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BERZELIUS' "JAHRESBERICHT" AND THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF CHEMISTS1 WILHELM OSTWALD (Translated b y Ralph E. Oesper)
1 RECENTLY had the great pleasure of entertaining a t my home a former schoolmate and collaborator with whom, in the long-departed Dorpat days, I had spent many evenings a t the beer table discussing scientific matters. Particularly in June, when the winter semester was nearing its close and the northern summer had arrived, with the astounding suddenness which never failed to astonish us, we were prone to sit and argue until the sun reappeared, an event which occurred before the heavens had gotten really dark. The magic of these incredibly short "white nights" frequently affects Central Europeans a t their first experience like a volatile inebriating potion. They likewise often have an effect on the natives, and numerous thoughts, which later grew into long chapters or even books, were conceived on such nights. At first my friend and I explored old memories, a t which I was not too good because I had had little time during the intervening years t o think of the past. New surroundings and fresh fields of work had more than filled my days and evenings. Collaborators had come from all quarters of the globe and their invitations had later taken me into many countries. Besides, I have never been a "memories" person; I have always lacked time for such mental activities. Consequently, my friend, seeing how things were, asked me to show him my new home which I had designed to fit in with my post-that of a professorial career2. He was extremely interested in my library and after looking around he exclaimed: "Heavens! I know that you have always been a little daft about books hut I never dreamed that this craze would go to such lengths in your case." "Yes," I replied, "but this is onIy partially caused by my own love of books. These days it is simply necessary to have this many books. For the most part, I have these books so that I will not have to read them." He tapped his head significantly and smiled indulgently. "With you it seems t o have started with hooks and then gone further." Wit.hont realizing it, we had reverted to the argumentative style of the Doraat days where we had aut more emphasis on clarity ofthought than on po~itenkss. I TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: This essay wns composed in 1908. The manuscript was placed a t the disposition of the translator by Miss Grete Ostwald, daughter of the author, and curator of the Ostwald Archiv a t Grossbothen, Saxony. The text is quite typical of the style and manner of thinking of the great chemical philosopher. It is interesting to compare his proposals with what has tran~pimdin the half century since he wrote these
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TRANSLATOR'S NOTE:
I shook my head and asked: "What do you do with the books you buy? Do you sit down a t once and read them from cover to cover?" "Of course not," was his reply. "Where would busy men like us get the time to do this ?" "Well," I said, and in turn pointed t o my head. "We must have facilities for looking things up when the need suddenly arises," he asked, "is that what you mean? Of course, you have to read a borrowed book, a t least if you have the intention of returning it. But a hook on your own shelf need not be read until such time as you wish to know precisely the thing which was the reason for which you bought the book. I admit you are right." "Yes, and you are too," I replied, "because in my case it actually has 'gone further.' You know quite well that I have not confined myself to chemistry and that the things which now interest me most are, in general, much more 'paper sciences' than is chemistry." "But it is certainly no 'paper science,"' he remarked. "Look here my dear friend, a t these four thick volumes, which are last year's Rerichte der deutschen ehemischen Gesellschaft. And here are the four volumes of the Zeitschnft f3Sii physikalische Chemie of the past year. And here, and here, and h e r e a l l these are chemical journals for the year 1907. Over there are the thick, closely printed volumes of the Chemisches Zentralblatt, which contains the highest concentration obtained by boiling down the chemical work of a single year." "Yes inde-e-e-d," he replied, trying in vain to stretch out the word to match the length of the rows of books. Climbing the library ladder and fetchiig down a thin little volume I said, "Now look a t this," handing him the first of a series less than a meter in length. "In this Berzelius published for the year 1820 the first annual report on chemistry. Here in 163 pages, small octavo, he reported on the achievements of the year not only in chemistry but also the related progress in physics, mineralogy, and crystallography, and likewise in geology, assembling the material into extensive, highly readable reports." "Heavens," remarked my friend, "there has certainIy been a tremendous growth since then. Did you say the date was 1820? Just a little less than one hundred years? Ivhatif the rate Of grouTth at this same pace?'' "Actually, the rate increases steadily," I replied. '
