VOL.9, NO. 1
ANALYTICAL CHEMICAL RESEARCH
91
BERzeLms, Phil. Trans.. 1813, p. 171. HILL, 3. Am.Chem. Soc., 50, 2678 (1928). AND THOMPSON, Ind. Eng. Chem., Analyt. Ed., 3, 398,399 (Oct. 15,1931). (5) WILLARD (6) WILWU m CAKE,3. Am. Chem. Soc., 42, 2208 (1920). L , 36, 1134 (1914). (7) C m s y AND C A ~ B E L ibid., (8) CAMPBELL AND CARNEY, U. S. P. 1,182,880 (May 9, 1916). (3) (4)
Literate researchers. It appears that those young men of scientific hent who have been kowtowing in single-hearted devotion'to the fetish of research are beginning t o be punished for neglecting the altars of the Muses. The call for investigators who can write as well as they can juggle test tubes or logarithms swells into clamor. Even in economics i t is getting so nowadays that grace of phrase and gift of fancy are almost indispensable t o A-l rating. And now a publication of the Federal Department of Agriculture discloses that official attention has turned t o "a glaring defect in the education of many applicants for professional positions in the Government Service." This fault is the inability of the applicants to "express themselves freely and clearly," W. W. Stockherger, director of personnel and business administration, remarks: If a modicum clf the time now devoted to thc training of students to undertake research werc dcvoted to training in t h e a r t of presenting in suitablc form thr rcultr of inucstieatinn, a marked inrurovrment in the clrarne%sof the witinr of 5tudents so trained w&d become evident:
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It might take more than a modicum of the time to do that business; there are those who live by the pen who would argue with the worthy doctor that it would take a t least two or three modicums. This, however, is of relatively small consequence. What does count is that those who employ the persons who conduct inquiries and write reports are beginning a t last to discover that the finished+product is sometimes less than satisfying. It would be a fine thing if every applicant for a technical or professional job a t Wsshington kept these lines of Horace constantly in mind: Turn mee si quid loguor audiendum Vocis acccdet bona parsIf any should ask him what they mean he might refer the questioner to some good ought ta mean that the wav to win book of quotations. To himself, however, they ~. praise is t o say something worth hearing. To this might be added the corollary maxim: "The ideal bureaucrat is one who always can say something that somebody will think worth hearing." Concerning the achievements of genius it may he said that matter is everythinz, manner nothing. An Einstein can do with a blackboard and a piece of chalk everything necessary t o make relativity comprehended by an elect few. But most researchers are not geniuses. When they do find out something, as likely as not i t isn't so; but even if it is, i t often amounts t o little because inadequately set forth. The discovery of this is also a beginning of wisdom. It is therefore most profoundly to be hoped that the younger generation of college students shall forever destroy the bad old custom by which i t was once possible t o work up a thriving business writing themes for freshman engineers a t 50 cents a theme. Let freshman engineers and freshYork man scientists of all kinds write their own themes or flunk in the attempt.-New Sun (Aug. 12, 1931) via Ind. Eng. Chem., N m s Ed., 9,310 (Oft. 20, 1931).
