x ON THE TEACHING OF CHEMISTRY 249 



against the pupil "practising" the rough and ready 

 methods used in works before he has learnt to appre- 

 ciate the exacter processes, and it was my constant 

 endeavour to supplant the often crude and incorrect 

 trade tests by a more precise, though perhaps somewhat 

 more lengthy, system. Having, however, once obtained 

 a satisfactory judgment as to the capability of the 

 several methods, the student may be allowed to occupy 

 himself, according to his taste or necessities, with the 

 determination and valuation of pure and impure 

 products according to the most approved commercial 

 processes. 



Having thus gained a practical acquaintance with 

 quantitative methods, and having attended a course of 

 experimental lectures on both elementary and advanced 

 theoretical inorganic chemistry, the pupil is now in a 

 position to begin the study of the carbon compounds 

 or organic chemistry. 



The history of the growth of the department of 

 organic chemistry in the Owens College is of interest. 

 When, in 1859, Mr. Dittmar, F.R.S. (afterwards 

 Professor at Anderson's College in Glasgow), resigning 

 my private assistantship, was appointed to the sole 

 demonstratorship in the laboratory vice Dr. Guthrie, 

 he was succeeded by Mr. C. Schorlemmer, a young 

 chemist of Darmstadt. In due course Schorlemmer 

 showed his mettle, succeeding Mr. Dittmar as College 

 Demonstrator in 1861, and whilst continuing to dis- 

 charge the duties of Senior Demonstrator for no less 

 than thirteen years, he won for himself by his original 

 investigations the position of one of the first organic 

 chemists of the .day. During the growth of our system 

 of teaching, and whilst greater demands for a higher 

 and more developed range of instruction arose, and 

 whilst at the same time the boundaries of our science 



