POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



281 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



Elective Studies in American Colleges. 



Most of the leading colleges of the country, 

 according to President Barnard, are admit- 

 ting the elective principle more or less freely 

 into their courses of study. In 1876 Yale 

 College extended its very limited optional 

 list from a minute fraction of the studies of 

 the junior year to about one fourth of those 

 of both junior and senior years. It was en- 

 larged again last year, so that now, out of 

 sixteen hours weekly, seven only are given 

 to prescribed studies in the junior year, and 

 three hours only in the senior. At Prince- 

 ton one third of the time is given to pre- 

 scribed studies in the junior year, and three 

 hours in the senior. At Bowdoin about four 

 fifths of the studies are prescribed during 

 both junior and senior years. At the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania and at Williams Col- 

 lege the published announcements indicate 

 that the time of the two later years of the 

 course is about equally divided between pre- 

 scribed and optional studies. At Rutgers it 

 is allowed to elect one study during the junior 

 and senior years. At Union one third of the 

 time is given to elective studies during the 

 senior year only ; but this institution offers 

 also elective courses, a classical and scien- 

 tific course running through the entire four 

 years. At Brown electives are offered as 

 early as the sophomore year, when they oc- 

 cupy about one fifth of the time. In the 

 same institution, in the junior year, they 

 extend to one third, in the senior to about 

 one half. At Amherst electives cover about 

 one half the time during the second and third 

 of the three terms of the sophomore year, and 

 during the whole of the two later years. In 

 the University of Michigan all the studies 

 are elective after the close of the freshman 

 year ; and at Harvard University there are 

 no prescribed studies at all. 



Medicines and Digestion. Dr. Robert 

 G. Eccles lately called the attention of the 

 Brooklyn Pathological Society to the impor- 

 tance of regarding the effect of medicines 

 to be administered upon digestion. "We 

 never stop," he says, "to question the wis- 

 dom of pouring into the stomachs of the sick, 

 in the most promiscuous manner, drugs that 

 inhibit or check the production of life- and 



health-giving peptone. In all chronic dis- 

 eases, the paramount consideration is that 

 of the patient's nutrition. Where we can 

 not destroy the pathogenic micro-organisms 

 outright, the patient's only hope in the 

 struggle for life lies in the strength of his 

 cells, and their power to triumph over their 

 foes. The most important consideration at 

 those times is digestion. To interfere with 

 it, or check it, is in many cases criminal. 

 When our remedies are incompatible with 

 the gastric juice, the time of taking is likely 

 to be of far more importance than the medi- 

 cine itself. To weaken patients by the pro- 

 duction of artificial mal-nutrition, gives their 

 diseases the advantage over them, when a 

 little more knowledge would have enabled 

 us to aid the vital forces instead of handi- 

 capping them." The author described the 

 properties of various remedies in this light, 

 and gave accounts of a large number of ex- 

 periments which he had made on the subject. 



Coal-Tar Colors and Medicines. Sir 



Henry Roscoe lately addressed the Royal 

 Institute on " Recent Progress in the Coal- 

 Tar Industry." He said that the hydrocar- 

 bons, the essential elements, or skeletons of 

 all organic compounds, are classified as the 

 paraffinoid the bases of the fats and the 

 benzenoid hydrocarbons, which give rise to 

 the essences or aromatic bodies, to which 

 all the coal-tar colors, finer perfumes, and 

 anti-pyretic medicines belong. The natural 

 petroleum-oils consist almost entirely of 

 paraffines, and are therefore commercially 

 inapplicable for the production of colors. 

 Coal may by suitable treatment be made to 

 yield oils of a valuable character; and 

 these products are now extensively ob- 

 tained from the coal-tar which is a residue 

 of the gas-making process, and of coking, 

 when the conditions of temperature are 

 properly managed. Even to enumerate 

 the different chemical compounds which 

 have been prepared during the last thirty 

 years would be a serious task. To illus- 

 trate the amount of coloring-power con- 

 cealed in coal, Sir Henry Roscoe presents 

 tables showing that one pound of the min- 

 eral affords magenta enough to color 500 

 yards of flannel ; aurine sufficient for 120 

 yards of flannel 27 inches wide ; vermilline 

 scarlet for 2,560 yards of flannel or alizarin 



