982 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 



him any general plan from which to 

 choose or guiding his choice. 



The pupil who will receive no further 

 school instruction can in a year be given a 

 good knowledge, by a teacher with ade- 

 quate equipment, of many of the facts of 

 elementary chemistry relating to our daily 

 life and its activities — a knowledge suffi- 

 cient in most cases to excite a lasting in- 

 terest in natural phenomena and to cause 

 the student to seek explanation. There is 

 a multitude of chemical facts which con- 

 cern the boy who goes into the shop or 

 office or behind the counter, and which he 

 should know. The girl who will stop at 

 home or teaches others' children is also 

 concerned with chemical phenomena, 

 chemical information which has been 

 crowded out of her curriculum to make 

 room for more cultured and less mussy 

 subjects. 



Adhering to traditional procedure, our 

 science courses have become pseudotheo- 

 retieal or pseudotechnical ; it is time we 

 had one systematically informational and 

 practical. Facts are as important as ex- 

 planations and should precede them. Such 

 a course need not pretend completeness in 

 any line. It might be comparative rather 

 than critical. It would not attempt to re- 

 discover or verify natural laws, but would 

 aim to cultivate the powers of observation 

 and of accuracy of description, to express 

 ideas of phenomena in simple, direct Eng- 

 lish rather than to hide incoherent thought 

 behind a big name or a slang expression. 



In a first course in chemistry, atoms, 

 molecules, ions and many other terms 

 might be omitted altogether. They are but 

 words, the modern idea of an atom is in- 

 comprehensible to one without a wide 

 knowledge of chemistry. Theory should 

 be eliminated as much as possible, making 

 the course treat of facts, their sequence 

 and relation to one another. Numerical 



problem solving should take but a small 

 part in recitation work. No more can 

 come out of an equation than we put into 

 it. It can not develop originality. 



Such a course for children of twelve to 

 thirteen years would need simplicity in its 

 treatment. Faraday's lectures to chil- 

 dren are a model in this respect. Ost- 

 wald's "Conversations" show how some 

 complicated things may be dealt with 

 simply. 



I would have such a course give infor- 

 mation concerning natural phenomena 

 and the work of man, show what is being 

 done, and how, without technical detail. 



I would give the pupil something to 

 knoiv. Facts that are worth knowing in 

 and of themselves— facts that concern 

 himself, his food, his clothing, his shelter 

 and his work. Concerning the things he 

 or she will meet in life, no matter whether 

 the future be as a chemist, a bookkeeper 

 or in the kitchen. The material is ample. 



The subject might be systematized by its 

 applications rather than the traditional 

 order. Study topics rather than elements; 

 study detergents, not soap ; study bleach- 

 ing rather than peroxide or bleaching 

 powder. The development of the race 

 through the stone, bronze and iron age has 

 depended largely upon his chemical 

 knowledge. Let us study the metals in 

 their metallic aspects rather than accord- 

 ing to the periodic table. 



Foods, clothing, materials of iitility and 

 convenience or of commerce often can not 

 be rationally treated by the present sys- 

 tems of our texts, but a suitable systemati- 

 zation might easily include these; what 

 they are, how they are produced and what 

 they do. 



In its effects upon the pupil and school, 

 we may be sure that pupils who have seen 

 something of the general trend of the in- 

 struction through a systematic preliminary 



