50 



C. U. C. P. ALUMNI JOURNAL 



noted being not entirely understood. 

 In microchemical and crystallographic 

 methods we can directly observe the re- 

 actions and crystal forms, being able to 

 detect and rule out the interfering sub- 

 stances. Alkaloids differ from one an- 

 other in crystal form and we can check 

 results by crystallizing the unknown and 

 comparing with a standard sample 

 crystallized under the same conditions. 



Some very elaborate schemes for com- 

 plete chemical analysis have been put 

 forth by different workers, notably 

 Chamot, of Cornell University. This 

 author gives complete directions for the 

 separation and detection of practically 

 all the metals and the more common acid 

 radicals when working with small Cjuan- 

 tities of material. Much use is made of 

 crystal forms resulting from the re- 

 actions occurring between the material 

 and the reagents employed in various 

 tests. While the results obtained are 

 trustworthy in the hands of a careful 

 investigator, one practised in micro- 

 chemical testing, we must recognize that 

 the chances of error from carelessness 

 are greater than with the usual methods. 



Prof. Chamot also gives methods for 

 the determination of refractive indices, 

 melting points and solubilities. These 

 are operations which, while demanding a 

 certain amount of skill, are more readily 

 carried out than a complete analysis and 

 which will furnish data of value in re- 

 gard to the composition of an unknown 

 substance. 



The average individual engaged in 

 pharmaceutical work is apt to consider 

 the usefulness of the microscope limited 

 to the fields of pharmacognosy, bacter- 

 iology and pathology. I have endeavored 

 to briefly recount some of the other ap- 



plications of the instrument in the arts 

 and sciences and to show that it should 

 stand first among apparatus in point of 

 general utility to the analyst. 



T HE "BIG BROTHERS" MOV E- 

 M ENT AT MORNINGSID E 

 H EIGHT S. 



An effort to extend the "Big Brother" 

 movement in a modified form to Colum- 

 bia University is indicated by letters 

 written by several students to "Specta- 

 tor," the undergraduate daily. That pub- 

 lication has taken up the proposal favor- 

 ably and is recommending its adoption 

 editorially. 



The idea, first expressed by Theodore 

 Du Bois Wiggins, of the junior clubs, is 

 that students in upper classes selected 

 for their ability and fitness be appointed 

 as senior advisors to men entering the 

 university. With these men the advo- 

 cates of the idea would have the noviti- 

 ates in the university's life discuss their 

 courses of study, the activities they 

 should pursue on the campus, athletic 

 as well as literary, and such personal 

 topics as furnish difficulty to the younger 

 men. 



This project, if it is adopted, will be a 

 decidedly novel one for New York City 

 undergraduates. 



Under the new scheme the entire en- 

 tering class at Columbia would be divided 

 into about thirty sections. A junior or 

 senior, selected either directly by a fac- 

 ulty committee or by the student board 

 of representatives, with the recommen- 

 dations of a faculty committee to assist 

 it, would be in charge of each of these 



