196 
CLARKE. 
much, especially since 1876; so, too, have the governments 
of various States and cities, especially with regard to the 
analysis of fertilizers and in the direction of sanitary chem¬ 
istry. Some investigations concerning the water supply of 
cities have been carried out by local boards of health, and 
among these the researches instituted by the Massachusetts 
board have been of the highest scientific quality. No better 
work of its kind has been done anywhere, and its results, in¬ 
tended for local benefit, are of far more than local value. On 
the part of the General Government the patronage of chem¬ 
istry has covered a wide range, and many bureaus have been 
provided with laboratories.. In the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture a considerable force of chemists has long been employed, 
dealing with questions of the most varied character. The 
United States Geological Survey maintains another impor¬ 
tant laboratory, and still others are connected with the Bu¬ 
reau of Internal Revenue, the Mint, the Army, and the 
Navy. In the torpedo station at Newport investigations are 
carried out relative to explosives, and at the custom-house 
in New York a number of chemists are engaged in the valu¬ 
ation of imported articles with reference to the assessment of 
duties. In short, the Government calls upon the chemist for 
aid in many directions, and the appreciation of his useful¬ 
ness increases year by year. In all this work, however, chem¬ 
istry is rated as a convenience only and valued for what it 
can give. Its advancement as a science is not considered, 
and such growth as it gains through governmental encour¬ 
agement is purely incidental. Good researches of a strictly 
scientific character, real enlargements of scientific knowledge, 
have come from laboratories maintained by the Government; 
but they represent the rare leisure of the investigator and 
not the essential object of his work. He is sometimes per¬ 
mitted to investigate for the sake of chemistry alone, but 
such labor is extraofficial and forms no part of his regular 
duties. The chemist is compelled to serve other interests— 
other sciences, it may be—and only the time which they fail 
to demand is his own. Considering the enormous impor- 
