EDITOR'S OUTLOOK
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OT the least of the bereavements which American chemistry has suffered of late occurred in the death of Theodore William Richards last April. Dr. Richards was no doubt most widely known through his superlatively exact and skilful work in the determination Theodore of atomic weights, yet this was but one phase of his contribution to the science. Over three hundred papers Richards attest the breadth of his interests, the precision of his work, and the ingenuity of his mind. In an editorial article the New York Times said of him: If Lord Kelvin's oft-quoted dictum "Science is measurement" needed any justification, it would be found in the carccr of Professor Theodore W. Richards, of Haward; for with him parsed one who was a distinguished scientist becausc he was a skillful, patient and accurate measurer.
And this statement is true, yet i t falls far short of telling the whole story. One should not gather from it that Dr. Richards' life was spent in merely applying the established yardsticks in the indiscriminate accumulation of new data, however exact. Invariably he improved the older methods of measurement and occasionally he devised new methods and instruments. Furthermore, he measured with a purpose. His determinations, aside from their permanent valueas reliable fundamental data, nearly always formed the basis for significant theoretical inductions on his own part. But nobly as Dr. Richards advanced the cause of chemistry through his own researches, i t is probable that he has indirectly accomplished even more through his activities as a teacher. The charm of his personality and the fame of his lectures attracted many able minds to his classroom and laboratory a t a time when chemistry and chemists were hut lightly esteemed in this country. In an appreciation published in the Nucleus for May, "L. P. H." says: To Professor Richards the development of his students was of evcn greater importance than the discovery of new facts, and the promulgation of new theories. To him it was as important t o produce a scientific worker as a scientific fact. Students in many parts of the world are practising his methods of accuracy, and following his example of clear enact thought. In this connection, G. P. Baxter, G. N. Lewis, I,. J. Henderson, Roger Adams, J. B. Conant, J. H. Matthews, A. W. Rowe, A. B. Lamb. A. S. Cushman, Grinnell Jones, G. S. Forbes, Farringtan Daniels, arc among the many prominent chemists in this country that might he mentioned. Of those abroad, Otto Honigschmid, a t Munich, is probably the greatest European worker on atomic weights.
The Richards brothers have been cited as an interesting study in heredity. Sons of a father who was the foremost marine painter of his time and a mother distinguished in literature, the one became a famous 783
chemist, the other an equally prominent biologist. Yet it seems to us that there is no anomaly here. The Nation got a t the heart of the matter when it said : Essentially, however, Professor Richards was an artist. His father, William T. Richards, was a painter distinguished for his seascapes. His mother was a poet. Hc himself was a musician and an artist in water colors. He once said: "If I were asked to select the best chemist in any gathering I should find out first who played the 'cello best." I t seemed obvious t o him that scientific research is an expression of the same creative impulse that appears in all art. He did not live to see this truth generally recognized; research is still fostered chiefly because it pays, but there is evidence that scientific men are coming to a ncw point of view. T. W. Richards, a scholar among scientists and an artist among the scholars guided American chemistry in its infancy and gave it a direction which will bc effectivefor many years.
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N ACCORDANCE with our usual custom we have reserved a certain port~onof this number for the publication of the essays winning first prizes in the American Chemical Society prize essay contest for the scholastic year just past. Under the rules now in effect The Prize three prizes of five, three, and two hundred dollars, reEssays spectively, areawarded in each class, rather than a single prize of one thousand dollars, as formerly. The winners of second and third prizes are listed on page 816. It was thought, and we believe rightly so, that such a distribution of awards would tend to encourage wider participation in the contest and would reward more justly those who submitted creditable efforts. For the first time one of the high-school prize-winners has been able to repeat his performance and capture a college award also. If there be any other point worthy of special mention in connection with this year's essays it is the observation of Paul R. Smith, secretary of the prize essay committee, that the winners, with few exceptions, come from schools where the instructors have enthusiastically supported the contest and have endeavored to interest their students in it.
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S AN experiment in chemical education, an anonymous donor has provlded funds to establish a t The Johns Hopkins University a Chair of Chemical Education for a period of five years. Dr. Neil E. Gordon, editor-in-chief of THISJOURNAL, has accepted Announcement the appointment to this position and will assume the duties thereof on September 1, 1928. Consequently the editorial offices of the JOURNAL oa CHEMICAL EDUCATION will be located a t The Johns Hopkins University after that date.
