Apeil 28, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



661 



^^ 



unicipal Chemistry. A series of thirty lec- 

 tures by experts on the applications of the 

 principles of chemistry to the city, delivered 

 at the College of the City of New York, 

 1910. Edited by Charles Baskerville, 

 Ph.D., F.C.S. New York, McGraw-Hill 

 Book Company. 1911. Pp. 526. $5.00 net. 

 The title of this book is sufficiently sugges- 

 tive of its intended scope. The lectures here 

 brought together in printed form were given 

 before the student body of the College of the 

 City of New York in the spring of 1910 and 

 were open to the public. The interest they 

 aroused was taken as sufficient to warrant the 

 publication for a larger audience. 



Chemistry plays a very important and ever- 

 widening part in the affairs of life, and es- 

 pecially of the life as it is lived in a great city. 

 Problems of food supply and preservation, of 

 pure water and disposal of sewage, of garbage 

 cremation and smoke prevention, and a dozen 

 more which might be easily mentioned, call 

 for the aid of the chemist in some direction. 

 It is proper to present to young people in col- 

 lege the conception of the chemist as a man 

 who can do things which the city needs, and 

 on a broad scale. The chemical problems of 

 the city are not merely those of routine analy- 

 sis, although many analyses may be necessary 

 in their solution. 



The men selected by Professor Baskerville 

 to deliver the course of lectures are, for the 

 greater part, well known authorities in their 

 several specialties, and while some of the 

 topics discussed bear but a remote relation to 

 questions of municipal chemistry, in the nar- 

 rower sense, it must be admitted that they are 

 all of interest at the present time. The editor 

 contributes a good introductory lecture. The 

 papers by Professor Mason on the relations of 

 drinking water to disease and on the purifica- 

 tion of water; by Mr. Flinn, of the New York 

 Board of Water Supply, on the water problem 

 in that city and the work in the Catskill Moun- 

 tains; and by Professor Winslow on the dis- 

 posal of sewage are perhaps the most interest- 

 ing in the book. The discussion of the city 

 milk supply problem by Dr. Darlington is also 

 timely and quite worth reading. 



In addition to these topics there are lec- 

 tures on food and drug adulteration, on illum- 

 inating gas, smoke prevention, ventilation, 

 explosives, paints, corrosion of metals, ce- 

 ments, road building, textiles, parks and play- 

 grounds. It will be seen that a wide range of 

 topics is covered, and in general in a way to 

 interest young people. The whole presenta- 

 tion is naturally elementary and not of a char- 

 acter to appeal to specialists. In fact, the 

 moderately informed man will recognize most 

 of the discussions as old friends with which 

 he is already familiar. But the book is not 

 intended for the well informed but for those 

 who need and are seeking general practical in- 

 formation. From this point of view it merits 

 a cordial reception. 



J. H. Long 



SPECIAL ABTICLES 



EXPERIENCES WITH THE GRADING SYSTEM OF THE 

 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI^ 



Why should there be uniformity of grading 

 in an educational institution? somebody 

 might ask. If different grades were simply 

 means of giving some students notoriety above 

 others, the question would be immaterial, for 

 a gentleman does not seek notoriety. But the 

 grade has in more than one sense a cash value, 

 and if there is no uniformity of grading in an 

 institution, this means directly that values 

 are stolen from some and undeservedly pre- 

 sented to others. 



The result is that, among the members of 

 the faculty as well as among the students, 

 men look at each other with suspicion. That 

 this attitude is detrimental to the feeling of 

 unity, to the development of a college spirit, 

 is clear to even the most superficial observer. 

 Whatever contributes to a greater uniformity 

 of grading, contributes directly towards more 

 peace, a better mutual understanding, a 

 greater community of purpose among all the 

 members of the institution. 



Whoever admits the fact just stated will 

 find much encouragement in the present 



^ Eead before Section L of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science at the 

 Minneapolis meeting. 



