February 13, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



157 



taking these laboratory walks to the side 

 shelf the student was deep in chemical 

 thought and therefore it was a good thing. 

 My observation of students in this labora- 

 tory and elsewhere leads me to believe that 

 this director seldom enters the chemical lab- 

 oratory, and therefore does not know the true 

 state of affairs, nevertheless he regards him- 

 self eminently qualified to pass on such 

 matters. 



One of the most serious objections to this 

 system is not cost, or waste of students' 

 time, but the slovenly habits which a student 

 of a necessity acquires. 



In going to a 2-kilogram bottle of potassium 

 iodide, for example, to get 2 grams of that 

 salt the neat and quantitative idea of general 

 chemistry is absolutely lost, although he may 

 be assigned to some general quantitative ex- 

 periments during the course. Thus, the 

 orderly habits which are so necessary to a 

 good chemist, are not formed when they 

 should be formed, viz., during the early days 

 of his chemical training. 



I can not pass without referring to a com- 

 mon sight a few years ago in another large 

 laboratory in this country. Large bottles of 

 chemicals were put on side tables for student 

 use. A cheap porcelain pan balance and a 

 box of weights stood nearby. Suppose a stu- 

 dent needs 5 grams of potassium bromide, 

 should it be a bit lumpy, a rusty ring stand 

 served to break up the liamps. A handiul of 

 'the expensive chemical was then placed on 

 one pan of the scale and the old and corroded 

 5 gram weight on the other pan. The stu- 

 dent brushed the excess chemical from the 

 pan to the floor till he had remaining ap- 

 proximately 5 grams. In the morning I have 

 seen the cleaners sweep up dust pan after 

 dust pan full of valuable chemicals from the 

 floor near this side table. There was seldom 

 any supervision on the part of the instructor 

 in charge when the students were getting 

 their chemicals or conditions would probably 

 not have been so bad. This institution of 

 course was not famous for turning out great 

 chemists and a sudden change in administra- 

 tion alone would save its life. To-day this 



same laboratory is one of the most up-to-date 

 and progressive laboratories in this country. 

 Few of the former teaching staff now remain, 

 as they were too firmly fixed in the old ways 

 to make reform possible. 



The next step in the evolution of the hand- 

 ling of students' chemicals and supplies was 

 to give him a kit of apparatus and place on 

 his bench in the laboratory all the chemicals 

 needed for the day or week. If two men 

 worked on opposite sides of a bench this one 

 set was sufficient for them both, e. g., in a 

 laboratory which holds 28 students at a time 

 14 such kits are used. This was a very great 

 advance over the side-shelf reagent plan, as 

 it eliminated a great deal of walking on the 

 part of the student, thus enabling him to do' 

 much more work. One institution made this; 

 change and at the same time enormously in- 

 creased the amount of assigned laboratory 

 work per afternoon. While this scheme is a 

 great improvement, it has still serious draw- 

 backs. Chemicals are still bound to be mixed 

 up and contaminated no matter how watch- 

 ful the instructor maj- be. Certain chemicals 

 are always running short, as some student 

 will take more than his share even though a 

 cheap balance is provided for every two men, 

 so that weighing out approximate amounts is 

 an easy and rapid matter. 



Theft of chemicals is still possible, as no 

 instructor can watch 25 students all at one 

 time, and even if he could do so, he can not 

 determine whether chemicals placed in a test 

 tube were for laboratory or home use; this 

 method while cheaper than the first is still 

 expensive, because the students are bound to 

 waste chemicals when they are handy and do 

 not cost them anything ; the bottles are always 

 getting mixed up and out of place; and finally 

 it entails enormous amount of work on the 

 stock system or for the instructor, out of 

 laboratory hours, as well as a certain amount 

 of the same kind of stock work during the 

 laboratory period. 



In one institution^ where this plan has been 

 in operation for the past five years a special 



3 Professor C. D. Carpenter 's laboratory at 

 Teachers ' College, Columbia University. 



