original work, and the 

 character of its faculty. He said, further, that 

 the extent of the assistance which a university 

 secures from its surrounding community in 

 the creation of such a fine graduate school as 

 that of the University of Pittsburgh was often 

 a good indication of the attitude of the uni- 

 versity authorities themselves toward such 

 work. In this respect he said that the Univer- 

 sity of Pittsburgh was, indeed, fortunate in 

 having a chancellor and trustees who knew 

 how to prize original scientific investigation at 

 its real worth, and under whose fostering care 

 and guidance it would have full opportunity 

 to grow and flourish. 



The designation of the new chair as the 

 Willard Gibbs professorship of research in 

 pure chemistry was peculiarly appropriate, and 

 should prove a constant inspiration to all in- 

 cumbents in their search for truth. Dr. Bogert 

 also congratulated the chancellor and Director 

 Bacon upon securing as the first occupant of 

 the chair so distinguished a scientist as Dr. 

 EosanofF — chemist, physicist, mathematician 

 and linguist — whose investigations, especially 

 those on distillation and the catalysis of or- 

 ganic reactions, have already won for him an 

 enviable international reputation. He then 

 felicitated Dr. Eosanoff upon his appointment 

 to a post of such conspicuous dignity and 

 honor. In closing, the speaker called attention 

 to the fact that it was the development of 

 genius that was of greatest concern to the 

 world, and that many of the investigations 

 carried out by the Willard Gibbs professors 

 would undoubtedly survive long after the 



beautiful buildings of the university had 

 crumbled in decay. 



The last of the addresses was a brief dis- 

 course on Willard Gibbs's life and work by 

 Dr. Eosanoff. In the conclusion of his ad- 

 dress, Dr. Eosanoff expressed the sentiment 

 that a man whose intellectual achievement is 

 as wonderful as that of Willard Gibbs need 

 hardly be honored either by a monument in 

 stone or bronze or even by so magnificent a 

 memorial as a professorship of research en- 

 dowed in perpetuity. The sense of attaching 

 his illustrious name to the new chair is really 

 the hitching of the wagon to a star. And Dr. 

 EosanofF solemnly pledged himself, ever 

 guided by the light of that star, to humbly 

 follow in the steps of the great American 

 master of scientific research. 



The Department of Eesearch in Pure Chem- 

 istry of the Mellon Institute is to be conducted 

 along the same lines as similar departments in 

 the leading universities in this country and 

 abroad. Graduates of colleges in good stand- 

 ing will be admitted to it as candidates for the 

 master's and doctor's degrees, and it will be 

 the principal duty of the head of the depart- 

 ment to maintain in it the highest attainable 

 academic standard. The industrial research 

 fellows of the Mellon Institute and the mem- 

 bers of the faculty of the school of chemistry 

 of the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the 

 members of the Federal Bureau of Mines and 

 of Standards, are at liberty to attend all lec- 

 tures, seminars, and other exercises conducted 

 in the department. Further, the head of the 

 new department promotes the industrial ends 

 of the Mellon Institute by any scientific ad- 

 vice that he may be able to give in connection 

 with the work of the industrial research 

 fellows.'^ 



The department of research in pure chem- 

 istry occupies a suite of rooms in the Mellon 

 Institute building^ and its members are at 

 liberty to draw on the material facilities of the 

 institute on the same terms as the members of 



1 On the object and work of the Mellon Institute, 

 see J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 7 (1915), 343. 



2 For a description of this building, see J. Ind. 

 Eng. Chem., 7 (1915), 333. 



