Aug., 1920
T H E JOURNAL OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
The Chief Chemist has charge of t h e lahoratory clerical work, for which purpose two t o three clerks are employed; this is by no means a small part of his responsibility. H e also supervises t h e work of t h e beet laboratory, which has been previously described. Our customary intercampaign laboratory personnel at each factory consists of t h e Chief Chemist and one or two Assistant Chemists. From this nucleus there must be built up every year for t h e campaign work an organization of t h e kind just described. The beet sugar industry has its peculiar problems and this is one of them. It should be remembered t h a t this organization problem is one t h a t has t o be met not once in a long period of time, but is a yearly part of the work t o which the Chief Chemist has t o look forward. To get a new laboratory organization working smoothly i n a short period of time is by no means a n easy task and demands a high degree of executive ability in addition t o t h e technical knowledge required.
DYE RESEARCH‘ By Robert E. Rose CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT, E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURSAND COMPANY, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
We are very certain that this country possesses t h e materials and men t o assure the success of the dye industry; we have t h e raw materials for all t h a t is necessary; our chemists have shown t h a t they can convert these into very excellent finished products; but, granting this, i t still remains true t h a t we have a long way to go before our resources are put t o the best use. As a whole, our dye industry is rather like a process which is past t h e semiworks stage b u t is not yet a smoothly running plant operation. It is for us t o d o all t h a t we can t o realize what is yet needed and t o put every effort into making those things, which we see are necessary, a p a r t of t h e industry. For m y present purpose, I wish t o point out t h a t we are as yet digging up treasures fashioned and hidden by others. We have yet t o hear t h a t a n American house has produced an entirely original and very valuable contribution t o the list of commercial dyes. We have yet t o read papers embodying t h e successful results of American academic research which open new fields for the industrial dye chemist. I s it too early t o think of doing all t h a t may be done t o speed the time when American names will be mentioned as originators in our chosen field? I do not think so, and I am here t o tell you what I think should be attempted in order t o insure our future. Research we must have, not a mere checking up of recipes, not a mere search for information which is known t o others, but not t o ourselves; t h a t type of work has been exaggerated out of all semblance t o its real value simply because of the fact that we have had t o s t a r t with hardly any knowledge of this particular chemical industry and we have been going through a sort of undergraduate course in dye chemistry. No, t h a t is not what will keep us ahead; we must graduate t o real research; t h a t is, enter the entirely unknown and either apply known generalization t o new cases; or, and this is the higher faculty, take known facts, add t o them, and then generalize in such a way t h a t new ranks of facts stand a t our command. Of these two types of research, as I see it, one falls within t h e province of industrial organizations, t h e other almost exclusively t o academic thinkers, using t h e word “academic” t o denote any investigational activity which is not prompted by immediate utilitarian motives. If my assumption is correct, it is clear t h a t we, who must make research pay its way, are vitally interested in fostering t h a t research which, though in reality more productive, is not so evidently based on financial returns. No onecan tell a research chemist outside of t h e industry what he should study. T h e very essence of academic research is absolute freedom, even 1Read at the 59th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, St Louis, M o , April 12 to 16, 1920.
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from the bias which comes from industrialism, and i t is almost impossible for a n industrial organism t o see with unbiased eyes. But, on t h e other hand, the highest theoretical achievements have always come from a close attention t o facts. Let us then furnish the facts and let the academician use them in any way he sees fit. We should then draw his attention t o t h e subject, hardly more than that. Here we come t o t h e first apparent stumbling block t o t h a t very necessary cobperation between those occupied in pure science and those who produce according t o tFe methods of science. This is industrial secrecy, a very dangerous weapon because it is not alone two-edged, b u t double-pointed. All I can say is, t h a t I hope t h e day may come when secrecy is no longer a necessity. 111 the meantime, we must admit that i t must be observed. I should like t o see i t mitigated t o this extent, a t least, t h a t any real research chemist who is doing important academic work should have access t o any and all industrial plants and t o the methods followed in those plants, he being on his word of honor not t o divulge any recret process, but simply t o utilize t h e information t o the advantage of his research or of his knowledge of t h e subject in general. I believe this scheme was followed in Germany, where every Geheimer Hofrat was given the privilege b y law, and where, so far as I know, t h a t privilege was never once abused, though it conduced materially t o keeping the universities seats of live learning abreast of t h e times instead of years behind. In order t o keep our subject before the research men and women of the country I think t h a t we, in the industry, should lose no opportunity of emphasizing the theoretical side of our subject in public by addressing meetings of research men, writing articles, and, if possible, when we know enough about our subject, by writing textbooks or assisting those who wish t o do so. You will find, if you think t h e matter over, t h a t you can discuss most of the theory, even of your most secret processes, without risk of betraying your secret; why not do so instead of getting t h e schoolman t o tell us of t h e theory apart from our special need? More than one of t h e large companies have instituted a system of fellowships and scholarships t o keep the subject before t h e institutions of learning of t h e country. That is going t o help materially, b u t I have a warning t o sound. We must discourage t h e doing of sporadic work, t h e making of a color by some novel way. What t h e universities should do is t o contribute t o our understanding of t h e theory, and t h a t they cannot do by building new colored bodies which are very unlikely t o succeed as commercial products. The danger is t h a t t h e problems will be just such as occur t o t h e research chemist in t h e industry who wonders what would be the result of combining atoms in a new order, but cannot take t h e time t o satisfy his curiosity. The reason why this type of problem will be overdone is t h a t a great many of t h e men who are in charge of organic work are by no means dye chemists, make no claim to be such, yet they feel t h a t it is only fair t o let a student, holding a fellowship given by dye manufacturers, attack a d y e problem; they then ask for suggestions and these are given them. What is required is t h e broadening of our knowledge of the fundamental theories of organic chemistry, and this can be better achieved by systematic work in any chapter of t h e chemistry of carbon than by t h e making of odd compounds fashioned ora the fancies of t h e student of applied science. Just as we do not feel t h a t universities and colleges should attempt technical courses, but train in a knowledge and understanding of t h e subject, so we wish the contribution of t h e workers in pure research t o be basic. A series of investigations carried out in a logical effort t o reach a generalization-that is the type of work t h a t will most benefit the dye industry of this country. Raw products, money, commercial organization, indtistrial chemists, all these we may have and yet fail if we have not real research.
