ON SCIENCE IN SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAIVIINATIONS. 497 



from wave-theory. Spectrum analysis : applications in chemistry, astronomy, 

 &c. 



(c) Electro-magnetic waves. Wireless telegraphy. Electro-magnetic theory 

 of light. 



* 4. The main results of modern investigations on the discharge of elec- 

 tricity through gases; Rontgen rays; radioactivity. The ultimate constitution 

 of matter: the kinetic theory of gases, the radiometer; experiments of Perrin 

 and Bragg; theories of solution, osmosis, and electrolysis. 



*5. A general review of physical (including chemical) phenomena from the 

 standpoint of the principle of the Conservation of Energy. Availability and 

 degradation of energy. The world's present and possible future sources of 

 energy. Economy of energy. 



D. Chemistry. 



1. The atomic theory; Avogadro's hypothesis. The density of a gas and 

 its volumetric reactions as an index of its molecular constitution. Relations 

 between oxygen and ozone, acetylene and benzene. 



2. Composition of ordinary alcohol. It behaves like a weak hydroxide, 

 yielding ' ethereal salts ' and a substance, ether, which is analogous to an 

 oxide. Ethane and its relations to alcohol. Comparison of ethane with 

 methane ('natural gas'), alcohol with wood-spirit. The paraffins, their 

 alcohols, ethers, &c., as homologous series. Theory of the carbon atom. 

 Formic and acetic acid : their relations to and reactions with alcohols. 

 Chloroform and iodoform. 



3. The manufacture of soap, candles, and glycerine. Fats and vegetable 

 oils are ethereal salts, glycerine and alcohol; hydrolysis. Nitro-glycerine and 

 dynamite. 



Cellulose, collodion, gun-cotton, blasting, gelatine, cordite. 



4. Benzene and toluene as ' closed chain ' compounds. Isomerism. Carbolic 

 acid; salicyclic acid, 'aspirin'; tannin, nitro-benzene, aniline and the aniline 

 dyes. ' T.N. T.' explosive. Picric acid. 



5. Tlie proximate constituents of food : proteins, carbo-hydrates, fats. 

 Separation of the protein (gluten) and the carbo-hydrate ^starch) in flour; of 

 the protein (curd), carbo-hydrate (whey), and the fat (cream) in milk. Tests. 

 The conversion of starch into soluble sugar, solution of meat-stuffs; enzymes, 

 their role m plant life and animal digestion. Food values. Ultimate con- 

 stituents of foods and of living matter. Anabolism and katabolism. 



* 6. General review. 



{a) Chemical industries from the standpoint of the nation and the world 

 By-products, economy. Interrelations of theory and practice; synthetic 

 chemistry, the microscope in metallurgy, &c. 



(6) Inorganic and organic chemistry. Families of elements and compounds. 

 The periodic table of the elements. The new elements. 



IV. Science Scheme of a Rural Secondary School. 

 By William Aldridge, formerly Headmaster, Shepton Mallet Grammar School. 



The school in which the work here described is carried on is an old 

 endowed Grammar School, founded in 1627, which was reconstituted and trans- 

 ferred to new buildings nearly twenty years ago. The commencement of the 

 experiment in rural education in this school was coeval with this change, and 

 the work has been continued ever since. For the first few years aid was 

 given by the County Council alone, but grants were afterwards obtained from 

 the Science and Art Department, and ultimately the school came under the 

 Board of Education, which, however, refused to give a special grant under 

 Article 39 of the Regulations for Secondary Schools, on the ground that the 

 work was no longer an educational experiment but was a proved success. 



The scheme has undergone modifications since its inception, but the position 

 reached is roughly outlined below, and there is no doubt as to its efficiency 

 as a means of general education. 



1928 



E K 



