Feb., 1919
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
AN INSTITUTE FOR COOPERATIVE RESEARCH A S AN AID T O T H E AMERICAN DRUG INDUSTRY
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A number of interesting letters bearing upon the proposed is necessary to demonstrate that physicians, dentists, and institute for drug research were received too late for printing veterinarians would feel likewise. It would place the determinain the January issue of THISJOURNAL. These letters are given tion of the merits of a medicinal preparation in the hands of men who have no financial or personal interest in the article. below. At the meeting of the Advisory Committee of the AMERICAN Their verdict should then be honest, impartial, disinterested, SOCIETY on Saturday, January I I , 19I g, the resolutions and scientifically correct. CHEMICAL of the Xew York Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, B. I,. MURRAY, Merck & Co.,Rahway, N. J. urging that the establishment of the institute be undertaken “Having solved the details of the manufacture of some new under the auspices of the AMERICAN CHEhlICAL SOCIETY, were considerrd, and the president authorized to appoint a committee compound where would you turn to have it tested thoroughly to report to the Advisory Committee the statement of en- with respect to its use in medicine?” Thus spoke one baseball dowment needed for salaries, buildings, equipment, and opera- fan to another. Let me ask a counter question which has likewise proved difficult to many other fans. “Having disting expcmses, and an outline of policies for such an institute. The president appointed Chas. H. Herty chairman of this covered a new compound of proven(?) merit, where would you committee and will appoint the other members of the committee turn to have it manufactured?” The answers to both are unsatisfactory. There are men in private life, in educational later.- [EDITOR.] institutions, and in commercial enterprises who are abundantly MANUFACTURERS able to test any medicine. While they are able, they do not always have the opportunity. And there are many firms that WILLARDOHLIQER, Vice President, Frederick Stearns & Co., Detroit, Mich. The plan to establish a national institute in which chemists can manufacture the new discoveries. While they, too, are and chemical manufacturers can obtain the services of expert able, usually they will not. The above seems to be the situation as it is before us to-day. workers along related lines of scientific effort to round out It is evident that a neutral go-between is needed. If we had a deficiencies or gaps in their own staffs or t o carry on work that bureau in some organization devoted to sciences in general they are not equipped to do, seems logical and timely. While a (National Academy of Science? American Association for number of manufacturers, pharmaceutical perhaps more especially, have the needed staff of chemists, biologists, bac- Advancement of Science?) to which the research discoverer teriologists, pharmacologists, and other scientific workers in and the manufacturer discoverer could take their products for their own plants, there is a larger number not so fortunately the purpose of making more suitable connections for appropriate situated. The latter have a t times experienced more or less further steps, it would seem to help. The go-between would difficulty in obtaining the services of capable scientific men to serve primarily as a clearing house helping each client to meet carry on special problems of research or even high-grade bac- his affinity. Thus to the able scientist would be presented the missing opportunity, and to the unwilling manufacturer the inconteriological or pharmacological testing. Some of our best scientific men in the colleges and universities either do not have trovertible evidence of merit in the new medicine. Perhaps the necessary time, or do not seem to care to undertake any not much more than the above is required to meet our present work savoring of the commercial, evidently considering such needs, and I believe the plan outlined is workable, because not tasks beneath the dignity of their position. It goes without much money is necessary to carry it along. As to our future needs-we ought to take up the hunt for new saying that an institution to do the work suggested must be conducted by big men, men with a vision, not hide-bound, and better medicines with renewed vigor and on a more extolerant of new things, ideas, methods, not prejudiced, but tensive scale. Not all the desirable ones will be found in the coal-tar products, not all in animal products, not all in any one always open to conviction. A manufacturer or other patron of the institute should be able field. Nature is vast and we shall have t o search for things to have any particular phase of a problem which he has de- relatively very small. What is one crystallizable principle from the juice of a single leaf in Nature’s immense warehouse? It is as veloped through his own efforts and ability worked out without necessarily throwing the whole subject open to competition. nothing. It is merely cocaine! Locked in what other of This woiild be but justice to the inventor or developer of an Nature’s cells, animal, mineral, or vegetable, shall we find the idea, method, or product. He should be protected in every other active principles that are wearily waiting for us? There way by the institute and by every worker connected with it. are indeed many cells, and the hunt must be both intensive and If he receives no such protection the result of his work and extensive. A general movement to investigate the possibilities of new industry could shortly become the property of his competitors. For instance, he may produce a desirable chemical according medicinal agents such as has been proposed and discussed deto methods of his own but experience difficulty in purifying it. pends for its success primarily on money. Lots of money would I believe that it should be readily possible for him to go to the be required, and the returns in terms of money would be nearly institute with this one problem and have assistance in working invisible. Business men engaged in making their dollars bring it out. Y do not believe that the institute should be given carte in other dollars will hardly finance such an enterprise. Philanthropists may be found who will endow the movement. blanche with no limitation whatever. In the testing, both on animals and clinically, an institute The reward would not be in dollars, but would be infinitely better. A thorough search for the philanthropist should be could be of almost inestimable value since many of the largest manufacturers have either no facilities a t all for this work, or made. The work cannot even begin without money in plenty. but inadequate ones. Even those who are equipped to do all But why should we, Americans, leave to chance philanthropy of their own work would find the institute valuable if for no other a work so imposing, so important, and filled with such vast purpose than to check and verify the work already done. A possibilities for good for our individual selves? Perhaps an favorable report by such an organization would give the manu- endowment cannot be secured Must we then lose out?’,I . facturer greater confidence inm his own product and no argument see no other hopeful means of accomplishing this work than
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y through our own efforts. Let the plain citizens furnish the money. The benefits from the work are to be theirs. This, as you see, means organization of the work under government direction. We all contribute to the expense of government work, and we all enjoy the results. It is quite possible that there is now no department of the Government ready or suitable for the work. A new organization would be desirable any way for a new problem. It is a good time to propose a new phase of government work. We are in:a transition stage. We have developed the need for a new line of work, let us provide ourselves with new tools. Think of the chemists, biologists, pharmacologists, physicians, and other scientists, needed for our work, who are a t this moment in uniform! What a fine lot of candidates from which to make selections for some of this work! The discovery, testing, and subsequent manufacture of new medicines bristles with knotty problems. This is not the time to solve them, but they may be recognized nevertheless. As to discovery, usually the result of research, it must be conceded a t the outset that the field is limitless. This of itself presents a real problem. Workers may spend their lives in fruitless and disappointing search. The need for well-directed research is evident. Research merely in exchange for the monthly stipend is to be guarded against. Testing is a highly important part of the work. It is often research. It must, to speak but briefly, be of a nature acceptable in general to physicians, since upon the verdict of the practicing physician rests the success or failure of any medicine, new or old. The conclusions of this research must be indisputable and, of course, without prejudice Manufacture is another problem by itself, or rather a set of problems. An entirely new money investment has to be considered. Nothing less than a reasonably good prospect of dividends from the proposed investment will interest the manufacturer. The question of patent protection will have to be considered. But I see nothing insurmountable in the manufacturing problems. Nor, indeed, in the entire question at issue. FREDERIC FENQER, Armour & Company, Chicago, Ill.
I t is the true cooperative spirit and the bringing together of the industrial and college men which bring about real progress and produce results. A national institute for biological research conducted along Cooperative lines would obviously be of great benefit to humanity. Such an institute should be financially independent and investigations carried out on a strictly scientific basis. The strife for patent processes and products should be eliminated. Patents may be of benefit to the individual manufacturer but they are not stimulating to harmonious cooperation and at times even stand in the way of further progress. The work accomplished should be published and all the participants given full credit in order that the honors may be fairly distributed. Such a procedure would insure the success .of the undertaking. JOHN
URI LLOYD, Lloyd Brothers, Cincinnati, Ohio
With great interest have I pondered over your letter, as well as the comments of the gentlemen who contributed to the December number of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Much have I deliberated over the subject as a whole, which I will frankly state is not new to me as concerns necessities of those who, in plant pharmacy, need the help of an institute of cooperative research. These several years the Hygienic Laboratory, Washington, and the various governmental departments connected with medicine and chemistry have appealed to me as rendering admirable service in the work they have featured. T o them the thanks of all America is due. But their activities are limited, and I have felt that in time to come an institution such as
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you now contemplate must in some way be established. This will necessarily be devoted mostly to research in directions which some prefer to consider commercial. And yet, as I view the problem, commercial effort may be altruistic, and a manufacturer may be self-sacrificingly devoted to American industrial progress as a whole. This problem, in the abstract, I more than once discussed with the late Dr. M. I Wilbert, of Washington, suggesting to him that through such an institution a defective process might be perfected without giving to competitors the “trade secrets” of a manufacturing establishment. My idea was that, under such a condition, the manufacturer present to a committee of unquestioned integrity, in the minuest detail, the origin of such a preparation and the manner in which it was prepared, thus protecting, by the candor of the manufacturer and the unquestioned integrity of the research committee, both the manufacturer and the institute. These discussions with Dr. Wilbert led to many radiating lines of thought, but his decision was to the effect that present trade ideals and methods, as well as the opinions held by ultrascientific persons regarding “commercial” affiliations, rendered such as this impracticable. In my opinion, the substance of this perplexing problem is comprehensively presented by the following extract from Dr. P. A. Levene’s contribution to your December journal: I therefore suggest the organization of an institute of chemotherapy in the broader sense of the term. The aim of the institute should be, on the one hand, to promote this branch of science, on the other, to offer the facilities to industrial institutions to solve specific problems which they may encounter. , Take now the viewpoint of the manufacturing pharmacist. The first desideratum is an authoritative publication, establishing the authenticity of the crude materials employed in making remedial plant products. This, I take it, is the province, not of an investigating institute such as is now under contemplation, but rather of the Government itself, which has a t its command unquestioned talent and every opportunity for the issuing of an authoritative publication on standards. Every crude drug employed in the making of preparations used by physicians might, in this publication, be authoritatively described, both as regards origin and qualities. Every chemist and pharmacist of the country, as well as every dealer in crude drugs, would then have a t his command unquestionable descriptions of materials to be handled or manipulated. All physicians, likewise. regardless of professional differences or affiliations, would recognize a common (National) drug standard, on which all could agree. There is great need of balanced research in pharmaceutical directions. Few who have worked in plant pharmacy for any length of time will disagree with the statement that simple processes of manipulation may result in the alteration of “both their toxic and therapeutic properties-by the mode of administration or by chemical modifications.” Such alterations, as well as the diverging products derived from a single plant by means of different processes of manipulation, constitute in themselves a line of mighty questionings. The great field of research, opportunity, and necessity in plant therapeutic physiological lines of the future lies, not alone in establishing direct formulas, but in the study of obscure structural rearrangements, induced by time, temperature, and atmospheric exposure. When a manufacturer meets some such perplexing problem, and desires to avail himself of the investigating opportunities afforded by the institute, if it is established, he can present with his application specimens of the standard material from which his product is made, and specimens of the preparations, as well as full descriptions of the processes by which they are obtained, and other necessary information. I f the problem is one of obscure changes, such as are coming continually before makers
Feb., 1919
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
of plant remedial preparations, or other research necessities, such as the observing pharmacist continually meets, the problem could, under such conditions, be considered by the institute, and handled authoritatively and unhesitatingly. I have confined my thought, as I take it is desired, to plant products, to the study of which, in a very restricted field, my life efforts have been devoted. The problem of animal serums and vaccines is probably not remote, but here, too, we are confronted with a labyrinth of complex interreactions, which, as in plant perplexities, too often lie outside the borderland of present-day, exact chemistry. Possibly I have inexcusably neglected in what I have said the side of return opportunity to the institute. What I have said is superficial, perhaps illogical. And yet I cannot but believe that in time to come, an institute of the character now contemplated will be an accomplished fact. And when that institute is established, no reflection will be cast upon its founders or colaborers if its chief effort lies in the direction of helpfulness to those engaged in problems of commercial importance. CEM. E. VANDERKLEED,Hercules Powder Co., San Diego, California
It was with much interest, and for the most part with hearty approval, that I read the editorial in the September issue of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, and the subsequent and resultant addresses delivered before the New York Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY on November 8, on the subject of a proposed institute for Cooperative research as an aid to the American drug industry. One fact stands out preeminently in this discussion, and that is that there is a widespread and quite unanimous realization of a great need for an institute of this kind. Permit me to emphasize, however, that the greatest need is the one so ably set forth in the editorial, namely, a cooperative institute in which, or through which, the real value of newly proposed medicinal products may be determined, in so far, of course, as it is possible to determine their real value other than by collecting the investigations of a large number of independent observers. The primary object of the proposed institute should therefore be to provide a means for studying the pharmacodynamic action and, in so far as this is possible, the therapeutic value of newly proposed remedies. This does not, of course, preclude the possibility of extending the scope of the proposed work to include a study of many problems of synthesis, isolation of active principles, standardization, etc., as suggested by Dr. Abel, Dr. Loevenhart, and others, but without doubt, the paramount need is for more cooperation in trying to determine the real efficacy as well as the limitations of new products. To-day, the manufacturer of a new medicinal product can obtain a verdict as to its usefulness for the most part only by attempting to market it. As a result, many products of little or no value are introduced solely on theoretical grounds or upon very superficial data, while on the other hand, many a product of great value may be held back perhaps for years in an effort on the part of a more conscientious manufacturer t o be sure of its real value. This is not fair either to the manufacturer, the medical profession, or the public. I would also emphasize the fact that an institute such as is proposed can never in any sense of the word take the place of the research laboratory of the individual establishment. No one of course has suggested that it could; in fact, it was pointed out in the editorial that an institution such as is proposed would tend to stimulate research within manufacturing establishments. This is as it should be; there is ample room for both. Moreover, if such an institute were the means of bringing about closer cooperation between industrial research as carried on in manufacturing establishments and pure scientific research as carried on in our universities, it would be well worth while. If we but knew, many of our ablest potential industrial chemists are working on purely academic problems in our
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universities, while some of the keenest of theoretical workers are struggling with industrial problems in our manufacturing establishments. Let us have a clearing house to the end that the American drug industry may be placed and kept in the world’s lead. It has been emphasized that a large endowment is essential to the establishment of an institute for cooperative research in order that competent leaders and able assistants may be secured, and proper facilities provided, for carrying out the proposed plan. If organized and conducted by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY,thus insuring a high and uncompromising standard, I predict that it will be able to command the hearty support of our industrial establishments, as well as the cooperation of our educational institutions, governmental departments, and related scientific societies. UNIVERSITIES ALBERTC. CRAWFORD, Stanford University Medical School, San Francisco, California
For the advancement of pharmacology and for the development of pharmacologists, as well as for the rational development of the drug- industry, i t essential that mostof present laboratories be strengthened, either in equipment or in their staff, as well as by an increase in budget. Many of our laboratories need enthusiastic young men who are intellectually unafraid, There is, however, some question whether this advancement, or better utilization of our present facilities, could not be more satisfactorily obtained by the additional establishment of a cooperative research institute. If such an institute is established, as I hope it will be, what should be its scope? Should it confine its work to chemotherapeutic investigations, to pharmacological and chemical studies with reference to utilization of coal-tar products, to testing the activity of synthetic and of natural drugs as well a s to their assaying, both chemical and biological, or should it also devote its attention to the problems of pharmacognosy, etc.? Such an institute could have a number of purposes in view. It might aid in coordinating the work now being done in various places, i. e., serve as a clearing house, and might provide funds, where needed, for investigations which seem to demand it. It might devote its attention to problems of more immediate practical importance, such as are demanded by the drug trade and which are partly handled by commercial laboratories, or, it might, if properly endowed, be an institute where qualified men could devote their whole time to research, unhampered by teaching or by executive work, and from which specialized workers could be drawn for commercial or for teaching purposes, or it might devote its energies to all these and to other subjects. All these problems demand consideration and a central, heavily-endowed institute could aid their solution, as well as bring pharmacologists in closer touch with economic questions. It would be unwise to start such a laboratory financially hampered, as such an institute must start Free from obligations and be a success from the start. This latter will largely depend upon the character of the man who is to head the institution. If such an institute is organized with the idea that there must be cooperation between organic chemists, pharmacologists, physicists, and others, cooperation will be possible. In our universities such cooperation is rarely possible, because our medical schools are often at a distance from the university, and the professor of organic chemistry and the professor of pharmacology are very likely to be interested in different classes of problems and their own research and teaching usually occupy their full time. If large funds are not available, it might be wise to start a smaller organization for the study and utilization of the coaltar products and for chemotherapeutic investigations, but with,
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the -idea that later, when more endowment becomes available, the scope of the work is to expand. Certainly, something must be done immediately toward utilizing the by-products of the coal-tar industry for the manufacture of synthetic drugs, not merely for the value of those already known, but for the possibilities of future synthetic products (drugs, dyes, etc.). 1 A theoretical objection might be raised that the establishment of many more purely research institutes would tend to dissociate research work from teaching and it is well recognized that a university teacher in science, to be a success, must be a research worker, either actively or potentially, but toward such an institute as the one planned there would probably be no such criticism and it would stimulate us to better work. Before establishing such an institute, the ethical relations between the results of its scientific work and the drug industry must be determined. While an active, central institute is desirable, if a large endowment is available without depriving existing laboratories of funds, yet there is much which can be done for the drug industry, etc., by coordinating our present facilities. The Carnegie Institute has furnished funds for the isolation of a product now used as a drug (epinephrin) and the fact that it has endeavored to standardize our professional schools would suggest that it might also be willing to serve as a clearing house for scientific problems. The Office of Plant Introduction is introducing from abroad economic plants of all descriptions, while the Office of Drug Cultivation is encouraging, so far as practical, the domestic cultivation of drug plants and, no doubt, directly or indirectly through these sources, vegetable drugs from various portions of the world could be obtained. The pharmacological study of hitherto unknown drugs might be referred by a committee of the Pharmacological Society to its members for study. The biological assaying of drugs and the determination of standards for such assays could be done by the Federal Government, and the Hygienic Laboratory has shown aptitude for such work, in fact, this laboratory now supervises the interstate commerce in sera, etc., and the fact that several members of its staff have been appointed to important positions in biological work would indicate its high character. The work of the Bureau of Standards in standardizing apparatus, etc., for the trade indicates that the Federal Government can and will do other standardizations for us and perhaps even determine for investigators whether their new products are of value. It is only necessary to persuade the proper congressional committee that the country requires extension of such work and additional money can be secured for enlarging the work of the Hygienic Laboratory or for an additional division which would be established. Provision could thus be made for routine testing without disturbing the research work. After all, should not the whole institute be organized as a new department, free from tradition, under the Federal Government? Chemotherapeutic work is now attracting attention and has become an important branch of pharmacology, and it seems that the time is now ripe for the establishment of one or more professorships in this subject in our larger, centrally-placed universities and where the influence of such professors could fall on a number of students. The establishment of a few such positions by the universities would advance this science and relieve the present situation to some extent. ARTHUR D. HIRSCHF~LDBR, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
The experience of the chemist who knew of no way of having his new substances tested for their physiological action finds its daily counterpart in the experience of the pharmacologist It is quite as difficult for us pharmacologists to find chemists and manufacturers who will aid us with substances and by-products
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which have the structure needed for the solution of our problems, as it is for the chemist to find a pharmacologist to investigate his substances. Obviously, we need an institute or a foundation to correlate and facilitate the investigations of workers in all the fields which lead to the introduction of new drugs. The foundation need not and probably should not attempt to do all its work under one roof, but might, like the Sprague Foundation for Medical Research or the Fund for Therapeutic Research of the American Medical Association, accomplish its results through grants for assistants, animals, and materials to directors of laboratories throughout the country where the particular problem can best be handled. To such an institute, every chemist who is not already in touch with a competent pharmacologist should submit each of his new compounds and by-products for advice as to whether any of them might prove useful for the synthesis of a drug. The problems which are encountered in synthetic pharmacology may be classed as ( I ) the study of the actions of new chemical compounds prepared for other purposes, (2) the synthesis of new or rare compounds whose chemical groups might be expected to possess certain physiological actions in the body or upon bacteria, (3) the finding of new applications for well-known substances, (4)the aiding of manufacturers in solving their technical problems. In the first three of these a great deal might be accomplished in universities if the chemical, pharmacological, and clinical staffs would meet in frequent chemicopharmacological conferences to discuss the possibilities of substances and by-products being studied in their various departments. At the University of Minnesota for some years we have given practical work in pharmacology specially designed for students in chemistry, in order to develop chemists for places in industrial synthetic drug chemistry. As regards manufacturing chemists, many of their needs could be met through the medium of the proposed institute, not only through the industrial fellowships that would be established but also because thc expert advice of cooperating pharmacologists and physicians should be made more readily attainable. The representatives of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY should meet squarely with those of the Pharmacological Society and the American Medical Association to formulate a modified code of medical ethics which would facilitate cooperation between physicians, pharmacologists, and manufacturing chemists, and which, without permitting of exploitation, would permit such cooperation to be mutually profitable. Moreover, i t is much more difficult to obtain a scientific clinical test for a new drug than it is to get it tried out in the laboratory. At present there are many excellent and scientifically conducted clinics in which any method of diagnosis, however difficult, will be tried out and reported a t once, but in which it is extremely difficult to secure the clinical trial of a new drug which has satisfactorily passed the laboratory tests on animals. If such drugs were referred to clinics by the instityte, tested for the institute, and the reports published under the auspices of the institute, this difficulty should disappear. With a proper preliminary propaganda it should be possible to secure the cooperation of many clinics to work with the institute hospital. Much of our present difficulty in matters of drugs is psychological. Our scientific physicians are suffering largely from the lethargy of therapeutic nihilism, as well as from the fear of the charge of commercialism, contrasting as strongly with the exuberant hunger of the Germans for new synthetics as does pacifism with Prussian militarism. And so the Prussian drug enthusiasts have beaten us and carried off the prizes in the newer medicines-by a better mobilization1 Until we have our clinical proving grounds well manned by zealous clinical artillerists, eager and proud to test the range
Feb., 1919
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and power of carefully inspected and supervised American medical munitions, we shall continue to reply on the easily obtained, commercialized testimonials that have carried the German synthetics across the ocean with loud booms of applause which have reechoed throughout America. Whatever else we do, we must mobilize our national enthusiasm and direct the efforts of all, chemists, pharmacologists, and clinicians, to new cooperative efforts for new American drugs. DENNIS; E. JACKSON, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio
The suggestion of an institution for drug research is a t once a matter of striking interest to all chemists, pharmacologists, pharmacists, and medical men in general. One cannot refrain from speculating on the very extensive possibilities which the successful establishment of such a n institution might involve. Concerning two points, a universal agreement may be expected from the outset, vis., first, that a very large sum of money, preferably not less than $~,OOO,OOO, will be needed to make such an instifution as extensive and as effective as it ought to be; and second, that E i the undertaking is properly carried out the gains for science, indudtry, and the welfare of humanity in general may be of the very greatest extent. Indeed, it is impossible to put a financial estimate on the results of the work which would be practically certain to come out of such an institution. For the ideal arrangement, providing fully for the discovery of new drugs, or for any desired chemical manipulation of known forms, both for industrial and medicinal purposes, and finally for the complete investigation of the pharmacological properties and the therapeutic applicability of all compounds, promising from a clinical standpoint, might readily extend untold blessings to multitudes of the future who would not otherwise be born. As has previously been indicated by other writers in the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry,a wide field of activity lies open for such an institution. Perhaps the greatest problem in this direction would be how to avoid too great an expansion. Certainly the institution should establish fairly intimate relations with tht best universities of the country. Possibly this might be accomplished by the granting of fellowships, and occasionally, perchance, by some system corresponding to that of the temporary exchange of professors between universities. Industrial establishments would also need to send in young men to investigate certain definite problems. The institution should have publication facilities through a t least one journal, and perhaps more. A special stimulus might be exercised on industrial and scientific organizations by the holding of conventions, etc., at the institution provided with facilities to care for such meetings. And if the institution were powerful enough it might help very materially to create an effective interest in desirable legislation. The organization and government of such an institution presents peculiar difficulties. Differing in many new and funda-
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mental respects from most other institutions, there would seem here to be an opportunity for the initiation and development of a new and more nearly ideal and effective organization than any which has heretofore been established. The thinking out and doing of a piece of research bears a striking resemblance to the writing of a poem. One must wait for an inspiration, and when, by chance, the opportunity comes, it must be seized a t once. Otherwise the spirit of that discovery is in all probability gone forever, so far as that individual is concerned. The true scientific mind is an extremely sensitive affair, and it is sometimes very remarkable indeed what small things may serve to completely block one’s progress along any given scientific line. And it is easily conceivable that a certain group of scientific institutions might, by some unfortunate organization, or by some hampering form of red tape, kill more science than that same group of institutions would create in any given period of time. It requires a great deal more than money to insure the development of a large and successful research institution. And if a kind providence should look with sufficient financial favor upon this undertaking so splendidly conceived, it will be interesting to see what form of organization this exceedingly happy omen for the future of science in America may bring forth. There is a matter of peculiar academic interest involved in the nature of the manner of selection of men for the more desirable scientific positions. And it would be exceedingly important for those upon whom might devolve the function of exercising this somewhat questionable pleasure t o use great care in seeing that this group of workers should be truly representative of American men of science as a whole. One is almost tempted to suspect that this work ought to be carried out entirely by men who represent solely industrial interests. In this connection there is another matter to which the writer cannot refrain from referring briefly. This concerns the appointment of “strong departmental heads.” This title has a tendency to remind the writer of but a single individual, William Hohenzollern. Every one would enthusiastically urge the selection of the best men available for all positions. And within the realm of each man’s sphere he should absolutely be monarch of all he surveys. But from this vantage point he should by no means be able in any respect to “survey” every other investigator who might want to come to the institution to work in that particular field of science. In other words, no political system which centralizes in any given division all power in one scientific head, and thereby automatically eliminates every other eminent scientist in that particular line in the country, should be adopted. While these points represent but minor details, i t is perhaps impossible to consider them too early in the conception of plans, the materialization of which might finally represent the highest ideals of American science; for it is quite as important a virtue to be able to spend money well as it is to accumulate it in the beginning.
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIE3 AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Owing to the fact that one member of the Finance Committee is in Europe, that Dr. Arthur E. Hill will be in Washington The Advisory Committee met a t the residence of President for some months, and that the chairman of the Finance ComNichols on Saturday, January 11, 1919, a t 4 o’clock, to con- mittee needs one of the members in New York, as the rules require two members of the committee to be present when the sider the appointment of committees voted a t the recent meeting safety deposit vault is opened, Dr. Arthur E. Hill sent in his of the Council and to take up other matters. An invitation from the Buffalo Section of the AMERICAN resignation to the committee. The resignation was accepted CHEMICAL SOCIETY, requesting the Society to hold its Spring with appreciation of Dr. Hill’s many years of unselfish and deMeeting in Buffalo, was read. It was voted that the invitation voted service on the Finance Committee, and President Nichols of the Iluffalo Section be accepted, and that the meeting begin appointed Mr. J. E. Teeple to the position thus made vacant. on the morning of April 8, with the Council meeting on the afterThe following members were appointed delegates to the noon of April 7. meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers to be
ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
