REQUISITIONS FOR ADMISSION AT HARVARD. 197 



be trained to observe, the hand to experiment, and the judgment to 

 reason. Hence it is that, in the new scheme of requisitions for ad- 

 mission to Harvard College, the requisition in chemistry has been 

 stated thus : " A course of at least sixty experiments in ' general 

 chemistry,' actually performed at school by the pupil. . . .' The can- 

 didate will be required to pass both a written and a laboratory ex- 

 amination. The written examination will be directed to testing the 

 candidate's knowledge of experiments and experimenting, as well as 

 his knowledge of the principles and results of the respective sciences. 

 The laboratory examination will be directed to testing his skill in ex- 

 perimenting.. At the hour of the written examination the candidate 

 will be required to hand in the original note-book in which he recorded 

 the steps and results of the experiments which he performed at school, 

 and this note-book must bear the indorsement of his teacher, certify- 

 ing that the notes are a true record of the pupil's work." The requi- 

 sition in physics is stated in similar language. 



The pamphlet, whose title is given at the head of this notice, was 

 prepared chiefly for the purpose of accurately defining the requisition 

 above stated. It presents certain novel features. 



In the first place, the course here presented is limited to the fun- 

 damental principles of chemistry, and no attempt is made to develop 

 the scheme of the chemical elements. At Cambridge this scheme is 

 fully illustrated in a subsequent course, which is the natural sequel of 

 the one we are here discussing. Such a limitation of the subject-mat- 

 ter has a very great advantage in an elementary course, by enabling 

 the teacher to fix attention on the general principles of the science, 

 selecting for illustrations only those facts which have a general inter- 

 est, and avoiding the great mass of details which usually so greatly 

 encumber the elementary presentation of chemistry. But, although 

 the scope of the course is thus limited, all the fundamental principles 

 of the science are considered, the most important of its facts are illus- 

 trated, and the general method of each of its great departments is ex- 

 plained. 



In the second place, demonstrations by the teacher are systematic- 

 ally used in this pamphlet to supplement the experiments made by 

 the students, and a complete outline is given of a systematic course of 

 instruction in the elements of chemical science which is logically fol- 

 lowed out from beginning to end. The ground is taken that it is not 

 necessary, in order to secure the full advantages of the experimental 

 method, - that each student should perform every experiment for him- 

 self. If this is attempted, a course in chemistry must be made very 

 meager, since, on account of either their danger or their expense, 

 a large number of the most instructive experiments must be omit- 

 ted ; but these can be shown once for all, without danger and with 

 comparatively slight cost, on the lecture-table. If the student has 

 actually performed in the laboratory a sufficient number of experi- 



