6 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 862 



commodious quartei's (which we had 

 agreed were essential to the project) were 

 avaihxble in the recently vacated rooms of 

 the Mendelssohn Club at 108 West 55th 

 Street. Upon his invitation I joined him 

 in an inspection of the premises. We were 

 so favorably impressed that we concluded 

 it would be eminently advisable to call a 

 meeting of the members of the New Yorli 

 Section of the Chemical Society and of 

 other chemists in the city, for informal 

 discussion of the desirability and practica- 

 bility of establishing and maintaining such 

 an organization of chemists as should lease 

 and occupy the quarters referred to, the 

 assembly hall of which was even then com- 

 fortably filled by the chemists attending 

 the meeting. The expression of opinion 

 was almost unanimous that the project was 

 not only desirable, but practicable as well, 

 and that the quarters were admirably 

 suited to the purposes in question. The 

 reasons were ample — there was a library 

 to be housed and put in shape for practical 

 use, there was need of a place for meetings 

 of the various chemical organizations, and 

 there was a distinct demand for a place to 

 serve as the chemists' headquarters in 

 both a professional and a social way. I 

 was authorized to appoint a committee to 

 report upon ways and means for promptly 

 carrying out this project. I lost no time 

 in appointing as chairman of this com- 

 mittee. Dr. Charles F. Chandler, who, 

 more than any other, held the respect and 

 esteem of the chemists of New York, and 

 about whom these chemists would enthusi- 

 astically raUy. Dr. Chandler was author- 

 ized to complete the committee, the final 

 work of which is well known. And so the 

 project suggested by Dr. McKenna was 

 launched. 



That the hopes we all had at that time 

 regarding the enterprise shoiild be so fully 

 realized in such a comparatively short 



time, and that their realization should have 

 had so important and profitable an influ- 

 ence upon the interests of the chemists and 

 the chemical organizations of New York, 

 few of us dared confidently to expect. 



The Chemists' Club was finally organ- 

 ized in November of 1898, the constitution 

 declaring its objects to be "the promotion 

 of good fellowship among its members and 

 the advancement of the science and the 

 applications of chemistry. " The quarters 

 already described were leased and fur- 

 nished and space was assigned for the lib- 

 rary. The task of transferring the mate- 

 rial, unpacking, classifying and shelving it 

 was begun by Professor A. A. Breneman 

 and finally carried out by Dr. B. G. Love, 

 to whom is really due the credit of bring- 

 ing the library to its present efficient con- 

 dition. The labor involved in this work 

 was great axid was willingly rendered 

 with no compensation other than that 

 which must come from having so effect- 

 ively promoted the interests of the chem- 

 ists and the chemical organizations of both 

 the city and the country. 



The first scientific gathering held in the 

 assembly hall of the club was the meeting 

 of the New York Section of the American 

 Chemical Society. 



The Chemists ' Club is now on the eve of 

 another epoch in its history. While we 

 shall experience some regret in leaving the 

 old quarters which have served us so com- 

 fortably for such a long period, it will be 

 with pleasant memories only, and justifi- 

 able pride that we remove to the new 

 building of the Chemists' Club, which is a 

 splendid monument to the foresight, judg- 

 ment and generosity of the club's former 

 president. Dr. Morris Loeb, and the effi- 

 ciency of the directors of the building com- 

 pany, who have been charged with the 

 financing of the enterprise and the erection 

 of the structure. The club and the affiliated 



