640 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Nor is it possible to take his proposals as to the rearrange- 

 ment of the chemical course very seriously, for in several 

 instances they are mutually destructive. He says in one place 

 that " futile talk " about constitutional formulae must be aban- 

 doned, whilst in another place he considers that organic 

 chemistry should be utilised in discussing in inorganic chemistry 

 this very question of structure or constitution. He would 

 pursue the study of carbon compounds mainly from the complex 

 downwards, beginning with the processes of digestion and 

 fermentation, the elucidation of which he elsewhere and rightly 

 describes as one of the most difficult problems in chemistry. 

 What does our knowledge of these processes really amount to? 

 Little beyond long words, it is to be feared. It is this very 

 treatment of complex problems without adequate preparation 

 in the underlying sciences that has kept back physiological 

 chemistry for so many years, and, except for the admirable 

 work of two or three notable pioneers, is still keeping it back 

 in England. But as he admits that no really effective change 

 will be possible until the ways of primary schools are altered, 

 his somewhat unique remedies need not be discussed further. 



As to his proposal to fuse organic with inorganic chemistry, 

 the scheme has been tried, and with deplorable results. What 

 is feasible with a student who contemplates a career in pure 

 chemistry is not always practicable with a medical student : the 

 one gives the main part of his time to the subject, the other at 

 most a third of it. Dr. Armstrong would probably agree that 

 the most intelligent student of pure chemistry could hardly be 

 expected to start on the carbon compounds within six months 

 of commencing his chemical studies, and experience has shown 

 that with the limited time available a still longer interval must 

 be allowed to the University medical student. Of course, one 

 may say in a certain sense that there is no distinction between 

 the two branches, any more than there is any real distinction 

 between arithmetic and algebra ; but the teacher who began 

 a course of algebra before his students had mastered the 

 ordinary rules of arithmetic would probably find that his labour 

 was wasted. 



Prof. Armstrong's assertion that chemistry in the medical 

 schools at the present day is taught in an unsympathetic 

 manner is thus unjustifiable, and his remedies both uncalled for 

 and impracticable. The system to which he would revert is one 



