May 16, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



781 



sirable for beginners; for advanced stu- 

 dents it wastes too mucli time in proportion 

 to the result — such illustrations would be 

 met as well by the use of chalk and black- 

 board. And finally, it may be intended 

 as a study of chemical technology. As 

 such it must inevitably take cognizance of 

 the aims of technology, which are to prepare 

 a substance in given grade of purity from 

 the available 'Ausgangsmaterialien' at the 

 smallest cost of time and money. It in- 

 volves a sufficiently complete knowledge 

 of the materials employed, strictest econ- 

 omy of time, labor and reagents, the dem- 

 onstration of the required purity, and a 

 calculation of cost and value. If a sub- 

 stance be prepared along these lines, to the 

 amount of one gram or of one ton, it con- 

 stitutes an exact duplicate of technical 

 methods. The factory may employ cast- 

 iron vats in place of flasks, and filter 

 presses in place of funnels; it is not the 

 more 'technical' by virtue of its appliances. 

 It will be objected that no university 

 can make soda-ash or sulphuric acid on 

 technical lines. To be sure; but it need 

 not attempt to. The first condition of 

 success in any undertaking is a clear un- 

 derstanding of one's limitations. The col- 

 lege cannot do much more than teach the 

 factory spirit; if it does that much well, 

 enough wiU be accomplished at present. 

 Moreover, chemical industry is not limited 

 to the production of heavy chemicals at the 

 rate of fifty tons a day. Innumerable sub- 

 stances are manufactured in relatively 

 small quantities, and by methods which do 

 not differ widely from standard laboratory 

 manipulations. These are wholly within 

 the power of the college. I would pro- 

 pose that each college inaugurate as a part 

 of its curriculum, required of all its gradu- 

 ates in chemistry, a full year's course in 

 the actual economical preparation of 

 laboratory supplies. It can manufacture 

 most of its own C. P. reagents, ammonia 



and its salts, the products of the rarer 

 minerals, ether much more cheaply than it 

 can be bought or imported under existing 

 revenue laws, and practically all its organic 

 preparations, from a few technical prod- 

 ucts. Even if it should cost a little more 

 to make these substances than to buy them, 

 the gain in actual experience to instructor 

 as well as to students is worth the extra 

 cost. The equipment for this work need 

 not be expensive. For the C. P. reagents, 

 for example, the same outfit of large evap- 

 orators ana crystallizing dishes, solution 

 tanks and filter-presses can be used. The 

 need of great care in cleaning these out 

 for use on different materials would be an 

 excellent feature of the work, to be con- 

 trolled by analysis. By systematic plan- 

 ning, the laboratory could manufacture 

 from thirty to sixty substances a year, in 

 quantities to last five years; at the end of 

 that period it would have supplied all its 

 wants and coiild begin the cycle over again. 

 In one year of such work the student would 

 gather more experience than a factory 

 would yield in ten ; for no factory can un- 

 dertake to slow down its procedure for the 

 benefit of a novice. 



In connection with this laboratory in- 

 struction, the usual lectures on chemical 

 technology will certainly be more fruitful 

 of results. Such lectures should not be 

 omitted, nor anything else likely to broaden 

 the student's acquaintance with facts. In- 

 deed, these lectures are able to supply in- 

 formation not obtainable in the factory, 

 viz., the comparison of factory methods, 

 and the deeper principles that underlie all 

 technical work and are taken for granted 

 —the business world drives them home with 

 a club. Finally, it need hardly be said 

 that frequent visits to every establishment 

 within reach should be a constant feature 

 of technological training. In my own col- 

 lege course the 'frequent visits' material- 

 ized just once, when three large factories 



