April 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



569 



people so developed that, after he has pre- 

 pared his plans and laid them out, he can 

 get the help to bring about the results 

 which he desires. This is a very important 

 step, but the point I have tried to make is 

 that the man must not only have the knowl- 

 edge to develop new ideas, but he must 

 have the knowledge to put them into prac- 

 tise. Now, we see that those men who have 

 by themselves obtained this engineering 

 knowledge, either before or after studying 

 chemistry, are the men who make a fair 

 success. Therefore, it seems to me very 

 important that we should do all we can to 

 help to produce the kind of a chemist that 

 I have named — a chemical engineer. A 

 man who has such a knowledge of chem- 

 istry, of electrical and mechanical engineer- 

 ing, of metallurgy and of the handling of 

 men as will enable him to go into a labora- 

 tory and develop a process, and then put 

 it into operation and deliver to his concern 

 a merchantable result, will have that recog- 

 nition on the payroll which he deserves. 

 In other words, I think that these men, 

 instead of being assistants in our manu- 

 facturing industries, will be leaders. 

 Dr. William McMurtrie. 



Those of us who have had experience in 

 the applications of chemistry in a large 

 way have long recognized the truth that to 

 be successful in the chemical industries in 

 this country one must be at the same time 

 a chemist and an engineer. One must 

 know thoroughly not only the reactions in- 

 volved in a particular industry and the 

 laws of chemistry which govern them, but 

 must have intimate acquaintance with the 

 mechanical means whereby the reactions 

 may be carried out in a large way. 



I know full well that teachei*s in the 

 educational institutions object that the 

 time allotted for the training of young men 

 for the chemical industries is too short to 

 cover both the branches of work indicated, 

 and most or all of us are prepared to admit 



that this objection is valid. Part of the 

 difficulty is due to the fact that those 

 charged with this training have to do with 

 raw material in the student which is far 

 too raw; that students present themselves 

 not properly prepared for the work before 

 them. I, therefore, believe that the train- 

 ing of the technical chemist, as well as that 

 of every technical and professional man, 

 should begin much earlier than the en- 

 trance to the technical school. It should 

 begin even in the earlier grades of the pri- 

 mary school. Here the idea should be 

 abandoned that the young minds are too 

 immature for serious study and systematic 

 work ; that the children need to be amused 

 rather than seriously educated; that they 

 must be trained by kindergarten methods 

 in lines which must later be traversed again 

 in the serious struggle for education. And 

 thus precious time is lost at the age when 

 the mind is most pliable and receptive. 



It would be far better to return to the old- 

 fashioned methods of careful study of the 

 three R's. The children should be taught 

 first of all to read understandingly ; to 

 write clearly; to comprehend readily the 

 great truths of literature and science, 

 whether expressed orally or in print. Then 

 they should have continued training in 

 mathematics, the successful study of which 

 involves careful and systematic thought 

 and work. The result sought in any cal- 

 culation in mathematics is always most 

 definite, and the attainment of an accurate 

 result involves careful attention to every 

 detail. For this reason the study provides 

 splendid preparation for successful work 

 in any profession or in business, in the re- 

 search laboratories or in the wider fields 

 of the applications of science — the great 

 manufacturing and engineering works. 



So then let the children begin serious 

 and systematic work early; let them be so 

 trained that work once done need not be 

 repeated; let them come to the technical 



