Evening star., 1919-02-23

medicine, of all things, not be forced
to guess. In explosives 1t need not
guess. 1t knows. In paints 1t need
not guess. In soaps 1t need not guess.
In almost every commercial branch it
need not guess, but knows. In medi-
cine alone it can guess and only guess.
The situation is so utterly preposter-
GUS that 1t is almost unbelievable"
hy do you suggest private or
scientific rather than governmental
backing for the proposed institution
of the need for which YOU are so Ger
tain? l inquired.
Governmental aid would not be the
most efficient" he replied. at cannot
be in any country, and perhaps is less
likely TO be in Il republic than in any
other.
American possibilities are beyond
doubt, even beyond imagination. The
latent chemical ability IN this country
was evidenced startlingly at the time
when the declaration OF war suddenly
thrust upon nation wholly unpre-
pared the need of high explosives, war
gas and other chemical compounds.
We had rot trained our chemical
minds along these lines, as Germany
had trained hers for a generation
almost from the date of the birth of
modern chemistry--yet as soon as our
declaration of war was made our
chemists got to work and with un-
paralleled speed achieved immense
results That these results We're not
to far greater extent notable upon
the batt]efields of Europe was no
fault of the originating chemists, but
must be charged to governmental In
efiiciencies In manufacture In other
lines. There is one reason why the
vast research work which I suggest
must not be left to official agencies.
AN American government cannot
be sympathetic in the right way. 1t
is sure to be accompanied by too much
pulling Of red tape to permit
efficiency.
"Even if our governmental chemists
do good work the full measure of
their abilities as research chemists
cannot be developed in the depart
mental atmosphere. The work of the
American University experimental
station in connection with the chem
ical warfare service was very Won
derful. But 1t was handicapped by
the lack of just such knowledge as
the proposed institute. For instance,
an Interesting problem was developed
in the necessity for the production of
a strong tearmaking compound, call
ed, In the nomenclature of poison gas
warfare lachrymator. The organic
compound. di-brombenzyl- cyanide, it
was believed would prove even bet
ter than brombenZyl-c cyanide, because
1t contained twice as much bromine,
but experimentation proved that the
addition of the extra atom of bromine
utterly destroyed it's effectiveness as
lachrymator.
What was the explanation? The
structural organic chemist cannot
give it. IT is my belief and that of
others that the explanation lies In the
fields of physical chemistry rather
than in that of organic chemistry,
hut how shall we find out? That is IA
proof of one necessity for research
facilities In time of war. Almost
every coffin passing to the grave is
the proof of It's necessity in time of
peace.
M j.
I'm the matter of poison gas manu-
facture during the war lies also proof
of the unwisdom of looking to our
government for the conduct of such
work, as we have In mind The re-
suits of the investigation Of the large
body of chemists who at once sprang
TO patriotic service were rema rk a BILE
In their Importance. and these. by our
American industrialists, In govern.
ment service and out of IT quickly