January 22, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



127 



toona, in charge of Dr. C. B. Dudley ; and 

 eight or nine other great railroads have 

 since followed its lead. In these railroad 

 laboratories, which employ many men, all 

 sorts of supplies are tested, and large con- 

 tracts for purchases depend upon the results 

 of analysis. Among the articles regularly 

 examined, preliminarj^ to buying, are iron, 

 steel, various alloys, paints, varnishes, 

 soaps, wood preservatives, disinfectants, 

 et cetera. On the Pennsylvania system alone 

 the purchases controlled by these tests 

 amount to from two to three millions of 

 dollars annually, and the saving to the 

 company is undoubtedly very great. In 

 many cases other purchasers adopt the 

 specifications of the railroad and base their 

 contracts upon the same standards, the 

 analyses to be made in the same way. 

 Adulteration is thus discouraged and pre- 

 vented, and the m^oral effect upon the 

 seller, who must be honest, is most salu- 

 tary. When detection is certain the temp- 

 tation to commit fraud vanishes. To the 

 improvement of analytical methods the 

 railroad laboratories have contributed ma- 

 terially, so that their work has true scien- 

 tific significance as well as practical value. 

 N"ow, although we may properly take 

 pleasure in the advances which American 

 chemists have made, we have no right as 

 yet to be fully satisfied. We have done 

 m.uch, but others have done more ; and until 

 we stand in the front rank we should not 

 slacken our efforts. The competition of 

 research is fully as keen as the competition 

 of trade, and even if we may win the lead 

 we must work hard to keep it. In spite of 

 all that I have said of its growth, industrial 

 chemistry in the United States is still in its 

 infancy, and comparison with other coun- 

 tries is in some respects wholesomely hu- 

 miliating. England and France have built 

 up chemical industries vastly greater than 

 ours, and in certain directions Germany 

 leads them both. Moreover, the German 



industries and the trade depending upon 

 them are increasing at a marvelous rate, 

 and in England the chemists at least have 

 taken serious alarm at the growing compe- 

 tition. Branches of manufacturing which 

 were once almost wholly English are now 

 mainly German ; discoveries which were 

 made in England have been developed in 

 Germany, and now the British economists 

 are seeking for the reason. 



To the chemist the reason is plain, and 

 is to be found by a study of two systems of 

 education. The English universities and 

 schools have clung to obsolete methods, 

 and have attached great importance to ex- 

 aminations and the winning of honors. To 

 the honor men positions and preferment are 

 open, but the honors are awarded in the 

 wrong way. In Germany, on the other 

 hand, the pathway to success lies through 

 research ; honors are given to the men who 

 have increased knowledge ; and the efiect 

 of this policy is felt by every manufacturer 

 upon German soil. Take, for example, the 

 great chemical works at Elberfeld,in which 

 about one hundred scientific chemists are 

 employed in addition to a great force of 

 laborers. Every one of these chemists re- 

 ceived a training in research ; everj^ one is 

 expected to make discoveries ; and the re- 

 sults of their investigations are immediately 

 applied in the manufacture of new prepara- 

 tions and the improvement of processes. 

 The German emploj^er does not ask the 

 chemist to do for him what he can do al- 

 ready, but rather to supply the greater for- 

 ces by which he can rise above his competi- 

 tors and command the custom of the world. 

 To that policy we have not yet fully risen 

 in America ; our technical schools have 

 thought too much of routine drill and disci- 

 pline ; and until we profit by the example 

 of Germany more thoroughly than we have 

 done we cannot hope to rival her in 

 chemical industries. Our practical men 

 value science for what it can do directly 



