February 13, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



159 



the department's point of view and the stu- 

 dent has received as a free allowance, suffi- 

 cient chemicals for his needs, providing he is 

 the average student and exercises moderate 

 care. The possibility of theft is withdrawn 

 absolutely, as the kit belongs to the student, 

 to do with as he wishes, and no student will 

 or can steal his own things. The prices on 

 his list are selected from the most recent 

 catalogue of the largest apparatus house in 

 his vicinity, so he has no temptation to take 

 things home because he saves by so doing. 

 In fact in many cases an apparatus house 

 wUl sell him things somewhat cheaper. The- 

 oretically the student can if he wishes get all 

 his kit elsewhere, and this is encouraged, as 

 it will save the department the trouble of 

 furnishing it, but the student would much 

 rather take the department kit which is all 

 ready made up and easy to procure, and is 

 Just exactly what he needs in his course. 



This system takes out of the hands of the 

 teaching staff all cares in regard to apparatus 

 and chemicals, as this side of the work is 

 handled by a trained body of men and women 

 who soon learn to do the bottling of chem- 

 icals and the assembling of the same into kits, 

 with the greatest speed and accuracy. In 

 rush times, student help makes possible the 

 doing of a great deal of work in a short time 

 and is a benefit to both the department and 

 the student. 



The Freas System is just as helpful and as 

 easily installed in a high school as in a tech- 

 nical school, college or university laboratory. 



Of course each student must have the 

 average size bench, viz., about 8,000 cubic 

 inches, in order to hold this kit. Many lab- 

 oratories give the student more space than 

 this, but if one takes the measurement of a 

 student bench in high schools and colleges 

 all over this country, the figure 8,000 cubic 

 inches is about the average. Unfortunately 

 in a few good institutions circumstances over 

 which the departmental authorities had no 

 control, forced a reduction of students' bench 

 space. More students were crowded into the 

 laboratories than the benches were able to ac- 

 commodate, and it seemed at that time wise 

 to begin to reduce the size of the student 



bench. In one case this went on until a stu- 

 dent finally had but one drawer of about 400 

 cubic inches. In such a space only the most 

 meager equipment can be placed, and the stu- 

 dent of course suffers through lack of appara- 

 tus and an enforced walking to the storeroom 

 and back for every little thing he may need. 

 The pendulum has started to swing back, and 

 I have no doubt that before long this depart- 

 ment will restore the normal 8,000 cubic 

 inches. 



Some may say that the cost of installing 

 this system is prohibitive. This is not so, as 

 can be shown by actual figures in institutions 

 using it. Others may wish to know where 

 this scheme has been tried out for a sxifficient 

 length of time as to insure it being out of the 

 experimental stage. The department of chem- 

 istry of Columbia University in New York 

 City has been using this system for the past 

 eight years with an ever-increasing satisfac- 

 tion to all concerned, in all divisions of the 

 department. 



There is no question but that the Freas 

 System is the cheapest, everything considered, 

 most efiicient, and up-to-date method of hand- 

 ling students' supplies yet devised. If a 

 chemical department wishes quality of work 

 above everything else, then this system will 

 be an enormous aid to both student and in- 

 structor; but if quantity is the object to be 

 obtained, then it does not matter so much, as 

 quality of work is probably given but little 

 thought. If a department must handle large 

 numbers of students and wishes quality of 

 work as well, then there is no question but 

 that the quicker the authorities investigate 

 the Freas System the better. No unpreju- 

 diced man can see this system in operation 

 without feeling that he wiU not be satisfied 

 till it is as speedily as possible installed in his 

 own department. 



w. l. estabrooke 



Department op Chemistet, 

 College of the City or New York 



HERBERT SPENCER WOODS 



Heebert Spencer Woods, assistant professor 

 in the department of physiology, pharmacol- 



