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XLI. Notices respecting New Books, 



An Introduction to Scientific Chemistry ; designed for the use of 

 Schools and Candidates for University Matriculation Examina- 

 tions. By F. S. Barff, M.A. London : Groombridge. (Pp. xv 

 and 315.) 



r FHE appearance of this book may be regarded as one of the im- 

 *■ mediate results of the recent impulse in favour of teaching ex- 

 perimental science, which has been felt in almost every school in this 

 country. Two or three years ago common class instruction in che- 

 mistry or physics could only be obtained in a few institutions of the 

 larger and more expensive kind ; but it is now understood that these 

 subjects can be beneficially taught to boys, nay, that they are essen- 

 tial elements in a liberal education. Acting upon this belief (in 

 which he has our hearty concurrence), the schoolmaster is naturally 

 exposed to two dangers, which are not inconsiderable, and really 

 deserve his serious attention. 



The first danger which the schoolmaster has to encounter is, that 

 he does not, as a rule, appreciate the real value of what he is about 

 to undertake. His own learning has been, for the most part, ac- 

 quired from books and disseminated by the pen ; the methods of 

 accurate observation and of analytical and synthetical reasoning 

 with which experimental science is specially associated, appear to 

 him to have been much overestimated. It will be more economical, 

 and quite as salutary, if, after the little study that may be necessar)'-, 

 he teach the new branches himself. Need we say that such a plan 

 must inevitably end in failure ? Yet it is one that has been adopted 

 on several occasions by teachers who would be ashamed to meet a 

 class in mathematics, for example, without being far more than ade- 

 quate to their duty. It is evident that a science can only be pro- 

 perly taught by some one who is as conversant with it as can fairly 

 be expected from a teacher in any other subject ; and care ought to 

 be taken that no one should be employed for this purpose who can- 

 not give proof of at least two years' exclusive attention to the study 

 of the science he professes. We must add that, in addition to a 

 properly qualified instructor, a laboratory is indispensable. To say 

 nothing of the intense delight with which most boys regard labora- 

 tory work, it is reasonable to believe that they will miss the very aim 

 of their efforts unless they learn in a practical way that which de- 

 rives its chief advantage from being practical. 



But the twin peril advances from another quarter. If it is true 

 that the average schoolmaster is not sufficiently serious and appre- 

 ciative, it is no less certain that physicists, and especially chemists, 

 have provided very badly for the event of his becoming so. When 

 he anxiously asks us for the class-book which is to tell as plain and 

 simple a story as he already possesses in the 'Geography' or e Arith- 

 metic ' he uses (or a dozen others that he might as well use), he puts, 

 it must be admitted, a very puzzling question. We are compelled to 

 confess that, even including the manuals which have been expressly 



