Other Potential Lines of Analysis - Ideas for the Future

9 Other Potential Lines of Analysis - Ideas for the Future 

The above-mentioned examples and conclusions represent just a small part of the many more lines of analysis that could be pursued using the enormous richness of data and narratives laid out in the previous 14 chapters. We will hint at some of the other possibilities of investigation and thereby hope to inspire other historians of science to develop the analyses further. 

One aspect worth exploring is a systematic research into the different types of chemical societies that existed in Europe around the turn of the century. As the individual chapters have displayed to varying degrees, there existed no prototype of how a European chemical society should have been founded, funded, focused or run. Each country had its own model(s), more or less inspired by foreign or national examples. It is still possible, nevertheless, to find similarities across national diversities and to emphasize parallels. An important question to pose in this respect is to what extent the societies managed to balance the academic or scientific interests of its members against the more professional interests. This was one of the key issues that became essential when the profile of most of the societies was established. Dealing 

Scientific societies have played a substantial role in shaping the pre-existing or new scientific disciplines, specializations or branches, and chemical societies have not been an exception. They also were engaged in the process of circulating new knowledge and stimulating new directions in research and their practical application. Each of these roles deserves more space than is given in this book. 

It might also be worth looking into the social status that the chemical societies did or did not provide their members with. The British chapter has dealt in detail with the reasons the British chemists had for joining or not joining one or more of the British chemical societies. Similar analyses of the situation in other national contexts or comparisons with other scientific disciplines and professions would be extremely interesting. 

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