December 5, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



805 



define this function of the research labora- 

 tory in popular language, I would say 

 that it keeps the industry "ahead in the 

 game." It is not only in the concrete 

 things which the research laboratory does 

 that its profitableness is to be measured, 

 but its real value is also in the general 

 advance work that it does. It gives to an 

 industry a proper understanding of the 

 needs of the trade. The industry that does 

 not keep itself informed as to these needs 

 is sure to lag behind. The fundamental 

 information as to the needs of the trade 

 can only be furnished by the chemist who 

 has studied the possibilities, theoretical and 

 practical, of both processes and products. 

 The research laboratory is destroying trade 

 superstitions, which have hindered progress. 

 It has furnished information to salesmen 

 which they have been able to use to prac- 

 tical advantage. It has been in many 

 respects the reflective organ of industry. 

 The research laboratory could not have 

 been any of these things if it were not con- 

 tinuously studying the problem presented 

 directly and indirectly to it and availing 

 itself of the invaluable records preserved 

 in our chemical journals. 



In those industries involving the manu- 

 facture of chemicals or in which chemistry 

 is a predominating and obvious influence, 

 the chemist is, of course, appreciated, 

 although there are many such industries 

 which do not utilize the chemist as fully 

 and as completely as would be to their ad- 

 vantage. The really successful and profit- 

 able chemical manufacturing industries 

 avail themselves of the services of the best 

 chemists obtainable. 



The indirect influence of chemistry upon 

 the profitableness of industry should not 

 be overlooked. The philosopher who once 

 said something to the effect that the man 

 who made two blades of grass grow where 

 only one grew before is a public benefactor. 



stated a truth that applies with a special 

 force to the chemist. The discoveries of 

 chemistry which have been of no direct 

 value to the discoverer, but have been of 

 great indirect value to humanity, are in- 

 numerable. Sometimes a chemist is looked 

 upon with scorn because he has not made 

 personal profit out of his discoveries, 

 which he has published to the world and 

 made common property. This form of com- 

 munism is idealistic. The discoveries of 

 Pasteur have added immense profit to the 

 fermentation industries and have been the 

 saving of innumerable lives. I know of no 

 class which contributes, as chemists do, so 

 freely to the fund of general knowledge on 

 which profitable business is based. Then, 

 too, there is the indirect saving which the 

 chemist is responsible for in the conserva- 

 tion and utilization of industrial products. 

 The studies relating to the corrosion of 

 iron and steel and indeed to all of the phe- 

 nomena of decay have resulted in greater 

 permanence and durability of the products 

 of industry, the benefits of which all indus- 

 tries may share. 



In arguing, as we have, in favor of the 

 proposition that chemistry is a powerful 

 factor in making industry profitable, we 

 must not close our eyes to its limitations. 

 The chemist should be a business man in 

 the best sense of the words, and should 

 recognize that in all successful business 

 operations a proper balancing and coordi- 

 nation of all its factors is necessary. The 

 study of power problems should be made, 

 but the extent to which expenditure for the 

 study of power factors should be made de- 

 pends upon the importance of the power 

 factor. The testing of materials purchased 

 and used should be made, but the extent to 

 which such testing should be made can 

 only be determined by the proper considera- 

 tion of its relative importance. New proc- 

 esses and products should be developed, but 



