802 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 



recovery of gold and silver in smelting 

 operations. It was natural, therefore, to 

 assume that a similar correspondence ex- 

 isted between the fire assay of other metal- 

 liferous substances and the smelting oper- 

 ations then practised. What could be 

 done with gold and silver, however, could 

 not be done with the same accuracy with 

 the more readily oxidized metals, and while 

 the fire assay method is still applied in some 

 places to metals other than gold and silver, 

 in general these methods have been super- 

 seded by wet methods, which are more 

 obviously chemical in their character, and 

 of greater accuracy. 



The chemical testing of commodities sold 

 under specifications is primarily for the 

 purpose of protecting the purchaser, al- 

 though accuracy of testing is necessary in 

 order that justice may be done to the 

 seller. Practically all raw materials dealt 

 in in quantity are sold subject to chemical 

 analysis. Chemical analysis may not be 

 specified in the sale or made use of by the 

 purchaser, but, in some form or other, the 

 purchaser has the right to test out the pro- 

 duets received, to see whether the terms of 

 the sale have been lived up to. Very few 

 commodities are sold to-day in regard to 

 which there is not some recorded informa- 

 tion on which a purchaser can base claims, 

 if chemical analysis shows these commod- 

 ities to be different from those described in 

 the order or contract. 



If we consider, however, the whole ques- 

 tion of the purchase of commodities on 

 either tacit or openly acknowledged chem- 

 ical requirements, we will see that chemis- 

 try has had a great infiuence in determin- 

 ing the profitableness of industry, in pre- 

 venting the delivery of inferior raw or semi- 

 raw materials, which would ultimately 

 affect the yield or quality of the finished 

 product. The whole operation of our pare 

 food and pure commodity laws depends 



upon the availability of chemical analysis 

 and testing, and it is only natural that the 

 rapid growth of sentiment in favor of these 

 laws should have produced some commercial 

 hardships, which have led to the criticism 

 of chemical control and standards as being 

 too rigid and unsuited to popular require- 

 ments. Nevertheless, such pure commodity 

 laws have been of great profit to the pur- 

 chasing public. 



But if chemistry has had a great influ- 

 ence upon the profitableness of industry in 

 the purchasing of commodities, what shall 

 we say as to its effect on the profitableness 

 of industry in the sale of commodities? In 

 the popular mind, profits are made on sales, 

 not on purchases, and the salesman seems 

 to be, to use the language of the streets, 

 "the whole thing." Most businesses are 

 dominated by the salesman, be he proprie- 

 tor, manager, or drummer. According to 

 this idea, in the making of profit, the sales- 

 man is a factor greater than the purchas- 

 ing agent, or even the manager of the 

 manufacturing department, considering 

 that these are distinct from each other. 

 There is undoubtedly a great deal of truth 

 in this conception, and the popular idea 

 rests on fairly well established facts. Tak- 

 ing this to be the case, what has been the 

 influence of chemistry on the sale of com- 

 modities as affecting business profits ? It is 

 generally admitted that the old-fashioned 

 personal influence of the salesman over the 

 sale of his goods is growing less year by 

 year. In place of this old-fashioned per- 

 sonal influence is coming a newer influence 

 in which the salesman secures his sales, not 

 by debauching the purchaser, but by his 

 intelligence and the helpful knowledge 

 which he possesses about the goods he sells, 

 and, we must add, the confidence which the 

 purchaser has in the salesman because of 

 his possessing that knowledge. It is nc 

 longer the general practise to keep sales- 



