36 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 366. 



by the number of scbools in which chemistry 

 is taught. A recently published list shows that 

 there are 116 schools in California whose grad- 

 uates are admitted by the University of Cali- 

 fornia without entrance examination. Twenty- 

 five of these are not accredited in chemistry, 

 but the remaining ninety-one have chemistry 

 courses sufficiently thorough to satisfy all 

 University requirements. And in the twenty- 

 five not accredited in chemistry the subject is 

 taught in most cases, though not with the 

 necessary thoroughness. Moreover, there are 

 many other schools in the State whose gradu- 

 ates are not accorded free entrance to the 

 University, and the names of which do not, in 

 consequence, appear on the published list, in 

 which chemistry is one of the subjects taught. 

 It is probable that in the State of California 

 alone there are at least one hundred and fifty 

 chemistry teachers ; and it would be making 

 a very modest estimate and one undoubtedly 

 far below the true numbers to estimate at two 

 hundred the chemistry teachers who look to- 

 ward Berkeley for their inspiration. 



As yet the new organization is in a forma- 

 tive condition. It has been getting itself to- 

 gether, rather than attempting to accomplish 

 anything. Its first circular of information, 

 just published, contains, however, a number 

 of interesting facts. On data, not as complete 

 as desirable, it was shown that the high-schools 

 of California give their students a year of 

 chemistry, recitations being supplemented 

 with laboratory practice. The majority of the 

 schools report fairly good laboratory facilities, 

 one small school in the southern part of the 

 State claiming to have a better equipment for 

 elementary work than does the University it- 

 self. Of books of reference there is an almost 

 total lack. In many eases there are no refer- 

 ence-books whatever. 



One of the interesting features of the first 

 circular is a letter from President Ira Eemsen 

 of Johns Hopkins on the proper methods of 

 chemistry-teaching. He writes: 



I thank you for the opportunity you have given 

 me to say a few words to the members of your ag- 

 sociation. The formation of such societies as 

 yours will, I am sure, do much to further the 

 study of chemistry and raise the standard of teach- 



ing. As I have watched the work of teachers of 

 our science in schools, in colleges and in univer- 

 sities, it has seemed to me that the chief defect 

 is what in plain English may be called slovenliness. 

 The students get into bad habits of work and have 

 no clear idea in regard to what they are doing. 

 They are often left to themselves too much and 

 work as they ought not to, without knowing that 

 anything is wrong. Then, too, when the students 

 attempt to give an account of what they have 

 done, they use language that would hardly be per- 

 mitted in a recitation room or in writing about 

 a literary or historical subject. The language 

 and the notebooks are apt to be slovenly, especially 

 if the work has been slovenly. Now, we shall 

 never get what we ought to get from laboratory 

 courses in chemistry or any other subject until 

 this slovenliness is eliminated. The ability to 

 state the source of an element, its properties or 

 the law of definite proportions or any other law 

 — this ability is of little value. This kind of 

 knowledge is meaningless unless based upon some 

 actual experience in the laboratory. 



Courses in scientific subjects are still on trial, 

 and we teachers of chemistry are to determine by 

 the way we do our work whether these courses 

 are to be recognized as valuable from a purely edu- 

 cational point of view. Too much of the instruc- 

 tion now given seems to be shaped with the 

 idea that the pupils are all to become chemists. 

 As a matter of fact, this is true of very few of 

 them. But I may as well stop here. I have 

 opened up too broad a subject to be dealt with 

 satisfactorily at this sitting. 



Edward Booth, 



Secretary. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 Professor Yves Delage has been elected a 

 member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in 

 the section of zoology, in the place of the late 

 Lacaze-Duthiers. 



Mr. Philip Watts, F.E.S., has been ap- 

 pointed director of naval construction by 

 the British Board of Admiralty, succeeding 

 Sir William H. White, F.E.S., who has re- 

 signed in consequence of ill health. 



Dr. Charles Porter, M.D., of Shrewsbury, 

 has been selected for the appointment of med- 

 ical ofiicer of health to the municipality of 

 Johannesburg. The salary is £2,000 per 

 annum. 



