NO\'EMBEB 5, }909] 



SCIENCE 



629 



him exert himself to learn it. Care must also 

 be taken to show him where he can find the 

 more detailed information. It does not suffice 

 to teach any subject from one point of view. 

 The failure to present a subject broadly turns 

 out narrow men. It is broad men the world 

 demands and these are moulded by viewing a 

 subject from as many different standpoints as 

 possible. For the broadest diffusion of knowl- 

 edge, men of different years should be given 

 somewhat different standpoints and shown 

 where to find their knowledge somewhat differ- 

 ently. A hard-worn path should not be fol- 

 lowed. A lecturer who writes a set of notes 

 which he intends to follow year after year, 

 without revision, soon finds that his intention 

 was unsound. A lecture on almost any por- 

 tion of a fast-growing science like chemistry 

 needs more or less revision every time it is 

 given. 



Since, therefore, the straight lecture course 

 with no reference books, text-books or mimeo- 

 graph notes gives the student but one point 

 of view, that of the lecturer, such a course is 

 to be censured in all cases where it is possible 

 to give it otherwise. There may be two classes 

 of teachers who might use this method where 

 it is not necessary : those who have had a lim- 

 ited experience and who are fearful that they 

 might, for the time being, forget some of the 

 details which the students might wish to dis- 

 cuss ; and those who are omniscient. The first 

 class will soon realize the fact that no man can 

 have everything at his tongue's end, but that 

 a teacher must be familiar in considerable 

 detail with the subject he is teaching if he is 

 to be at all successful. 



The lecture course with mimeograph notes 

 by the professor may be permissible in three 

 cases : where there is no suitable text-book or 

 reference book, where such a book is so expen- 

 sive that the teacher does not feel justified in 

 requiring the students to buy it, or where cer- 

 tain directions for laboratory use are, for spe- 

 cial reasons, to be taken from the larger refer- 

 ence books or from the more recent literature. 

 The dictation of such directions is perhaps 

 allowable in a very few cases, but not for any 

 extended course. The dictation of a complete 

 course of laboratory directions is little less 



than a waste of time both for the students and 

 for the teacher. 



When we consider carefully the lecture 

 course accompanied by a suitable text-book or 

 reference book, by frequent recitations or con- 

 ferences, and by occasional written exercises, 

 we shall probably find the most efficient 

 method, at least for all experimental sciences. 

 Let us here distinguish between text-books and 

 reference books. A true text-book should be 

 brief and to the point, as supposedly it is to be 

 gone over page by page. At present, however, 

 there are a number of so-called text-books 

 which are so much padded and cover so much 

 ground in detail that they are entirely un- 

 suited for this purpose. There seems to be a 

 tendency to use such large books as text-books, 

 with the false idea that a better course can be 

 given, whereas in reality the student is so con- 

 fused that his course becomes a chaos of facts 

 and directions. This of course applies more es- 

 pecially to beginners. What can be more ab- 

 surd than the placing of books like Frezenius's 

 " Qualitative Analysis " or " Quantitative An- 

 alysis " in the hands of beginners in these 

 subjects? The most efficient text-books for 

 these courses comprise few and very definite 

 directions, with explanatory notes. In an 

 advanced course, when the student has been 

 fairly launched in the subject, a more complete 

 book may be used, which is not to be consid- 

 ered as a text-book, but more as a reference 

 book from which suitable exercises may be 

 selected. 



The lecture itself can not do all the teach- 

 ing. It should, however, lead, interest and 

 inspire the student. The subject matter should 

 be covered as completely as the time will allow, 

 but not so rapidly that the average student 

 can not grasp it readily. In order that the 

 student should get the most out of a lecture 

 he should be required to read carefully the 

 corresponding pages in the accompanying ref- 

 erence book before the lecture takes place. 

 The references of the pages to be covered at 

 each lecture should be given at the previous 

 lecture. The student should by all means 

 study these pages in conjunction with his 

 notes the same day the lecture is given, and 

 more diligently the parts which were empha- 



