FIRST YEAR COURSE IN 

 GENERAL SCIENCE 



LABORATORY MANUAL 



The Laboratory. A laboratory is a place in which to do 

 work and to observe and record the results and effects of 

 things done. It may be a separate room, or part of a recita- 

 tion room, fitted up with some ordinary flat-topped tables 

 and chairs or stools of convenient height. It is desirable 

 that there should be drawers in the table or in some other 

 part of the room, or closed shelves where apparatus and 

 materials can be kept. All apparatus should be returned to 

 its place in good order by the pupil who has used it. 



Apparatus. Everything used in the work of the labora- 

 tory is apparatus, whether it is a measuring ruler, a ther- 

 mometer, a tumbler, a piece of wire, or a bottle. Every 

 piece of apparatus should receive care, for no matter how 

 common or inexpensive it may be, if it is not in condition for 

 use when needed for an experiment the time of one or more 

 pupils is lost while it is being made right or replaced. 



The Laboratory Notebook. A notebook of the double- 

 sheet, loose-leaf style is very well 'adapted to laboratory 

 use. Each sheet may be laid flat on the table during the 

 exercise, may be handed to the teacher for criticism, and 

 after correction and approval may be filed away in the 

 cover. If this plan is followed, there is no danger of soiling 

 or injuring previous records in the book or new pages, while 

 in the laboratory. 



The first page of the sheet should bear at the top 

 always in the same order the date of the experiment, 



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