The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-25

century and in the beginning of the | Nineteenth there were distinguished and active contributors to research in chemistry in this country. We have ! but to read the charming biographies ! of the delightful savant, Dr Edgar $. Smith, provost of the University of i Pennsylvania, to appreciate. not only | the scholarship attained by such men as James Woodhouse. Robert Hare, ] Benjamin Sillimsn and others, but l also their very considerable gifts to the common store of knowledge and l understanding. It will be recalled ] that in those days Joa eph Priestly, | having discovered oxygen in England, came to America not only to enjoy | freedom of worship. but, being Unita- rian in religious disposition. in order | to avoid 1r a literal sense the brick 1 bats of orthodoxy. To the end of his | days PriestIy held to the theory of | phlogiston- It was in ideal fixed in his mind that every dancing flame was a manifestation of the escape of this | imaginary body, except when the ash l weighed more than the burned sub stance. Then phlOgistCl was assumed Ito reverse itself and go backward | WoOdhOusa was modern in his views of cont ustlOn, championing those we hold today. following I.evoisier in
 AeAA+NN anu NisAAlItAlA III Art many. Ie had a doughty opponent, and, since
 f'risetly spoke with great authority.
 the battle waged long and fierce till the Lnglishman cried quits, although he remained unconvfnccd to the end
 of his days
 Had Abraham Lincoln or Theodore Roosevelt been o chemist the profes- sion of chemistry would have had a far higher standing in this country
 than it has enjoyed. It would not have got out of focus. Even in pub lie pronOuncements these men whose
 every word had news value would havo employed tile Illuminating
 chemical similes which are now
 slowly finding their way into the pub lie consciousness
 The profession, I repeat, was out of
 focus. We did not have chemists enough because the subject was not talked about enough. Now the spe- Isiai bent of brilliant minds is not aI-
 ways disclosed in youth. They have to feel their way along until they strike their metier-and it goes with out saying that many a brilliant mind
 would have addressed itself to chem
 istry had the subject enjoyed the gen Ieral consideration which is warranted by it's importance. Chemistry was. fin
 fact, a learned profession long before the tradition lost weight that law and
 divinity were the only suitable call Iings for a thoughtful man.
 When tn, great war came upon ur the eyes of the people were openeG Chemists were suddenly needed, need
 ed as never before-and how ours re- sponded the world knows. We should not let the occasion pass without rnen- 'tiOning the ringing appeal of Dr.J u jus Sticglita of Chicago, then president ot the American Chemical Society. Dr. SuCElitz knew neither rest nor sleeI
 until he had sounded the country resources in chemists and with
 pr. Parsons and the Bureau of Mines
 had completed the rapid census ot
 available men. Me must note the competent organizing ability of pr l w. Ii. Nichols that was called into
 play, and the forward march tc Washington of chemical manufactur.
 CTS who placed all their possession. at the service of the government. Nol must wo forget the organization o- } the Naval Advisory Board, and the earnest, constant and weighty con. 1 tributious of such men as Willis R Whitney and Leo II Baekeland; th, - National University and it's passionat te
 tension of work in research the i seven league boots in which ". II Walker strOdc to production at tn, [ EdEeWOOd Arsenal; the great vorl - of by far too many of our leaders i- 2 chemistry, even to name U-e1n in pass ' ing, and the thousands of gIoriou. young men who rushed in from uni s vorsites and laboratories the country 1 over, and threw themselves into tn,
 mighty effort It was great, it wa
 magnificent, and it showed the spiri
 of America as surely as this wa. [ shown by our soldiers on inc battle
 field Neither did the Chemical War |. fare Service fail Working togethe, a with the British and the French un I der General Fries. 1t was ever or , hand, the laboratories co-ordinatint 4 with the front, stubborn in defense r valiant in attlck. until victory wa
 won It is a glorious record.
 e But here, again. we need the voic, e of authority in council We lack ou e l Benjamin Franklin 70 whom publi @ op'ulon and men in office will giv, e heed We have no one who speak @ with the voice of authority in scienct f 10 the types of snind represented, fo
 instance. in the Congress of tn
 United States- We have the men q and these men can speak, fv1It Con ' gress will not listen Neither wi @ others who also should give heed
 The fact is brought home to us D - the passing of the Chemical Wa
 Service This Orga nization provide
 means of overcoming an unprepar
 ed enemy without loss of life, ever
 since by proper use of lachrymato A or other gases, enemy soldiers ma < be put hors de combat and take x prisoner en bloc, and yet they recove
 in a few hours, fully restored t
 health We have learned that. give q on the one side chemical preparedness
 and unpre yaredness on the other, tn
 army thus scientifically equipped
 almost certain to win, while the un
 prepared opponent is equally likely i IT lose.
 l. After the Germans launched thei l. first chlorine attack against an un ? prepared enemy the Channel port d were wide open to them, and wh k they did not take them is still unex '- plained. This first attack with ga Ls was an ethical breach, the respons
 biIity for which will always rest wit a the Germans, but when the COT U yention had been broken and ga 't came into use it stra1ghtway becam