52 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1437 



gether by laws and theories. Eeorganization 

 eliould start with a clear-cut decision as to just 

 what we are going to try to teach in the four 

 years available, the careful selection of the sub- 

 ject matter best suited to this end and the equally 

 careful omission of extraneous facts. 



Importance and time given for courses in eco- 

 nomics and industrial management in chemical 

 engineering training: C. S. Williamson, Jr. 



Distribution of time between "pure" and "ap- 

 plied" science: Graham Bdgak. 



Recent progress at Columbia University: 

 Marston Taylor Bogert. Certain new ad- 

 vanced courses in chemistry are now available for 

 those interested. Statistics are given relating to 

 the present student body in the department of 

 chemistry. 



Some laboratory helpers: J. N. Swan. The 

 planning of a chemical building is a fine piece of 

 research work. Many problems present them- 

 .-selves for solution. Attention is here called to 

 just t '."■ items as representing different funda- 

 mental ideas to be kept in mind in planning for 

 two different things in the same laboratory. In 

 the matter of locks for desks in the freshman 

 laboratory the fundamental idea is to save time. 

 Getting into a desk is wholly a matter of routine; 

 lience a time saver is worth while. Therefore 

 compare the time involved with different locks and, 

 as a secondary matter, expense and trouble to 

 the institution. In the matter of reagent bottles 

 it has got into the minds of some that time 

 saving is the fundamental principle. Not so, they 

 are teachers. The time of students spent in look- 

 ing at reagent bottles is well spent; therefore 

 the bottles should be where they can be seen. The 

 fundamental principle is to have excellent reagent 

 bottles where they hold the attention of the stu- 

 dent. A comparison is then made of varieties of 

 locks and of reagent bottles. 



A chart of the synthetic intermediates : Chas. 

 W. CuNO. A chart of the various commercial 

 intermediates prepared from the distillates of coal 

 tar, their type syntheses, the relation of these 

 intermediates to one another, and their relation- 

 ship to the common dyes of commerce. Three 

 objects are in view: (1) to give the student in 

 organic chemistry a bird's-eye view of this im- 

 mense field; (2) to aid the manufacturer and 

 commercial chemist in understanding and covering 

 his field; (3) to show the research chemist possi- 

 ble gaps in present syntheses. 



Training for agricultural chemistry: W. F. 

 Hand. 



Unified chemistry courses: Jack P. Mont- 

 gomery. 



Standard tests i)i science, especially chemistry: 

 H. A. Webb. Standard tests have become adopted 

 as a definite method in educational practice. A 

 standard test may be defined as a method of 

 measuring quantitatively a pupil's intelligence or 

 his achievements in a certain branch of study. 

 Various workers in the field of science as early 

 as 1917 began to publish proposed standard tests 

 in different scientific branches. The different 

 types of tests and methods suggested up to the 

 present time were illustrated. It is proposed by 

 some that a type of quick, rapidly taken test be 

 substituted for the conventional two or three hour 

 examination which is so frequently used. The 

 results obtained with such tests were discussed, 

 and the advantages and disadvantages set forth. 

 The use of standard tests in science has not been 

 widely adopted, for none of them are standardized 

 in the ordinarily accepted sense of the word, the 

 whole matter being in a very experimental stage. 



Science or athletics? E. G. Mahin. The steady 

 increase in extra-curricular activities in our col- 

 leges is believed to be largely responsible for the 

 much discussed decline in our standards of scien- 

 tific education. It is believed also that the ab- 

 normal development of commercialized intercolle- 

 giate athletics is the greatest obstacle to restric- 

 tion of such activities to sane and reasonable 

 limits. In this paper it is argued that our stand- 

 ards can not be materially improved until the col- 

 leges divorce themselves from commercialized ath- 

 letics, and that this necessarily involves elimina- 

 tion of the high salaried professional coach and 

 correction of the disproportion now existing in 

 expenditures for athletics and for educational 

 purposes. 



Section of History op Chemistry 

 C. A. Browne, chairman 

 Lyman C. Newell, Secretary 

 Dr. Thomas Cooper — A pioneer American chem- 

 ist: Edgar F. Smith. 



The chemical and scientific achievements of 

 Father Athanasius Kircher, S. J.: George A. 



COYLE. 



A booJc and a battery (Section of Sir Humphry 

 Davy's battery and a volume of the complete 

 works of Davy) : J. N. Swan. 



An early type of chemical slide rule: John A. 

 Gunton. An improved scale of chemical equiva- 

 lents, dating from 1828, is described. It was de- 

 signed by Beck and Henry of Albany as an im- 



