May 16, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



775 



SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE IMPROVE- 

 MENT OF INSTRUCTION IN TECH- 

 NICAL CHEMISTRY.* 



In attempting to discuss so broad a sub- 

 ject as the methods of teaching technical 

 chemistry employed in this country, one is 

 met at the outset by nujnerous difficulties 

 of interpretation. No two of the thirty- 

 odd institutions claiming to prepare stu- 

 dents for the practice of technical chemis- 

 try seem to agree on the topics necessary 

 for study, the order in which these should 

 be taken up, the extent to which any one 

 should be cultivated, or the actual subject- 

 matter of courses given under the same 

 name; to say nothing of the non-chemical 

 subjects in the curriculum, such as mathe- 

 matics, literature, analytic mechanics and 

 other ' strains and stresses. ' In some col- 

 leges, chemical engineering seems to mean 

 a mixture of less chemistry and less engi- 

 neering than is required of either chemists 

 or engineers ; whereas in others ' analytical 

 chemists ' are turned out after one or two 

 years' experience on 'unknowns and com- 

 plex ores.' It is plain therefore that in 

 order to arrive at any comprehensive view 

 of actual and of desirable conditions, it 

 ■nail be necessary to define, in a manner 

 somewhat more precise than is usually cus- 

 tomary, the fundamental aims of technical 

 education with reference to chemistry. 



THE UNITY OF CHEMICAL PRACTICE. 



Stated in its baldest terms, the aim of 

 such technical education must necessarily 

 be adequate preparation for professional 

 practice. To be sure, this definition merely 

 restates the problem itself; we must im- 

 mediately ask, what do we mean by ade- 



* Read at the Denver meeting of the American 

 Chemical Society, August, 1901. This paper was 

 written before the publication of Dr. McMurtrie's 

 recent address to the American Chemical Society. 

 It is gratifying to note the substantial agreement 

 of both articles as to the problem set before our 

 teachers. 



quate preparation, and what by profes- 

 sional practice 1 Let us consider the latter 

 question first. At first sight, the profes- 

 sional practice of the chemist appears as 

 an exceedingly complex affair, incapable 

 of closer statement; a chemist may be a 

 mineral analyst, a food analyst, a metal- 

 lurgist, a manufacturer of heavy or of fine 

 chemicals, a gas-chemist, an electro-chemist, 

 a pharmaceutical chemist, a dyer, a manu- 

 facturer of coal-tar products, a fermenta- 

 tion chemist, to leave out further subdivis- 

 ions, and last but not least, a teacher of 

 chemistry, perhaps the most technical of 

 all. It will be said that this is far too 

 broad a picture of the chemist's activity, 

 and that the whole of technical practice 

 may be summed up under three distinct 

 heads: Analysis, manufacture, instruction. 

 Indeed, it may be safely said that this rep- 

 resents the opinion of the majority of 

 American and English chemists. And yet, 

 the analyst, the manufacturer, the teacher 

 are merely chemists, thinking by the same 

 mental processes, applying the same gen- 

 eral laws, attacking very similar problems, 

 diiTering only in the accidental circum- 

 stances of the materials they work with. 

 The analyst sacrifices time and money to 

 the cause of accuracy; the manufacturer 

 gives up accuracy for the sake of time and 

 money; the teacher wears himself out in 

 the effort to be accurate without wasting 

 either time or money. 



The fundamental unity of chemical prac- 

 tice is not a new discovery. It was ' made 

 in Germany' some forty years ago; and 

 although not patented, the Germans enjoy 

 an exclusive monopoly of its use. The 

 analyst, the manufacturer and the teacher 

 are continually exchanging their exper- 

 iences through a sort of chemical clearing- 

 house. Young docents frequently spend 

 two or three years in a factory for the pur- 

 pose of broadening their knowledge ; a fac- 

 tory sends its problems to the university 



