248 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



systematically explained and discussed, is attended as 

 well as the general course on theoretical chemistry. 



Having in the first year's course of qualitative 

 analysis and preparative chemistry obtained a know- 

 ledge of the principles of the science, and a certain 

 amount of facility of manipulation and reliance on his 

 own powers of experimentation and observation, the 

 student on entering upon his second year's course 

 commences quantitative analytical work. In this he 

 learns by degrees what scientific accuracy means, how 

 exact results can be obtained by careful quantitative 

 work, and thus gains in confidence and certainty. 

 Here, too, constant personal supervision on the part of 

 the professor and of his demonstrators is absolutely 

 requisite, as everything depends on the care with which 

 the various operations are carried on. The main 

 object of this course is not only to give the pupil 

 reliance on his own power of exact work, but to make 

 him aware of the sources of experimental error, and to 

 enable him to estimate their amount. This can be 

 accomplished as well by accurate volumetric as by 

 gravimetric work. All the analyses thus made by 

 the pupil must be carefully entered up in a general 

 log-book, as well as in his private note-book, so that at 

 any time reference can be made to the extent and 

 accuracy of his work. 



On this firm foundation of a competent theoretical 

 knowledge of inorganic chemistry, and of a thorough 

 practical acquaintance with qualitative and quantitative 

 inorganic analysis, including the preparation of chemical 

 compounds in a pure state, and on this alone, can, 

 I have always been convinced, the proper and higher 

 education of the chemist, whether for purely scientific 

 or for technical purposes, be based, and upon this view 

 I consistently acted. Thus I always set my face 



