534 



NATURE 



[April 5, 1894 



laboratory ; and (4) for him who is to devote his life to 

 teaching and investigation. In addition to furnishing 

 these opportunities, it should also be a place in which 

 investigation is constantly carried on by the teachers and 

 adi'anced students. 



As regards the teaching of chemistry to general 

 students much might be said, but it will be possible 

 to touch upon only a few points on this occasion. Most 

 of th-; teaching is of this kind, and the subject is 

 under active discussion. There can be no question 

 that much of the work done in schools and colleges is 

 highly unsatisfactory, many of the courses which are 

 called scientific are most unscientific, and the student is 

 often more harmed than benefited by his work. If 

 a course in a science, whatever that science may be, 

 does not tend in some degree to develop a scientific 

 habit of mind in the student, it is not serving its legiti- 

 mate purpose. If the experience of twenty-one years in 

 teaching in college and university in this country is 

 worth anything, your speaker, who has during that time 

 had to deal with many students from all parts of the 

 country, is justified in asserting that the minds of stu- 

 dents who enter college are very far from being scientific, 

 and the same can be said of most of those fresh from the 

 colleges. By a scientific mind is meant one that tends to 

 deal with questions objectively, to judge things on their 

 merits, and that does not tend to prejudge every question 

 by the aid of ideas formed independently of the things 

 themselves. Perhaps an anecdote, though trivial, will 

 make this clearer. In a book used by my classes for a num- 

 ber of years, there was one error that served as a simple 

 test of the condition of the students' minds. In the direc- 

 tions for performing a certain experiment, the statement 

 was made that a blue solution would result at one stage. 

 As a matter of fact, the solution referred to was always a 

 bright green. Each student being required to write out 

 an accurate description of what he had seen, each one 

 in turn for a series of years described the green solution 

 as blue, disregarding the evidence of his senses, and 

 accepting the evidence of the printed word as more 

 reliable. Occasionally one would appear whose con- 

 science was troubled by the discrepancy, and who would 

 boldly assert that the book must be wrong, but the 

 number of these exceptions was insignificant. Surely 

 this tendency to disregard the evidence of the senses 

 is one that in the great majority of cases can be 

 overcome. It would be better if it did not exist at 

 all, and it probably would not exist if our educa- 

 tional methods were what they should be. We need 

 teachers properly trained for carrying on scientific 

 courses in our schools and colleges, and one of the 

 most important branches of work in a university is 

 the training of such teachers. Many of the courses in 

 the schools and colleges are at present too ambitious. 

 The attempt is made in them to do in a small way just 

 what is done in a large way in the most advanced 

 courses in universities. Instead of being what they 

 should be, school courses and college courses, they are 

 reduced university courses. Young men who have had 

 the advantages of advanced courses feel so plainly the 

 benefits they have received, that they naturally wish 

 their own students in turn, whatever their ages may be, 

 to get the same benefits. But time will not permit 

 further discussion of this topic, and the main object 

 in referring to it at all is to make it clear that the 

 university laboratory has a great field of work in 

 connection with the improvement of methods of teaching 

 chemistry. 



The teaching of chemistry to medical students suggests 

 a number of thoughts, but they are rather of a special 

 character, and this branch of our subject may be passed 

 over with the remark that there is practical agreement 

 as to this point, that what the medical student most needs 



NO. 1275, ^'OL. 49] 



at first is good scientific training, and that a course in 

 general chemistry is well suited to this purpose. The 

 most recently established medical schools require train- 

 ing in chemistry as one of the conditions of matricula- 

 tion, and it is distinctly understood that it is chemistry, 

 and not medical chemistry nor physiological chemistry, 

 that is wanted. 



The relation of the science of chemistry to the chem- 

 ical industries is suggested by the next division of the 

 subject. Here a most instructive object lesson was 

 afforded during the past summer by a visit to the 

 chemical exhibits in Jackson Park, where for the time 

 being the products of the earth were concentrated. If 

 you had had an intelligent chemical guide he would 

 have pointed out many an interesting product from 

 England, France, Russia, Italy, and this country, but 

 his enthusiasm would have been reserved for the ex- 

 hibit of the German chemical industries. He would have 

 pointed out a great variety of beautiful and valuable pro- 

 ducts, and you would, I am sure, have carried away with 

 you the conviction that the Germans excel the world in 

 this line of work. The reason is not hard to find. It has 

 often been discussed, but it would not be right to let this 

 opportunity pass without again calling attention to it. 

 Those who are familiar with the subject do not hesitate 

 to acknowledge that the reason why the chemical indus- 

 tries have reached such a flourishing condition in Ger- 

 many is that the pure science has been so assiduously 

 cultivated. The value of pure science in the industries has 

 long been recognised there, much more clearly than in any 

 other country, and the scientific method has become es- 

 tablished in the factories much to their advantage. Men 

 deeply versed in pure chemistry, whose minds have been 

 clarified by training in the university laboratories, are 

 eagerly sought for in the factories. So thoroughly con- 

 vinced are the Germans of the value of pure science for 

 the industries that in the polytechnic schools, the plan of 

 instruction in chemistry is essentially the same as in the 

 universities, and some of the best purely scientific work is 

 done in the laboratories of these polytechnic schools. We, 

 in this country, have ) et to learn the importance of this 

 relation between science and industry, though undoubt- 

 edly some progress has been made in this line. We still 

 endeavour to make iron and steel chemists, and soap 

 chemists, and sugar chemists, and turn out hosts of raw 

 products that are not worth their salt. Training along 

 such narrow lines is a positive injury to the students. 

 They are the victims of false pretences Let the training 

 be as broad as possible and as thorough as possible, and 

 the student will at least not be crippled when he ought 

 to be strengthened. 



Finally, a few words in regard to what is commonly 

 and properly spoken of as the highest work of the uni- 

 versity laboratory — the training of teachers and investi- 

 gators. Here, again, we find that Germany leads the 

 world, and to her we must look for guidance ; and, as 

 is well known, to her we have looked for guidance for 

 many years past. Just as Liebig betook himself to 

 Paris, and Wohler to Stockholm, so in turn Americans 

 have betaken themselves to Germany to work with the 

 great masters. This movement began soon after the 

 establishment of the Giessen laboratory, and many an 

 American obtained his inspiration in that laboratory. 

 There are living to-day a number of American chemists 

 who sat at Liebig's feet; a still larger number look 

 back with pride to the time spent in the Gottingen 

 laboratory, where Wohler's was for many years the 

 master mind. Bunsen and Hofmann attracted large 

 numbers in their best days ; and now Bayer in Munich, 

 Ostwald in Leipsic, Victor Meyer in Heidelberg, and 

 Fischer in Berlin, appear to exert the strongest influence 

 upon American students. Most of the chemists holding 

 prominent places in this country have had more or less 



