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Caption: Dedication - New Chemistry Building
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by newspaper and magazine articles, popular addresses, etc. I wish you Godspeed in your future work in this magnificent structure, and I think I can promise you for the Board of Trustees, and, if I understand the people of this state rightly, for them and their children, the heartiest support in this great undertaking t h a t is now committed to your charge. THE TRAINING OF CHEMISTS By ALEXANDER SMITH The address on research, which follows mine, deals with t h a t aim of the chemist which always receives the most enthusiastic recognition. But thorough training is indispensable before original work can begin. A. genius, without adequate training, seems to know by instiiict what information he needs and where to find it. He devises new methods when those which he has learned fail. He reaches the goal, in spite of all handicaps. Better training would have saved him some needless loss of time, but often would not have improved the final result. Geniuses, however, are few and far between. The advancement of the science would be fitful, if it depended upon them alone. The greater part of the additions to chemical knowledge are made by men with an aptitude for the science, ,it is true, but with nothing approaching genius of the higher order. With them, the thoroughness of the previous training is, therefore, a very potent factor. At the other extreme, in the case of the chemist who does mainly routine analyses, who corresponds to the draftsman as distinct from the architect, the training he received must determine largely the \ 3 l u e of his results. In all the intermediate cases, where intelligent study of an individual situation is demanded, and new adaptatibns to special purposes are required, training in the principles of the science and previous exercises in applying them to new cases, with the alertness and mental adaptability which ^ftch training produces, are the 6hief factors in success. The training of chemists is, therefore, a matter well worthy of careful study. It is not my purpose to discuss the subject as a whole. I desire rather to emphasize four points which, after nearly thirty years' experience as a teacher, I am inclined to think are of vital importance, yet receive too little consideration, and indeed are often entirely ignored. (II) ^•••••••••••••••••••••••BMMBBMBBHMBBM
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