The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-11-28
A LABORATORY FOR CHEMICAL
RESEARCH
BY PROFESSOR ALBERT r. LEEDS.


BY PROFESSOR ALBERT r. LEEDS.
In a recent number of the ReUue des Deu1
loHdes will be found an article by an emil
not French author, containing among a
number of other comparisons, all favorable
to Germany, one relating to the, laboratories
Of Prussia and of France.
The writer earnestly calls the attention of
his countrymen to the great superiority of the
German Universities respecting their facili-
ties for theoretical investigation and practi-
cal application in the departments of Physics
and Chemistry. He dwells especially upon
the great Friedrich Wilhelm Laboratory at
Berlin, recently completed at q cost of mill
lion and half of francs, and of the similar
laboratory at Bonn, which cost half million
of francs. The former under the charge of
the illustrious chemist Prof. Hoffman,, moro
resembles in its external appearance, in its
lengthy corridors, frescoed halls, and spacious
lecture room, some museum devoted to art,
than the dingy accommodations which were
long thought adequate to the wants of
chemists.
The laboratory of the Ecole des Mines i'm
pressed me the most favorably of those which
l saw in Paris. It is restricted, however, to
metallurgical operations But the laborato-
ries of the Ecole Polytechnique, of the Jardin
des Plantes, the antiquated and dismal apart
ments of the Ecole Centrale, and even the
newly erected addition to the Sorbonne, are
interior III Jue IaclllJleb JQOSo
of Berlin. And the practical effect of this
inferiorty is manifest in the relative condi-
ton of the physical sciences in the two coun-
tries.
A great French chemist begins a philo-
sophical treatise, recently published, with the
declaration that Chemistry is a French
science" But the greater bulk and import
ance of the contributions which have been
and are being made to chemistry by German
authors sufficiently disprove this arrogant as
sumption. And moreover, the fact that
German, rather than French is becoming the
general language of science upon the conti-
nent, is evidence of the most convincing
kind. Not many years ago the proceedings
of the Royal Academy at Berlin were pub
lshed in the latter Languages now, this and
all other contributions from Prussia are in
German.
Of late years the Importance of these studies
has SO deeply impressed the public mind in
some portions of our own country, that
the course of collegiate and academic in
struction has been revolutionized. AS, for ex-
ample, at Cambridge, where the capacities of
the college laboratory are at present being en-
larged to such an extent as to accommodate
eighty students with desks and all the para
phernalia of manipulation. Their course is
intended to combine the practical with the
| philosophical in such a way as not only to
enable the students to do but to think. They
| commence at once with manipulatory chemis-
try, using for the purpose the elaborate trea-
| tise of President Elliot and Prof. Storer. Then
the students enter upon the study of the
admirable ChemjcdI PhjL0s0phy recently
| published by Prof. Cooke, which taxes their
thinking powers quite as much, perhaps, as
| Hamil ons or Mills Logic At the same time
| they attend a series of chemical lectures, and
finally enter upon a course of analysis. Like
wise, special laboratory is provided where,
during the last twelve years, number of in
vestigations have been made by young Ame-
rican chemists, which are highly creditable to
our national scholarship, and have been re-
cogniZed as such abroad.
A similar institution is now being orga-
nized at Hoboken under the presidency of
Professor Morton, and supported by the mu-
nifcent bequest of nearly three quarters of
million of dollars, which was made by the
late Mr.. Stevens. The student will find there
several spacious laboratories for investiga-
tions in physics and chemistry. These will
be provided with every applian ce which the
exactitude and intricacy of modern science
demand and the student who has mastered
preViousl acquired knowledge in these de-
partments may pass to the glorious work of
solving new problems and exploring what is
yet as land unknown.
do not wish herein to detract from the ex-
cellence of the instruction impaired in our
cal and Dental Colleges. So far as lecturing
and textbooks can give knowledge of physi-
cal sciences these institutions do admirably,
and the courses of lectures delivered by their
eminent professors are worthy of the highest
praise. Neither do l desire to say anything
which is not of the most favorable
character with regard to the few colleges and
private laboratories where facilities for a
practical knowledge of qualitative and quanti-
tatiye ANALYSIS and of metallurgy are afforded.
But 1 wished to draw attention to
the fact that city which once stood fore
most in this country in point of scientific
activity, and which is now perhaps the largest
producer of chemical wares, has at the pre-
sent time no general laboratory at all ade-
quate to the wants of Investigators in the
physical sciences. think am representing
the feeling of large number of students
clustered around the Academy of Natural
Sciences, the Franklin Institute, the Philo-
sophical Society, and our various colleges, in
saying that any movement upon the part Of
our public institutions, or any act of private
munifcence which would give the students
in Philadelphia as fair chance for researches
in physiology, physics, and chemistry as are
enjoyed by those of Berlin or Cambridge,
wonld meet with the deepest gratitude, and
would, in itself, result most bene6cially to
the higher interests of this great manufac-
turing city.