SCIENCE 



NEW YORK, JUNE 24, 1892. 



AIMS OF LABORATORY TRAINING.' 



BY OHAHLES F. MABEEY. 



It is only within a comparatively recent period that the 

 chemical laboratory has attained the prominent position it 

 uovv occupies in colleges and schools of science. Indeed, in 

 its present development, with facilities for practical study in 

 inorganic and organic chemistry, both elementary and ad- 

 vanced, thirty years ago there was not a single laboratory in 

 this country, and few elsewhere. Probably the earliest attempt 

 in this country to give systematic laboratory instruction, to 

 classes of any magnitude, was made in 1865 at the Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Tech nology. Analytical chemistry had pre- 

 viously been taught to a limited extent in a few institutions 

 for the training of analytical chemists. In organic chemis- 

 try, or chemistry of the carbon compounds, instruction was 

 first given by lectures and laboratory work in 1873 at Har- 

 vard College. On account, it may be, of the slight attention 

 that technological and applied chemistry has received in this 

 country as compared with Europe, few courses of study at 

 the present date, even in the most prominent schools of sci- 

 ence, include practical training in this subject. 



In speaking of the functions of the modern chemical 

 laboratory, it should be considered as an important factor in 

 liberal education as well as a means of preparation for scien- 

 tific pursuits; and we shall doubtless find our attention fully 

 occupied in describing the principal aims of a laboratory de- 

 voted to pure and applied chemistry, without including the 

 no less important work of laboratories in the special fields 

 of agricultural, medical, biological, and sanitary chemistry. 

 That a thorough training in general and descriptive chem- 

 istry should now form an essential feature in a liberal course 

 of study, probably no one will venture to doubt. To the man 

 of business, a knowledge of the composition and properties of 

 materials is important as stock in trade. In the practice 

 of law, decisions often involve a consideration of chemical 

 changes as well as the composition of various substances. To 

 men engaged in literary pursuits, in political life, or in the 

 ministry, questions are frequently presented that require for 

 their intelligent consideration a certain knowledge of chem- 

 istry. But especially to men engaged in any scientific pur- 

 suit, a good knowledge of substances, their occurrence, prop- 

 erties, and relations is indispensable. A chemical laboratory 

 is therefore called upon to provide for each student broad 

 and thorough training in the elementary principles of chem- 

 ical science, including the composition and properties of 

 matter. As to the best method for such instruction there 

 may have been certain differences of opinion, but I think it 

 is now universally conceded, that, while it is essential that 

 the student should commit to memory important facts and 

 principles as they are presented to him at the lecture table, 

 it is in the laboratory that he recives the discipline of the 

 hand and eye, and in methods of reasoning, that enables him 

 to acquire the true spirit of scientific thought, and to retain 

 a remembrance of facts that otherwise he would soon for- 

 get. 



1 An address delivered at the opening of the new chemical laboratory of 

 She Case School of Applied Science, May 13, 1893. 



As a foundation for more advanced study in science, es- 

 pecially in the various branches of chemistry, the analytical 

 laboratory is an important adjunct. It is here that the stu- 

 dent should not only receive most careful training in the 

 methods of correct manipulation and close attention to the 

 details of analytical processes, but he must acquire familiar 

 acquaintance with the many analytical operations that he 

 will be called upon to perform in the practice of his pro- 

 fession. It is unfortunately true that students are often 

 content with the acquisition of sufficient knowledge to enable 

 them to obtain positions as analytical chemists. Such train- 

 ing, however, is inadequate for the demands of the present 

 day, since chemists are frequently called upon to undertake 

 problems in technical chemistry that require broader quali- 

 fications. A very considerable part of manufacturing opera- 

 tions in industrial chemistry are based upon the properties 

 and reactions of the carbon compounds, and any course of 

 instruction in applied chemistry must be regarded as seri- 

 ously deficient if it does not include thorough discipline in 

 organic chemistry. 



In a preparatory course of four j-ears in chemistry, then, 

 if thorough drill in the elementary chemistry of the first 

 year is followed by instruction in analytic and theoretical 

 chemistry, extending through two years, with an equally ex- 

 tended course on the carbon compounds, the student will be 

 prepared in the fourth year to appreciate a comprehensive, 

 practical course in industrial and applied chemistry. Inci- 

 dentally, in the more advanced subjects, he should form at 

 least some slight acquaintance with methods of study and 

 investigation outside of the ordinary routine. Indeed, ability 

 to undertake original problems such as are constantly pre- 

 sented for solution in industrial operations has a pecuniary 

 value that is well recognized. It is in fact the basis of many 

 commercial enterprises. 



With this brief outline of what may be regarded as the 

 principal aims to be kept in view in the management of a 

 laboratory, perhaps it will be of interest to examine into the 

 causes that have led to the recent development of laboratory 

 methods. Although, as already explained, these methods 

 have been largely developed within thirty years, it should 

 not be understood that the foundation for them has been laid 

 within this period. On the contrary, a knowledge of certain 

 processes involving chemical principles conducive to the 

 comfort and convenience of mankind is older than history 

 itself. Metallic implements and coins of the bronze age in- 

 dicate that the prehistoric races were acquainted with methods 

 for the reduction and alloying of metals. That the ancient 

 Egyptians understood the preparation of indigo and its ap- 

 plication to dyeing is shown by the presence of tissues dyed 

 with this substance on mummies taken from their oldest 

 tombs. The extraction of turkey-red from madder was early 

 known to the Egyptians, Persians, and Indians, and later to 

 the Greeks and Romans. It would be impossible in a limited 

 space to describe the numerous discoveries of the early ages, 

 or the multitude of facts collected by the alchemists in their 

 endeavors to discover the philosopher's stone which would 

 enable them to transform the baser metals into the nobler, 

 and in their search for the elixir vitce, a panacea for all the 

 ills of man. Notwithstanding this vast accumulation of 

 facts, no efforts were made toward a systematic arrangement 



