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varying from 0 - 2 5 ’ . Cheese, supposed by manufacturers to .cure or ripen in storage, is usually held a t a temperature slightly above freezing. Cold storage a t suitable temperatures undoubtedly improves certain foodstuffs up t o a certain point. This is especially true in the case of fresh meats, poultry and fruits. Other products do not improve in storage and after a time begin t o deteriorate even when kept a t temperatures which inhibit t o a large extent the ordinary processes of fermentation and decay. The investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture on the effect of cold storage on eggs, poultry and game have been carefully worked out and have developed much data which throws a new light upon the results of storage a t low temperatures. I n general the results of the studies show that cold storage when properly used is a very valuable improvement in the methods of the conservation and distribution of the food supply and that the term “cold storage” as applied to foods is in no sense a mark of inferiority or low grade. I t is true that time limits are well established beyond which goods should not be kept in storage, and t h a t if such foods as eggs, fish or poultry are held for a longer period deterioration, a t first slight and later marked, takes place. But such time limits are sufficiently long t o carry the products until the natural season of scarcity is past and in fact carrying charges, insurance and interest on the money invested does not, except under most unusual conditions, make it profitable for the warehouse men to hold goods longer. Food prices have been advancing rapidly and in part a t least this has been attributed to the increasing practice of holding foodstuffs in storage and because of this fact, as well as because of the impression that they are of poor quality, cold-storage foods are viewed with disfavor by the consumer. This feeling, coupled with the constantly increasing tendency t o throw additional safeguards around the food supply, has prompted the introdution of cold-storage bills in many of the state legislatures. I n one state a t least, namely Indiana, such a bill has been enacted into law. The bills up for consideration in the various states vary widely in character and on the whole show a great lack of information as t o the purpose and practices of cold storage. I n some measures the time limit placed upon the storage of foodstuffs is so short that the passage of such a law would demoralize the produce business and instead of reducing prices on foodstuffs would bring a return of former conditions of plenty during the season and scarcity throughout the rest of the year.
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The Indiana statute is entitled “ A n Act for the protection of the public health and the prevention of fraud and deception by regulating cold storage and refrigerating warehouses, the holding of food products stored therein and the sale of such products.” I t requires that foodstuffs which are entered into cold storage shall be marked with the date of entry and that when withdrawn for sale they shall show the date of removal. All food products placed in cold storage shall be withdrawn a t the end of nine months. I t is provided, however, that such goods shall be subject to inspection as to their sanitary condition and that if the goods are found unfit for food they shall be destroyed. The authorities are furthermore instructed to condemn and close any warehouse which is not kept in a sanitary condition. This measure does not discriminate against cold-storage goods in favor of goods which have not been so kept, but it does provide that the purchaser of eggs, poultry or meat may know how long the goods have been in storage. Another section providing that the warehouse records shall be subject t o inspection, and so making i t possible to determine the amount of goods held in storage, will have a tendency to regulate the too frequent practice of speculation in the food supply. During the past year foodstuffs, notably eggs and meat, have commanded very high prices although there was in cold storage an adequate supply of both products. The fact t h a t the owners of much of these goods were obliged to sell a t a loss and in many instances were driven into bankruptcy a t the close of the season, does in no way compensate the consumer, who during most of the months of the year paid high prices for foodstuffs although following the break in prices, they for a short time were sold below their actual value. Cold storage is necessary to the conservation of food products. It is to be hoped t h a t the public will learn to appreciate more than now its value. It should be regulated by practical laws which do n o t ‘ have for their purpose the destruction of the business but which are intended rather t o put a stop to the practice of storing foods which are not suitable for refrigeration but which have, even before entry into storage, deteriorated or become unfit for food, and to assure the withdrawal of all goods before they have been held sufficiently long to undergo partial spoilage. Such legislation will also be of decided benefit t o the cold-storage industry as all products will be subject t o inspection and to this extent a t least the quality of coldstorage foods will be guaranteed t o the consumer.
H. E. BARNARD.
ADDRESSES. CHEMICAL RESEARCH AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS.’ BY W u H. WALKER. Received April 1 1 , 1 9 1 1 .
Within the last few years research has become a word t o conjure with. Webster defines it as “ diligent 1 Address of the Retiring President of the American Electrochemical Society, New York. April 7 . 1911.
May, 1911
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inquiry in seeking facts or principles, continuous search after truth.” To find the truth, is, therefore the keynote of research. But although the great activity in research which so marks the present is essentially modern, an inquiry after truth is surely not new. The human mind has from the gray dawn of
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antiquity longed for and sought after truth. The new field of human endeavor epitomized by the word research represents a change in the method of finding truth rather than in the intensity of desire t o know the truth. When a great thinker of the past wished to investigate a subject he simply sat down in a quiet nook or walked through academic groves and philosophically meditated concerning it. He believed t h a t he could know things as they are and had great faith in the accuracy of his conclusions. As a mental performance such pliilosophical labor was not altogether without value-but since we cannot know things as they are, but must know them as they appear or manifest themselves, a search for truth can reach its goal only through intimate contact with the things themselves, and an accurate determination of the facts concerning them. At the time when the followers of Aristotle were speculating upon the constituent parts of the universe, and concluding t h a t everything was composed of fire, water, air and earth, with the material transformations which each could undergo; there were other men who were devoting their attention t o the real transformation which materials do undergo. These people had glass, a product showing a marked change when compared t o the raw materials going into its production; they were able t o dye the royal purples and t o bleach the fine linens. They had the knowledge t o smelt iron and copper, tin and lead from their ores-surely striking transformations which they could actually see. But the truth concerning these phenomena did not interest the men the achievements of whom history has seen fit to chronicle. The dictum of Aristotle t h a t “industrial work tends to lower the standard of thought” prevailed, and i t is to this want of sympathy that we must ascribe the fact that the old historians failed to note the discovery of even the most important chemical processes, while they gave detailed accounts of those men who advanced mere speculations and taught untenable opinions on the constitution of the universe. But groping in the utter darkness of these early times, the men who actually did things in the utilization of natural phenomena in contradistinction to their more famous brethren who only talked and idly speculated about them, were the real pioneers in chemical research. Their quest for truth was however so crude, and thcir endeavors so little appreciated, t h a t almost no real progress was made. The teachings of the philosophers that there was required b u t the “quinta essentia” in order t o transEorm one of their four elements into another, together with accidental observations on the part of some pseudoscientists, led t o t h a t studied attempt to transmute the baser metals into gold which lasted for many centuries. If but the “Philosopher’s Stone” could be found, the problem would be solved. This was the goal of the alchemists. It would ,be a perversion t o describe the labors of these men as a search for t r u t h ; their objective point was gold, not truth, and many a devoted life was spent in this fruitless quest. I t may seem a long step from the work of the al-
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chemists with all their magic and mysticism, their sordid lives, and their cherished secrets, t o the consideration of the intense human activity of the present day mith those gigantic undertakings and marvelous achievements, collectively called modern industry. But there may be something in common between the work of the ancient investigators and their influence on civilization, and chemical research of to-day and industrial progress. The course of human events has been compared to a pendulum. We tend to swing t o extremes: t o go too far first in one direction and then in the other, when real progress lies in the middle. The period of alchemy represents the pursuit of science for selfish and mercenary ends; they cared for nothing but t o be able to make gold. The pendulum was a t a n extreme end of its path. Nor did they make material progress in their methods. The alchemist of Arabia and early Germany were little wiser than their predecessors of Egypt who flourished many centuries before them. The explanation of this lack of progress is t o be seen in the profound secrecy which they a t all times maintained. When some enterprizing worthy did take it upon himself to transcribe for future generations his knowledge of the mystic art, his sentences were so ambiguous and his diction so involved as to make the whole entirely meaningless. They even employed mysterious symbols to render the more difficult any attempt a t imitation. There was therefore, no accumulation of knowledge or experience, and each succeeding investigator continued to grope around in the darkness which had ever enveloped his calling, without deriving any benefit from the labor of either his predecessors or his contemporaries. The great and insurmountable obstacle to progress was nothing more than the jealous secrecy engende redby selfish competition. Both confidence and cooperation were entirely wanting. Each one feared that his neighbor might profit b y his experience were i t to become known, never realizing t h a t he must in the end get much more in return than he gave. There was but one of him, while there were many of his neighbors. But in the thirteenth century there came a change. One Roger Bacon, who from his rare accomplishments and erudition was called Doctor Mirabilis, and who firmly believed in the existence of %hephilosopher’s stone, was being tried a t Oxford for sorcery. To disprove the charges against himself, he wrote a celebrated treatise with a long Latin name, in which he showed t h a t phenomena, which had been attributed to supernatural agencies, were in fact due t o common and natural causes. He pointed out further in his brief, a possible distinction between what he called theoretical alchemy, or work which would advance the knowledge of natural phenomena, and practical alchemy, or the striving after immediately usable information. He is to be regarded as the intellectual originator of experimental research, and be his generous treatment of the knowledge gained, gave to the science the impetus for which it had so long waited. The limitations of this paper preclude my following
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in any detail the development of chemistry through the succeeding centuries, but it can be easily shown t h a t just as knowledge was sought after for its own sake, and in proportion as there was free and honest intercourse among the investigators of the time, just so rapidly was real progress made. With the appearance of men who took a n absorbing interest in the study of natural phenomena for the purpose of gaining a deeper insight into the world around them, when investigations were undertaken Erom a desire t o know, and to acquire knowledge which could become the property of the world a t large, the pendulum began t o move back. For years the efforts of investigating minds were devoted t o the explanation of the phenomena of nature ; to the discovery of new laws and principles ; to the accumulation and organization of facts, into what is called a “Science,” t o a real search for truth. This resulted in a general uplift of humanity, a n advance in civilization, which cannot be described or measured in a few words. I t was a time when the human mind was struggling to determine realities in the midst of tradition and superstition; t o realize that nature is always complex but never mysterious; their dependence should be placed in proven facts rather than the vagaries of priests and philosophers. Man became intellectually free. But for many years after the broad generalizations upon which modern chemistry is founded were well established, industry did not profit much by scientific work. One hundred years ago the men who smelted the iron and copper, the lead and zinc, knew little of the principles underlying their practice. Leather was tanned, woolens, cottons and silks were dyed, porcelain and glass were made, without the aid of those who alone knew the chemistry involved. I do not mean %hat scientific men took no interest in the manufac*wing industries, for we can recall the great work of ?Liebig for agriculture, and the immense amount of :analytical chemistry which is the foundation of in%dustrialchemical practice; but these were times when
