A great chemist : Sir William Ramsay.

  • Charles Moureu
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A great chemist : Sir William Ramsay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    atory seemed to him to be better fitted than anyone to appreciate his true value. Eamsay always forcefully maintained these ideas and their logical consequences. The fact is, although, to be sure, other factors enter into it, that the future of science depends in a large part on the scientific aptitude of those who cultivate it. The choice of future scholars—and by this word we mean principally the future masters, the future leaders—takes on, then, a capital im¬ portance. Great then is the responsibility of those who have charge of making this necessary selection. They ought to realize the essen¬ tial fact that knowledge is good but power is better. Far be it from us indeed to deny the utility of much learning, of being well posted in every subject, as are the very learned; but this would be sterile and encumbering from the point of view of original research, sole source of progress, if there were lacking to exploit it a clear intellect, a sure judgment, and that ensemble of qualities which constitutes what is called “ esprit de finesse,” The true scholar, the real origi¬ nator of scientific progress, is not the one who knows, it is the one who acts, who creates. “Better,” Montaigne has said, “a good brain than a full brain.” The former has that which is called potentiality, latent force, virtual power, productive, and creative energy, which allows it on occasions to accomplish original work; the latter, in the absence of these necessary gifts, would have access only to the domains already largely explored, where it would, however, still be able to do useful work. Both have their places to fill; but the gen¬ eral welfare as well as the interest of the specialist demands that each be in his place—“ the right man in the right place.” To keep this ideal in view ought to be the constant thought of those on whom has devolved the difficult role of arbiters. In our time of general reorganization, when all institutions and all methods are undergoing revision, it is to be regretted that the great voice of Eamsay is not more listened to in this important matter of teaching. Eamsay wrote but few didactic works. His little treatise on “Modern Chemistry,” which has been translated into French, is a brief but substantial account of the principles of chemical philos¬ ophy. The same qualities are found in the highest degree in all Eamsay’s writings. They are noted especially in several disserta¬ tions in which he developed his own ideas, and whose titles alone are enough to indicate their originality: “ The Electron Considered as an Element,” “ Element and Energy,” “ Helium in Nature,” “ Prob¬ lems Presented by Inorganic Chemistry,” etc. Eamsay was a polyglot and spoke fluently French and German. At the International Congress of Applied Chemistry held in Eome in 1906 he gave in French a lecture on “ The Purification of Drain