PAPERS OX CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS 249 



laws, gas laws, definitions, theories, foraiiila making, 

 equation writing, etc. Under the second head were in- 

 cluded paragraphs of a purely descriptive nature, deal- 

 ing with such matters as occurrence, preparation, prop- 

 erties and uses of the elements and of their compounds. 

 Under the third head were included paragraphs of a 

 purely practical nature, such as water purification, glass 

 blowing, acetylene welding, air purification, and the like. 

 The following table exhibits the "chemical composition'' 

 of the books examined: 



COMPARISON OF TEXTS. ELEMENT ARY CHEMISTRY. 



Funda- Prac- 



mental Prin- Descrip- tical Appli- 



Text ciples tive cations 



Brownlee and Others (1921).. 27.0^ 63. 3^^ 9.7<~'f 

 McPherson and Henderson 



(1905-1907) 24.1 64.6 11.1 



Newell (1914) IS.l 75. S 6.1 



Hessler and Smith (1912-1921) 31.6 65.9 2.5 



Dull tl91S-1921) 27. S 56.5 15.9 



Black and Connant (1921) 2> i' 63.5 S.2 



Averages 26.1 64.9 S.9 



From the above tables we see that in spite of the 

 authors' prefatory promises as to uniqueness, the texts 

 examined run very true to type. About one-fourth to one- 

 third of the space is allotted to basic principles, while the 

 rest is given over to the usual descriptive matter with 

 here and there a sprinkling of practical applications 

 amounting to an average of less than ten percent of the 

 whole. 



For some years past the writer has been associated 

 with work in high school chemistry in an advisory ca- 

 pacity, at the same time conducting a first course in 

 college. This has offered an opportunity for developing 

 two distinct and complementary courses, each course dis- 

 tinct as to content and the one preparing for the other. 



The beginning course is a course in fundamental and 

 general principles only. The di^'isions are sections, each 

 section dealing with one law or general pi-inciple. The 

 principle is first stated and then followed by any neces- 

 sary explanatory sentences. Then follows a series of ex- 

 periments illustrating the pi*inciple or law in question, 

 each experiment containing a general statement of meth- 



