October 6, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



399 



An experience \oith the general intelligence test 

 in teaching freshmen chemistry. Edwakd Bartow 

 and Jacob Cornog. A eomparison of intelligence 

 ratings as determined by a general intelligence 

 test given at the beginning of the year with the 

 final grades received by 948 students in freshmen 

 chemistry gives a coefficient of correlation of .44 

 where complete causation would be represented 

 by unity and no causation by zero. This indi- 

 cates that intelligence as determined by this test 

 is a partial but not predominant factor in deter- 

 mining final grades. The general intelligence test 

 may be used in evaluating teaching performance 

 of large numbers of teachers giving instruction 

 in the same subject; for effecting economy in ad- 

 ministration by early elimination of students of 

 hopelessly low capacity; and for comparison of 

 the mental potentialities of different groups of 

 students. The general intelligence test does not 

 afford a dependable basis for accurately fore- 

 casting a student 's final grade in individual 

 cases, except for students of extremely low intel- 

 ligence. 



The teaching of chemistry in negro private 

 schools. B. T. Harvey, Jr. This paper pre- 

 sented some facts and conclusions derived from 

 an investigation of the teaching of chemistry in 

 negro private schools by means of personal ob- 

 servation, answers to a questionnaire and study 

 of the catalogs of these institutions. After a 

 preUminarj' survey of the scope of negro educa- 

 tion and its effects, a statement of the aims of 

 the courses in chemistry was made. Practice and 

 results in these schools were checked by aims, 

 finally suggestions were made for help in meeting 

 difficulties involved in the teaching of chemistry 

 in negro private schools. 



Quantitative experiments in general chemistry. 

 H. W. MosELET. In this paper the question was 

 raised as to whether quantitative experiments 

 usually assigned to students in general chemistry 

 laboratory served their purpose; and as a result 

 of this study a plan was suggested for the assign- 

 ment of quantitative work to such students in a 

 way to get results. Data were included. 



The student's laboratory bench and his sup- 

 plies. W. L. EsTABEOOKE. The purpose of this 

 paper was to trace the development of the stu- 

 dent's laboratory bench during the past twenty- 

 five years and the corresponding improvement in 

 the method of handling his supplies. Two new 

 student's desks were shown, one of which was a 

 radical departure from that usually seen in chem- 

 ical laboratories. The handling of student's 

 ehemieals was described by the writer in Science 



of May 30, 1919, under the heading "The Freas 

 System" in honor of Thomas B. Preas of Colum- 

 bia University, who has done more than most 

 men in America to meet this problem. The ex- 

 hibit consists of: (1) The chemicals used in one 

 year of inorganic chemistry at the College of the 

 City of New York. (2) The chemicals used in 

 one year of qualitative analysis at the College 

 of the City of New York. (3) The Fales' stu- 

 dent 's bench in inorganic chemistry, borrowed 

 from Professors Freas and Fales of Columbia 

 University, with a full equipment of apparatus 

 and chemicals. 



A system of individual reagents for courses in 

 qualitative analysis. Louis J. Cuetman. The 

 author has designed two small wooden kits pro- 

 vided with shelves and capable of holding all the 

 reagents, solids and solutions needed in qualita- 

 tive analysis. These kits are of such dimensions 

 that they can easily be locked up in the student's 

 locker or cupboard. The shelves are specially 

 constructed to permit the labels on the bottles 

 to be plainly seen and to allow the bottles to be 

 easily removed and replaced. Bottles of six dif- 

 ferent sizes are used depending upon the quantity 

 of material needed. A set of solid salts and 

 compounds, contained in a pasteboard box, is also 

 provided. From this small supply of chemicals 

 the student weighs out the quantities needed for 

 making his solutions. In the Freas system, which 

 is in use at Columbia University, the student is 

 provided with all the solutions he needs. In the 

 author 's method, the student is required to pre- 

 pare all his solutions. The advantages of this 

 system are: (1) The student becomes acquainted 

 with the physical properties of the solid sub- 

 stances he used. (2) He is required to calculate, 

 in each case, the quantity of salt needed to pre- 

 pare a specified volume of la solution of definite 

 normality. (3) By actually making up the solu- 

 tions, he becomes familiar with the characteristic 

 properties of such substances which require spe- 

 cial treatment. This information he can obtain 

 by no other method. The system outlined above 

 has been successfully used at the College of the 

 City of New York for the past five years. A 

 paper describing this system in detail will shortly 

 be published. 



The teaching value of the electrochemical series 

 of metals. E. A. Baker. It is recommended 

 that at the beginning of the course in general 

 chemistry, each student be required to learn the 

 names and symbols of the common metals, ar- 

 ranged in the order of the electrochemical series, 

 together with the physical properties of the 



