200 
CLARKE. 
One other phase of applied chemistry, chiefly developed in 
this country, remains to be mentioned. In 1875 the Penn¬ 
sylvania railroad opened a laboratory at Altoona, 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 contracts for purchases depend upon the results of 
analysis. Among the articles regularly examined, prelimi¬ 
nary to buying, are iron, steel, various alloys, paints, var¬ 
nishes, soaps, wood preservatives, disinfectants, etc. 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 stand¬ 
ards, the analyses to be made in the same way. Adulteration 
is thus discouraged and prevented, and the moral effect upon 
the seller, who must be honest, is most salutary. When de¬ 
tection is certain, the temptation to commit fraud vanishes. 
To the improvement of analytical methods the railroad labo¬ 
ratories have contributed materially, so that their work has 
true scientific significance as well as practical value. 
Now, although we may properly take pleasure in the ad¬ 
vances which American chemists have made, we have no 
right as yet to be fully satisfied. We have done much, but 
others have done more; and until we stand in the front rank 
we should not relax our efforts. The competition of re¬ 
search 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 countries is in some respects wholesomely humili¬ 
ating. England and France have built up chemical indus¬ 
tries vastly greater than ours, and in certain directions Ger¬ 
many 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 
