The War and the Chemical Industry.

The only truie basis on whiPh the independence of ouir country can rest is agriculture and manufactures. To the promotion of these nothing tends in a higher degree than chemistry. It is this scienee which teaches ian lhow to correct the bad qualities of the land he cultivates bv a proper application of the variouis species of manure, and it is by means of a knowledge of this science that lhe is enabled to pursue the metals through the various forms they put on in the earth, separate them from substances which render them useless, ai.A at length manufacture them into various forms for use and ornament as ne see them. If such are the effects of chemistry, how much should the wish for its promotion be excited in the heart of every American! It is to a general diffusion of knowledge of this science, next to the virtue of our countrymen, that we are to look for the firm establishment of our independence. And may your endeavors, gentlemen, in this cause, entitle you to the gratitude of your fellow citizens. Considering the time when these words were spoken, we must marvel at the vision of the future which must have illumined the mind of the speaker. If in the last clause quoted he had said "ladies and gentlemen" it would have been complete. But Philadelphia was also the cradle of the chemical industry in this country, and up to the present day occuipies a very important part of that fiekl. Some of the pleasantest recollections of my earlier life 1 Address complimentary to the citizens of Philadelphia given by Dr. Wim. IH. Nichols at the Philadelphia Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. o n A pr il 8, 2 01 7