CHEMISTKY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
203 
increase of true post-graduate instruction the work of Ameri¬ 
can chemists will improve, for in that part of the educational 
domain research is an essential feature. Give our men the 
best opportunities, the best environment, and they will do 
their share of the best work. 
In one direction, perhaps, the possibility of advancement 
is greatest, and that is in the institution of laboratories for 
research. At present the labor of investigation is unorgan¬ 
ized, unsystematic—a little here, a little there, but without co¬ 
ordination—and consequently our knowledge is after all a 
thing of shreds and patches. In making this statement 
I do not exaggerate. Take any class of scientific data, ex¬ 
amine any series of chemical compounds, and note the gaps 
which exist in it. A chemist in Berlin has studied one of 
the compounds, another in Paris has prepared a second, 
many bits of information have been gathered by many indi¬ 
viduals, and so knowledge slowly accumulates. The organi¬ 
zation of research is to be one of the great works of the future, 
when discovery shall become a profession, and groups of 
students shall cooperate toward the attainment of clearly 
specified ends. To some extent this work has already been 
done for astronomy, and more than one observatory could 
exemplify what I mean. In a fully manned and equipped 
observatory great investigations, too large for one astronomer 
to handle alone, can be carried out systematically; and this 
is actually done. In mapping the heavens, even, several 
observatories can combine their forces, each one covering a 
definite part of the field; but in chemistry no policy of this 
kind has yet been possible. The extension of the observa¬ 
tory method to other departments of science is the advance 
for which I plead. 
Suppose, now, we had a great laboratory, fitted up for chem¬ 
ical and physical work together, well endowed and well 
manned, what might we not expect from it ? Great prob¬ 
lems could be taken up in the most thorough and orderly 
fashion, methods of work might be standardized, and groups 
of physical constants determined. The results would aid and 
