Seitember 11, 190.>.] 



SCIENCE. 



335 



(if undigested facts. Little wouder tlio 

 students are deficient in 'elementary logic,' 

 in power of 'application,' and that 'their 

 failures vary with the instruction they 

 liave received,' or failed to receive. The 

 colleges, on the other hand, have set ex- 

 aminations to fit a one-year crammed 

 course and have admitted students that 

 were confessedly unable to go on with the 

 higher branches of the subject, and were 

 thus forced to repeat in a more thorough 

 manner the work of the preparatory school. 

 This unnatural loss of time and energy 

 can not long continue in a quickened edu- 

 cational atmosphere. Two roads lead out 

 of the woods. Let the authorities ex- 

 plieitlj' state that thorough preparation in 

 tlie entire field of general chemistry can 

 not be had iu less than two yeai-s of five 

 liours per week in a well-equipped labora- 

 tory, ilake the examination rigid enough 

 to meet this denuind, and when the stu- 

 dent has entered college, do not require 

 him to repeat his work, but give him ad- 

 vanced standing, as he wmild have in 

 Latin or mathematics. This is one road. 

 The othei-. and I believe better one,' is: 

 Limit the requirement to one year's work; 

 cut out the consideration of metals ex- 

 cept as they incidentally appear in salts 

 and acids radicals: demand a thorough 

 course in the non-metals, the chemical 

 theory, laws and general principles. Then, 

 as in the other case, do not ask the student 

 to waste another year or half year in 

 repetition, but give him advanc(>d work. 

 beginning with metals. 



Either of these plans would relegate the 

 rudiments of the science to the high schools 

 as is fitting. AVhy should the college teach 

 high school chennsfry any more than high 

 school English, or high school algebra? I 

 believe it is almost, if not altogether, as 

 important that evei-y high school graduate 

 should know something of the composition 



of the air he breathes, the constituents of 

 the food that nourishes him and the re- 

 actions of the fuel that keeps him warm, 

 as to know the binomial theorem or the 

 proof of the pons asinorum. Why require 

 the latter as a prerequisite to entrance 

 upon a liberal education, and onut the 

 former? When colleges take the same 

 stand concerning the fundamentals of 

 chemistry which they assume in English 

 and iu nuithematies, a great advance will 

 have been made. As Caesar is read iu a 

 preparatory Latin course, and not again 

 studied in college, let oxygen, carbon and 

 silica be relegated to the secondary schools, 

 and the college course begin with metals, 

 analysis, etc. This division line is purely 

 arbitrary, but it serves my purpose of illus- 

 tration. Any other division mutually 

 agreed upon by conference of representa- 

 tives of the two classes of institutions 

 would serve equally well. I believe it to 

 be entirely practicable for a conference of 

 college and high school men to lay out a 

 course with experiments to cover the re- 

 quired ground so satisfactorily that no 

 repetition shall be needed. 



I believe this subject is worthy of the 

 mo.st serious cousideration from an economic 

 standpoint. Last year President Butler 

 gave an address before this association on 

 the waste of time between the prinuiry 

 school and the university, and this week 

 the discussion has been renewed under 

 otherforms bythe college presidents. Right 

 here is our chance for contribution. Save 

 a year in chemistry. I believe it to be the 

 plain duty of colleges and high schools to 

 cooperate in formulating such a plan. Es- 

 jieeiallj' it seems to me that a strong point 

 can be scored by the examination board 

 that has undertaken the task of unifying 

 entrance examinations and preparatory 

 work, of setting a model which the high 

 schools shall attain unto, in order that a 



