June 24, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



965 



of a single class students of each of the 

 following types, with many variations : 



Student A. — An intelligent, reasonably 

 thoughtful pupil from a school where 

 there are small classes, a well-arranged 

 one-year course and a judicious, helpful 

 teacher. Such a student is a source of 

 constant pleasure, and much can be done 

 for and with him. 



Student S.— The chemical enthusiast 

 who, during a course of one or two years' 

 duration has been permitted, because of 

 his enthusiasm, to work extra hours or to 

 assist his teacher. He has won high praise 

 and occasionally merits it, but too often 

 the college teacher learns to dread the ex- 

 penditure of energy and tact which is nec- 

 essary to retain the good-will of such a 

 student while bringing him to realize that 

 a more profound knowledge than his own 

 may be possible; yet, when the battle has 

 been won, perhaps half of these men make 

 excellent students. 



Student C. — The student who has had 

 two years of chemistry, in a course of 

 ordinary excellence, under average condi- 

 tions as to equipment and teaching. He 

 feels, with some reason, that all this should 

 count for a great deal, and no argument 

 ■will wholly displace this notion. He 

 works without interest, and generally 

 badly, and is a heavy load to carry. You 

 ask. Why not transfer him to the work of 

 the higher years? We reply, Because ex- 

 perience has shown that he probably lacks 

 adequate preparation for it, and will fail 

 in it. The only practicable alternative 

 lies in so arranging his laboratory practise 

 that he shall have as large a measure of 

 new work assigned him as it is possible 

 to oversee without disproportionate atten- 

 tion on the part of the instructors. 



Student D.— A student of moderate abil- 

 ity from an average school with a year of 

 experience. His credentials are clear, but 



he has perhaps had little personal instruc- 

 tion and his knowledge is ill-arranged and 

 vagiie, as to both fact and principle. He 

 has no confidence in himself, and there is 

 very little which is final in his preparatory 

 Avork. His is one of the most difficult 

 cases to provide for at the start, but often 

 turns out well in the end. 



Student E.—A student who has spent a 

 year, or more rarely two years, under in- 

 adequate instruction, which has been 

 worse than useless. An entrance examina- 

 tion may exclude him, but under other 

 systems he becomes a troublesome factor 

 in the complex problem and it may re- 

 quire some weeks to discover or be sure of 

 his trouble. His place is with those stu- 

 dents who take up the study of chemistry 

 as beginners and his exclusion from the 

 more advanced class is logical ; but a trans- 

 fer to elementary classes when these are 

 provided is almost certain to breed discon- 

 tent in the individual, and often disar- 

 ranges other work of the term which, by 

 that time, is well advanced. 



But the confusion of interests does not 

 end here ! The types just referred to have 

 been selected essentially along the lines of 

 general efficiency of instruction and length 

 of courses. It must further be recalled 

 that even efficient teachers vary widely in 

 their conceptions of the ground to be cov- 

 ered, and the college receives students who, 

 during a single year of chemical instruc- 

 tion, have had the chief emphasis laid 

 upon descriptive chemistry, others where 

 it has been laid chiefly on "theoretical 

 chemistry ' ' ; again others where the course 

 is largely one of physics rather than chem- 

 istry; and, finally, where considerable 

 qualitative analysis has been included even 

 in this brief time. 



The conditions appear, then, to be these, 

 briefly stated: Experience indicates that 

 the pupils who have had even two years of 



