[AdmSmith]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._C._Gilbert_Company , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego have contributed a lot to the development of our science based society, today our kids are overprotected and the chemistry sets have lost much of their inspiration when the most interesting experiments are deleted.

A history of decline:
Around the 1960s, increasing social distrust of chemistry, safety concerns, and government regulation began to limit the range of materials and experiments available in chemistry sets. In the United States, the Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act of 1960, the Toy Safety Act of 1969 and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, established in 1972, and the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 all introduced new levels of regulation. The popularity of chemistry sets declined during the 1970s and 1980s. The A. C. Gilbert Company went out of business in 1967, and the Porter Chemical Company went out of business in 1984.
from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemistry_set

Not all things were better in the past, but this was.

[Daffynition]

The demise of the chemistry set seems to have been replaced by the Space Program, generally during that period. And we all know where that went.

Now we have home-grown meth labs. GEESH.

Kids today make Goop and Slime. Lord save us.