THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



20I 



in men is the inability to attain self-con- 

 trol. Without it an intellect is of as little 

 use as a steam-engine without a govern- 

 or. In ordinary school education far too 

 little attention is paid to developing and 

 training this most important quality. 

 The brighter a man is intellectually, and 

 the stronger physically, the greater ap- 

 pears to be the danger from imperfections 

 in self-government, and the inability to 

 concentrate himself on a subject. There 

 is no doubt that while the ability to con- 

 trol one's self gives one an enormous 

 power, it is a quality whose development 

 offers great difficulties. I am far from 

 claiming that any one study can enable 

 a man to acquire this attribute, but I be- 

 lieve that certain kinds of laboratory work 

 are of great benefit in developing it, be- 

 cause such work so clearly shows how 

 easily failure follows the loss of self-con- 

 trol, or in the inability to concentrate 

 one's self upon work. 



In the preparation of pure chemicals, 

 the student gains an impressive knowl- 

 edge of the wonderful exactness with 

 which matter obeys physical laws. The 

 growth of a crvstal is revelation. And 

 here, again, failure to bear in mind the 

 smallest detail vitiates the result ; analy- 

 sis proves the substance to be impure and 

 the work a failure. In thus dealing at 

 first hand with nature, cause and effect 

 stand out clearly. The work and the re- 

 sults are one's own. No amount of self- 

 adulation or excuse can make the sub- 

 stance any purer, no adroit quibble or 

 misrepresentation can deceive a chemist 

 about it. 



FROM EXPERIMENTING TO ORIGINATING. 



In the various branches of analytical 

 work, the student has a constant oppor- 

 tunity for originality. Much of school 

 education consists in the reception of 

 knowledge, as it naturally must, but it is 

 to be regretted when some original 

 thought is not aroused by the knowledge 

 imparted . In chemical work questions 

 continually arise, to answer which more 

 or less experiment is called for. Each 

 experimental fact indicates many possible 

 experiments, so that under wise guidance 

 the student is led to question nature. To 

 do this he must devise experiments, select 

 or plan apparatus, originate expedients, 

 and observe and compare phenomena 

 closely. In this way he gets not only 

 valuable practice in avoiding, removing 

 or clambering over obstacles, but his mind 

 gets some training in the application of 

 knowledge, and soon shows signs of be- 

 coming productive. It is one thing to 



absorb knowledge and become encyclope- 

 dic, and it is quite another to assimilate 

 it and to bring it to bear on a given sub- 

 ject. The difi"erence between the absorp- 

 tion and assimilation of knowledge is not 

 always appreciated in school education. 

 Power does not consist in the possession 

 of knowledge, but in the ability to use it. 

 In laboratory work a constant application 

 is made of the knowledge gained by study 

 and a continual demand is made for more. 

 A simple phenomenon will often exhaust 

 the student's knowledge long before he 

 has offered a satisfactory explanation of 

 it. In this way knowledge becomes sug- 

 gestive and stimulating, and an important 

 force in the development of a mind. The 

 student gets a clearer idea of his mind's 

 strong and weak points. There are few 

 of us who do not know what we can do 

 well, but it is very hard to have to admit 

 that there are certain ordinary things 

 which other people can do better than we 

 — even people of whom we may think but 

 little. But the sooner this is understood 

 the better for us. No man can hope to 

 be respected by others who does not re- 

 spect himself, and to respect one's self 

 one must be honest toward one's self, 

 which is harder than being honest toward 

 others. 



IN TOUCH WITH THE TOII^ERS. 

 The study of Applied Chemistry brings 

 the student for the first time into intimate 

 contact with the great manufactures. He 

 learns how a few simple chemical reac- 

 tions may become the basis of an immense 

 industry. He begins to understand how 

 laboratory reactions are carried out on a 

 large scale, and to appreciate the wealth 

 of mechanical ingenuity that is bestowed 

 on them. He gets some idea of the elabor- 

 ate organization of a manufacture. He 

 appreciates the loss involved in waste 

 products, and discerns the close relations 

 that may exist between side products. 

 He visits large works and sees the men 

 toiling at their tasks, sees thousands of 

 horse-power of energy guided by a boy's 

 hand, sees many tons of material speed- 

 ing through the course of manufacture. 

 He appreciates the immense power of 

 capital which can build the costly plant, 

 and of the still greater power of the brains 

 that can solve the numerous problems 

 and control all the intricate machinery of 

 production and disposal. He is surprised 

 and impressed by the perfection of the or- 

 ganization, how the work is divided and 

 subdivided. He discerns the connection 

 between chemical progress and human 

 progress, and understands that Weldon's. 



