970 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. i 



"the apparatus used" is as essential when 

 he pours silver nitrate solution from a 

 bottle into a test-tube containing a halide 

 solution, as when he is preparing nitric 

 acid from saltpeter, and he elaborates his 

 descriptions with the same fidelity in the 

 former case as in the latter, with a very 

 considerable aggregate loss of good energy 

 on his part and that of his instructor. But 

 that is not the worst of it, for he gains an 

 idea that all experiments are to be treated 

 with similar uniformity in other respects, 

 even including his search for their hidden 

 meanings. I do not, of course, advocate 

 telling the student what is to happen and 

 then asking him to say that it did occur, 

 adding, possibly, the color of a precipitate ; 

 but I do believe that a great deal would be 

 gained if nearly all experiments, or groups 

 of experiments, were more carefully pref- 

 aced in the laboratory directions by a brief 

 statement regarding the principles or the 

 types of changes involved, and if, then, the 

 student were encouraged to make his ob- 

 servations with reference to these state- 

 ments and were required to show that he 

 understands how the given experiment 

 actually confirms the points in question. 

 This would do much to avoid what is at 

 present a wasteful expenditure of time, 

 muscular energy and eyesight— all of which 

 could be used to increase the pupil's ex- 

 perience, and it would partially, at least, 

 eliminate the vague groping which results 

 as those appalling scientific monstrosities 

 which follow the words "I conclude" in 

 the note-book of many a conscientious stu- 

 dent. Have you ever recalled the bewil- 

 derment of your student days, when you 

 had no idea what to look at among so many 

 phenomena? Have you ever taken a half 

 dozen experiments and candidly asked 

 yourself what you can legitimately con- 

 clude from what has been performed? It 

 is very much like trying to answer some of 



one's own well-sounding examination ques- 

 tions; a procedure which often causes them 

 to lose their attractiveness. 



Do we not, then, tend to lay too much 

 stress upon mere performance of experi- 

 ments, and devote too much time to the 

 making and reading of descriptive notes 

 which are often copies of the experiment 

 manual, and too little time to helping the 

 pupil, through judicious suggestions re- 

 garding the experiments and through ques- 

 tioning at the work-table and in the recita- 

 tion room, to comprehend what it is all 

 about, and the relation of a given experi- 

 ment to others already performed? 



In order that the perplexities of the col- 

 lege instructor may be brought more clearly 

 to mind, and in order to illustrate certain 

 types of note-books, I reproduce here a few 

 pages from the books presented in connec- 

 tion with the entrance elective requirement 

 of the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 



3^ :»jll^ iWrv^wUk 



i-t 





' OJ 





t ji/ >^ a. ( 



■u 



-i 



Fig. 1 



ogy. The first (Fig. 1) is a representative 

 of a rather small number of superior books. 

 The observations are carefully recorded, 

 the deductions are valid and well expressed 

 and there is evidence (not shown in the 

 cut) that the note-book had been inspected 



