Abstract
IT has probably happened to many young men who have fallen within the attraction of chemistry at the Universities or elsewhere to receive from their elders the prudent warning—chemistry is not a profession. Nor has this warning, or the fact conveyed in it, been without influence upon the number of chemical students. The complaint is often heard that original research in chemistry is at a low ebb in England at the present time. Comparatively few have both inclination and income enough to pursue chemistry as a scientific study without making it also in some way a means of livelihood. Contributions to biology come chiefly from members of the medical profession, contributions to mechanical science from engineers, contributions to chemistry from those who make a living by teaching or practising chemistry; and in proportion as a knowledge of this science opens a career, and is recognised as the basis of a profession, will a twofold gain accrue. The character and attainments and number of those engaged in educational or practical chemistry will be raised, and as a consequence the quality and number of the contributions made to scientific chemistry will rise also.
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On the Organisation of The Profession of Chemistry . Nature 14, 125–126 (1876). https://doi.org/10.1038/014125a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/014125a0