SCIENCE. 



473 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



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Per Year, - Four Dollars 



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Published at 

 TRIBUNE BUILDING. NEW YORK. 



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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1881. 



TEACHING OF CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS IN 

 THE UNITED STATES* 



II. 



In normal schools, the time which can be assigned 

 to work in chemistry and physics is necessarily lim- 

 ited ; it becomes then all-important that it should be 

 of the right sort. As Professor Clarke points out, it 

 is not the purpose of such schools to train specialists 

 in any one department of learning, neither should 

 they attempt to give a broad general education. The 

 sole function of a normal school is to fit students for 

 the profession of teaching. 



The Bureau of Education has taken pains to enquire 

 how far the scientific work in normal schools has 

 complied with the plan which was originally formed to 

 preserve them within their original functions. 

 On this point the report states that : 

 "An examination of the evidence presented in this re- 

 port will show a great diversity among the various nor- 

 mal schools with respect to chemistry and physics. By 

 far the larger number of them treat these sciences exactly 

 as they are treated in secondary institutions and the 

 smaller colleges ; that is, they teach the elements of both 

 subjects, partly by text books and partly by lectures ; a 

 few experiments are exhibited, and laboratory work on 

 the part of the students is entirely ignored. In other 

 words, the practice of these schools with reference to the 

 sciences does not accord with the theory upon which 

 they were originally founded." 



A small number of normal schools, however, 

 " Adopt a more rational policy. Recognizing the fact 

 that their students may be called upon to teach chemistry 

 and physics, they endeavor to train them intelligently in 

 methods of instruction." 



Respecting instruction in chemistry and physics in 



* Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education No. 6. 1881. 



A report on the teaching of Chemistry and Physics in the United 

 States, by Frank Wigglesworth Clarke, S. B., Professor of Chemistry 

 and Physics in the University oi Cincinnati. Washington, 1881. 



universities, colleges and schools of science, much inter- 

 esting matter is presented, giving in detail the actual 

 work done in these branches of science at the most 

 important institutions of this character. 



The general conclusion drawn by Professor Clarke 

 on the character of scientific instruction in universities 

 and colleges is not favorable to such establishments. 

 He says : 



" Many high schools are actually doing more and bet- 

 ter work with these sciences than is done in a very con- 

 siderable number of colleges bearing good reputations." 



The low standard of scientific work in universities 

 and colleges is attributed by the report to persistent 

 use "of the old-fashioned plan of a fix curriculum." 



" Clearly these colleges could, if they would, build 

 upon the work of the preparatory schools as a foundation, 

 and, with no more cost of time, carry their pupils much 

 further than they do now. The present subordinate position 

 of scientific studies is undoubtedly due to the continuation 

 in so many localities of the old-fashioned plan of a fixed 

 curriculum. Given a college in which the latter still 

 holds its own and in which the classics and mathematics 

 have been for many years the dominant subjects of study, 

 and we have an institution wherein but little time can be 

 given to any one of the sciences. One term, from a third 

 to half an academic year in length, is all that is usually 

 allowed to chemistry. This is absurdly inadequate as 

 one term in Latin or one term in mathematics, with no 

 previous preparation, would be. By this system the 

 sciences are not only underrated, but smattering is 

 directly encouraged. The student trained in it can have 

 no definite idea of scientific methods, scientific reason- 

 ing, or the scientific spirit. Even the professor in charge 

 of the sciences may be himself a smatterer, teaching sev- 

 eral branches without ever having received a systematic 

 training in any one of them. Such teachers, who keep 

 ahead of their classes by only a few lessons, are unfor- 

 tunately very common, and with them the modern labora- 

 tory methods are simply impossible." 



Professor Clarke may be correct in these general 

 conclusions, but it is agreeable to refer to the many 

 honorable exceptions, colleges where scientific instruc- 

 tion is offered on the most liberal and enlightened 

 basis. 



It would be difficult to take exception to the courses 

 of study in Chemistry and Physics at Columbia Col- 

 lege, New York City, where the collection of physical 

 apparatus is the finest in the country, and three lab- 

 oratories provided for the use of students. 



The instruction in Physics and Chemistry at the 

 school of mines of this college is thus described in the 

 report : — 



Physics. — Professor, O. N. Rood ; mechanics is taught 

 by Professor William G. Peck. The first year students, 

 in the first term, take up the subject of heat, including the 

 steam engine, and acoustics. In the second term they 

 study optics, electricity and magnetism. The courses 

 | are illustrated by experiments and problems and are pre- 



