464 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 771 



follow the line of our natural instincts. If 

 we fail to recognize one of our word-ac- 

 quaintances, the request for a fresh intro- 

 duction comes from our own side. Does 

 not the more informal discussion of chem- 

 istry in the class-room furnish just the sort 

 of opportunity we require for continual 

 repetition without boredom ? Is the almost 

 limitless repetition of language study one 

 bit more than is necessary^ Can we then 

 afford to do with any less amount of it in 

 studying a science 1 Can we afford to turn 

 into lectures any of the all too few hours 

 available for exercises in repetition and 

 interrelation 1 



Finally, the student in a lecture course 

 must follow successfully or he is lost. The 

 lecturer is not a phonograph. He can not be 

 turned back, so as to repeat the exposition 

 of the idea which has somehow missed one 

 of its marks, or to reproduce the key word 

 which the student has somehow failed to 

 catch. Extraordinary variability in the 

 speed with which different individuals ap- 

 prehend the same thing is one of the most 

 conspicuous qualities of a group of human 

 minds. Naturally the lecturer must set 

 his speed to suit the pace of the slowest 

 members. When the work is conducted in 

 such a way that home preparation can not 

 be avoided, as it easily can be, and is, for 

 most lectures, the variable factors are 

 eliminated from the class room and rele- 

 gated to the study. Each student takes 

 whatever amount of time is necessary for 

 mastering the assigned lesson. And the 

 assemblage which presents itself to the in- 

 structor is therefore of more nearly uni- 

 form quality. 



If we had attempted to devise some 

 method which should run contrary to all 

 the conditions for successful undergradu- 

 ate instruction, we could hardly have in- 

 vented a scheme which would be more cer- 

 tain to fail than that I am discussing. 



The main point is that we learn only by 

 our own efforts, and not by watching the 

 efforts of others. Some one has said that 

 the college is a "gymnasium where the 

 faculties of men are exercised and de- 

 veloped, rather than a boarding house 

 where the students are crammed with 

 facts." "We develop physical muscle by 

 exercise. Is there any other way of de- 

 veloping mental fiber? Can we ever cause 

 mental fiber to develop by dealing out 

 ready-made ideas: it is a psychologically 

 impossible process. Is any one under the 

 illusion that the fifteen thousand spectators 

 at a football game get any perceptible 

 physical exercise out of watching the per- 

 formance of the teams? 



The college course is to teach the student 

 to solve problems. Let us beware of a 

 method of instruction in which the facts 

 are found, not by the student, but by the 

 professor; in which they are arranged and 

 related, again by the professor; in which 

 the conclusions are drawn, by the pro- 

 fessor; and the conclusions are finally 

 tested, not by the student, but by the 

 instructor. If by this process we man- 

 age to hypnotize the student into think- 

 ing that he has acquired the ability him- 

 self to solve problems, there will be a 

 rude awakening when the time comes for 

 him to solve problems without assistance. 



A METHOD FOR TEACHING CHEMISTRY 



To be more concrete, it seems to me that 

 the following are the conditions for the 

 teaching of college chemistry: 



First, the laboratory and class-room 

 work must run parallel with one another 

 throughout the year, and the same subjects 

 must be treated simultaneously in both. 

 When separation occurs, the total "yield" 

 is reduced to an astonishing extent, and 

 conversely. 



Second, specific laboratory exercises must 



