OCTOBER, 1939
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
in which he showed a wire carrying an electric current rotating around a magnet, an elderly lady came forward. “What is the use of that toy?” she inquired. (And the apparatus a t that time seemed indeed little more than a scientific toy.) Faraday replied, “Madam, what is the use of a baby?” Or perhaps in these days some of you prefer the variant according to which Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, is the questioner. And to the inquiry, “What is the use of it?” Faraday’s quick reply was, “Sir, some day you can tax it.” Viewed in historical perspective, the contempt of the practical man for all scientific work, unless it has immediate utility, is seen to be shortsighted. Patience is needed by the scientist. It is no less needed by society in evaluating the work of our universities and research laboratories. On the other hand, the scorn of some cloistered scientists and scholars for the inventor and the industrial worker is equally shortsighted. I n science, as in other human activities, looking
down one’s nose a t other people is worse than a ridiculous pastime. It is often equivalent intellectually to throwing a monkey wrench into the machinery. If my thesis is correct, that in the long run pure science and applied science are so closely interrelated as to be inseparable, then clearly when one lacks nourishment the other must eventually wither and inevitably die. So industrialists and scientists may well join together in celebrating either a great discovery in pure science or a revolution in the industrial arts. For on close analysis both events are seen to be of equal significance for the attainment of those goals for which the two groups strive. And they may ask the other members of the community to join with them when they pay honor, as tonight, to a pioneer who opened doors to riches for mankind he little dreamed of: treasures not measured in material terms alone, new weapons in man’s intellectual armory-perhaps the only enduring wealth of modern times.
L’ALEMBIC By FranSois Saint Bonvin B o n v m was born in Paris November 22,1817, and died in St. Germain-en-Laye in 1887. He was well known for his work on still life and interiors, and exhibited a t the Paris Salon for over 30 years. The original painting of this, No. 106 in the series of Alchemical and Historical Reproductions, was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1875 and again in Paris in 1889. It is signed at the lower left “F. Bonvin, 1874” and became put of the C. Viguier Collection. This painting was sold a t the sale at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris on May 4, 1906, and brought 1850 francs. Its present location IS not known. Here our chemist has a very monkish appearance and possibly is distilling a liqueur like “Benedictine” in a monastery laboratory. The still and other equipment have a much more modern appearance than that shown in the paintings of Teniers, although the composition greatly resembles that of the latter artist.
D. D.
1217
BEROLZHEIMER
50 East 41st Street New York, N. Y.
A complete list of thc first 96 rcproductions Pppcarcd in our January, 1939. issue. page 124. An additional reproduction ~ p pears each month.
