Mat 5, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



621 



tive use could have been made of it and 

 much might have been added, but, being 

 unused, it is soon forgotten. At the end of 

 two or three years of work, the pupil may 

 actually know less of the science than he 

 did at the end of the first year. Even if 

 each course only overlaps about half of the 

 pi'eceding course, the inevitable result is 

 that the pupil gains in four years only 

 what, with better coordinated instruction, 

 he could have secured in two years. 



Curiously enough, the opposite fault af- 

 fects much of our organic chemistry. Here 

 the books, instead of striving to link the 

 subject intimately with inorganic chemis- 

 try, and thus aiming at continuity, too 

 often give the subject as far as possible the 

 appearance of a different science. Unfor- 

 tunately the instructors often follow the 

 same lead. I have known cases where a 

 law of chemistry was hardly ever men- 

 tioned, an experiment was never shown, a 

 substance was almost never exhibited, and 

 the only chemical material in evidence was 

 pulverized gypsum in streaks and curves 

 on a black background. There are notable 

 exceptions, of course, but too much so- 

 called organic chemistry is nothing but riot 

 of symbols and "bonds." Some overlap- 

 ping is necessary here, to offset the real 

 differences in the nature of many of the re- 

 actions and of many of the experimental 

 methods. The course might well be made 

 essentially a part of the elementary general 

 chemistry, and less like a separate science. 



In respect to loss of time by overlapping, 

 the university, with its numerous instruct- 

 ors, is at a disadvantage when compared 

 with the college. In the latter, three or 

 four years of chemistry are all given under 

 the immediate direction of one man, and 

 continuous work and rapid progress by the 

 pupil are more likely to be secured. 



Standard Courses. — In different institu- 

 tions in which the training in chemistry 



serves the very same purposes, there is too 

 little agreement in regard to the weight, 

 the content, and the quality of the regular 

 courses. In many universities and col- 

 leges, the course in inorganic chemistry 

 based on high-school chemistry is stand- 

 ardized, and demands two or three class- 

 room periods and six hours of laboratory 

 work weekly for twenty-four to twenty- 

 eight weeks. But the graduates of one 

 large university tell me that their course 

 in this subject is inferior in quality and 

 extent to the average high-school course, 

 and that previous work in the science is 

 neither required for admission to it nor 

 recognized in any way when existent. 

 Courses of all kinds, intermediate between 

 these extremes, are common. Now, the 

 establishment of a more uniform standard 

 is most desirable for many reasons. Migra- 

 tion from one school to another is rapidly 

 increasing. Schools of medicine are re- 

 quiring previous college work, but the boy 

 who has had about half a course each in 

 inorganic chemistry and qualitative analy- 

 sis or organic chemistry can neither be ad- 

 mitted, nor can he be directed to any course 

 in which his peculiar deficiencies can be 

 made up. The student who decides to move 

 to a school of engiueering often finds that 

 he has been provided with a similarly ex- 

 tensive, but superficial preparation which 

 leaves him a misfit. When the student at- 

 tempts graduate work in another institu- 

 tion, he encounters the same handicap. Of 

 course, a slight course in inorganic chem- 

 istry can be followed only by a course in 

 mechanical qualitative analysis, such as 

 prevailed forty years ago, and any attempts 

 in each successive course to develop a grasp 

 of the modern aspects of the science must 

 be given up. A separate and distinct 

 course in physical chemistry, taken later, 

 can never solve the problem. In such a 

 course, only a few illustrations can be 



