120 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 108. 



This was probably the first attempt to pub- 

 lish in this country a magazine devoted 

 entirelj^ to science and supported wholly 

 by native contributions. As earlj' as 1811 

 there was a Columbian Chemical Society in 

 Philadelphia, and in 1813 a volume of its 

 ' Memoirs' appeared. In 1817 the Journal 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 

 phia was started ; and the next year saw 

 the birth of Silliman's American Journal of 

 Science. The last named periodical, a classic 

 among scientific serials, was for sixty years 

 the chief organ of American chemistry ; 

 and even yet, despite the rivalry of more 

 specialized journals, it contains a fair pro- 

 portion of chemical contributions. The« 

 first American to publish a systematic 

 treatise on chemistry was Prof. John Gor- 

 ham, of Harvard College, whose ' Elements 

 of Chemical Science,' in two octavo volumes, 

 appeared in 1819. The work was well re- 

 ceived aud was an excellent one for its day. 

 The period from 1820 to the outbreak of 

 the Civil War was one of steady progress in 

 America, both as regards scientific research 

 and in the development of institutions. 

 Colleges were founded, societies were organ- 

 ized, there were better facilities for work, 

 and the general appreciation of science be- 

 came greater. But, for the reasons which 

 were stated at the beginning of this address, 

 the so-called natural sciences rather took 

 the lead, and there was more activity 

 among geologists and zoologists than in the 

 field of chemistry. Many States organized 

 surveys ; the general government sent out 

 exploring expeditions ; and so geology and 

 natural history received a patronage in 

 which chemistry had little or no share. 

 The chemists were mainly dependent upon 

 their own resources, and got along as best 

 thej' could. Still, their number increased, 

 their published investigations became more 

 numerous, and their services were in greater 

 demand, both commercially and in the work 

 of instruction . 



At first the would-be chemist had to 

 make his own pathway. Chemistry was 

 taught in the colleges, not as a profession 

 to be followed, but as a minor item 

 in that ill-defined agglomeration of knowl- 

 edge which in those days was called ' a 

 liberal education.' In 1824, however, the 

 Kensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troj', 

 was founded, and a new era in scientific 

 education began. In 1836 Dr. James C. 

 Booth opened a laboratory^ in Philadelphia 

 for instruction in practical and analytical 

 chemistry, and in 1838 Prof. Charles T. 

 Jackson did the same thing in Boston. 

 Chemistry could now be studied in some- 

 thing like a systematic manner, but the 

 students who were able to do so went 

 abroad, at first to London, Edinburgh and 

 Paris, and later to the famous laboratory of 

 Liebig in Germany^. The impulse toward 

 foreign study continues to our own day ; 

 even though American facilities have in- 

 creased enormousl}', and a good chemical 

 training can now be obtained at home. 



The decade from 1840 to 1850 was a 

 period of great advancement in American 

 Science, and several events of the utmost 

 importance occurred. In 1829 James 

 Smithson, an Englishmen, bequeathed his 

 property to the United States, to found in 

 Washington ' an institution for the increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men ; ' 

 and in 1846 his project was realized. The 

 Smithsonian Institution was established, 

 and under the direction of Joseph Henry it 

 became at once a center of scientific influ- 

 ence and activitj'. Smithson, it will be re- 

 membered, was a chemist and mineralogist, 

 and it was, therefore, eminentlj' proper that 

 the Institution which bore his name should, 

 from the very^ beginning, maintain a chem- 

 ical laboratorj'. Furthermore, in the earlier 

 years of its history, the Institution provided 

 courses of popular lectures upon chemistry ; 

 it has subsidized some chemical investiga- 

 tions, has published original researches, 



