Am.  Jour.  Pharm.1 
October,  1904.  J 
Editorial. 
499 
that  the  great  purpose  which  has  throughout  controlled  in  the  dif- 
ferent stages  of  its  organization  will  be  realized ;  that  because  the 
Congress  has  been  held  the  nations  of  the  earth  will  find  themselves 
drawn  more  closely  together ;  that  human  thought  will  possess  a 
more  unified  organization  and  human  life  a  more  unified  expression." 
THE  SOCIETY  OF  CHEMICAL  INDUSTRY. 
The  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry 
was  held  for  the  first  time  outside  of  the  British  Isles,  in  New  York 
City,  beginning  September  7th.  The  meeting  was  unique  in  one 
respect,  in  that  only  one  address  was  made  and  that  by  the  retir- 
ing President,  Sir  William  Ramsay.  The  rest  of  the  time  allotted 
to  the  meeting  was  devoted  to  entertainment  and  sight-seeing, 
which  was  probably  well  in  view  of  the  intellectual  feast  afforded 
the  members  later  at  the  International  Congress  of  Arts  and  Science, 
for  here  chemistry  in  its  various  branches  was  most  ably  represented 
and  most  valuable  papers  were  read. 
An  interesting  feature  of  the  meeting  in  New  York  was  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  Barnard  gold  medal  of  the  Society  for  research  in 
applied  chemistry  to  Professor  Ira  Remsen,  president  of  Johns  Hop- 
kins University.  It  is  also  gratifying  to  know  that  the  newly  elected 
president  of  the  Society,  W.  H.  Nichols,  is  an  American.  Mr. 
Nichols  is  one  of  the  foremost  electrical  chemists  of  the  United 
States. 
In  his  address  before  the  Society,  President  Ramsay  took  for  his 
theme  "  The  Training  of  the  Chemist."  He  touched  upon  some 
vital  points  in  educational  work  and  for  this  reason  we  give  a  brief 
abstract  of  his  address  : 
This  education  should  primarily  consist  in  an  effort  to  produce 
an  attitude  of  mind,  rather  than  to  instil  definite  knowledge  ;  to 
cultivate  the  inventive  faculty,  though,  of  course,  a  vast  amount  of 
knowledge  will  be  gained  during  the  process  of  training. 
Anticipating  the  objection  that  it  is  not  possible  to  create  an  in- 
ventive mind,  he  pointed  out  that  most  of  the  young  men  who  enter 
a  chemical  laboratory  do  so  from  choice  ;  and  the  choice  is  due,  in 
most  cases,  to  the  existence  in  their  minds  of  a  germ  of  the  power  of 
research  and  suggestion,  which  needs  development  and  cultivation. 
In  considering  the  best  method  of  cultivating  this  power  Professor 
Ramsay  recommended  the  force  of  example  ;  inculcating  the  doc 
