6 g 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sider the higher questions of the science, but go out into the world 

 only to keep alive the popular and erroneous idea concerning the 

 nature of chemistry. 



Finally, if we have correctly represented the attitude of the world 

 toward chemistry, and correctly stated the causes of this attitude, it 

 is plain that the world is not to be blamed, but rather, if fault is to 

 be found, it must be with the chemists themselves. To them we must 

 look for deliverance. They may by united efforts bring about the 

 desired changes. But how ? 



Two o-eneral methods may be indicated. In the first place, the 

 teaching of chemistry must be of a higher order than it is at present. 

 In some of the higher institutions of learning students must be carried 

 through strictly scientific courses ; they must be brought face to face 

 with the great questions of the science, and shown how to work at 

 the solution of existing problems ; and they must go forth with high 

 and true conceptions concerning their science, prepared to influence 

 those with whom they come in contact, and to give them, too, correct 

 ideas. A great deal can thus be done in the right direction by a 

 single strong man teaching properly, and the influence is very quickly 

 felt. We need only refer to the influence of Agassiz on the science 

 of zoology in this country, to show what results may be reached by 

 a single man who is working in the proper way. A change in the 

 methods of teaching in our higher institutions of learning, then, is the 

 chief thing to which we are to look for an improvement in the popu- 

 lar conception of our science. But there is another means at our 

 command which is very rarely taken advantage of by scientific chem- 

 ists. This consists in popular presentations of the higher truths of 

 the science, either in the form of lectures or of articles in magazines 

 which are read by the public. A great deal of good can be accom- 

 plished in this way, if the work is properly done. There are chapters 

 of great inherent interest treating of matter which belongs in the do- 

 main of the science of chemistry, and these are rarely alluded to in 

 popular lectures or articles. If more stress were laid upon such sub- 

 jects, and less upon the merely practical portions of the science, some- 

 thing would be done in the way of drawing the attention of the public 

 toward the higher questions, and thus that good influence which was 

 above referred to as resulting from popular discussions of the great 

 truths of physics would also be felt, to some extent, in connection 

 with chemistry. Thus, too, there would gradually grow up a respect 

 for the science as well as for the art of chemistry. 



