CHEMICAL EXERCISES FOR ORDINARY SCHOOLS. 525 



going through a full course of analytical exercises. At the very out- 

 set the pupil begins to think, and has to make his own way. He 

 learns the properties of chemical bodies by trial and observation ; and 

 his progress consists in solving a succession of problems by finding out 

 and identifying chemical elements and compounds. Some seventy or 

 more simple salts soluble in water are the substances chosen for exami- 

 nation, and these are first tested to find the base or metallic component 

 of the salt, and then to find the acid or electro-negative element. It 

 is a work of investigation from the start, and what the pupil learns he 

 knows. There are no recitations, the evidence of proficiency being 

 what the pupil can do. The course is one of self-instruction, and its 

 value depends upon the principle that one difficulty overcome by the 

 pupil himself is of more educational benefit than a score of difficul- 

 ties over which he is helped by others. Professor Rains's little ac- 

 companying manual begins by explaining the use of the necessary 

 apparatus, and then the inquirer is directed how to enter upon his 

 regular work ; but, the problems being presented in order, he is left 

 to solve them himself, which is the only way in which he can become 

 a chemist. 



Nothing so neat, compact, and convenient as this mechanical ar- 

 rangement has ever before been furnished for beginners in analytical 

 chemistry. The method has grown out of Professor Rains's experience 

 as a chemical teacher ; and only by a long course of assiduous trials 

 with students and classes could he have succeeded in putting into 

 such small compass, and such a portable and convenient form, the 

 facilities of manipulation by which a practical foundation in the knowl- 

 edge of the science can be laid. In his annual course of lectures upon 

 " Physics " and " Chemistry " at the Medical College of Augusta, Geor- 

 gia, Professor Rains has among his students the senior class of Rich- 

 mond Academy, an institution in which for several years he has been 

 the teacher of Natural Science. As a result, he became convinced 

 that a much larger amount of chemical study than is commonly sup- 

 posed, and that, too, by direct chemical work, might be given to the 

 senior classes of ordinary schools where there is no laboratory, and no 

 specially qualified chemical teachers. He was so sure of this, and so 

 impressed with the value of practical work in chemical analysis the 

 most interesting of all chemical practice that for several years he has 

 given the senior academy class a certain amount of chemical testing 

 to do by themselves, furnishing them only with simple apparatus and 

 clear directions. In this way the self -education of the pupils has gone 

 forward with the happiest results. Satisfied that the same advantages 

 may be secured by others, if they have only the requisite means of 

 practice furnished to hand, he has constructed the little laboratory 

 that will now be furnished to anybody by the instrument-maker. 



As to what has been actually attained with classes by this method 

 of study, Professor Rains thus remarks in his preface : " At the recent 



