living beings. Nevertheless, all the time the _science_
should be taught as the backbone of the entire course. The allusions
to history and the manifold applications to daily life are indeed very
important, but they must never obscure the science itself, for only
thus can a thorough comprehension of chemistry be imparted and the
benefits of the mental drill and culture be vouchsafed to the student.

=Methods of teaching--The Lecture method=

For the freshman and sophomore, two lectures per week are sufficient
for this type of instruction. In these exercises the student should
give his undivided attention to what is presented by the lecturer. The
taking of notes is to be discouraged rather than encouraged, for it
results in dividing the attention between what is presented and the
mechanical work of writing. To take the place of the usual lecture
notes, students of this grade had better be provided with a suitable
text, definite chapters in which are assigned for reading in
connection with each lecture. The text thus serves for purposes of
review, and also as a means for inculcating additional details which
cannot to advantage be presented in a lecture, but are best studied at
home by perusing a book, the contents of which have been illuminated
by the experimental demonstrations, the explanations on the
blackboard, the charts, lantern slides, and above all the living
development and presentation of the subject by the lecturer. The
lectures should in no case be conducted primarily as an exercise in
dictation and note taking. If the lectures do not give general
orientation, illumination, and inspiration for further study in
laboratory and library, they are an absolute failure and had better be
omitted entirely. On the other hand, when properly conducted the
lectures are the very life of the course.

=The laboratory work=

The laboratory work should be well correlated with the lectures,
especially during the first year. The experiments to be performed by
the student should be carefully chosen and should not be a mere
repetition of the lecture demonstrations. The laboratory experiments
should be both qualitative and quantitative in character. They should
on the one hand illustrate the peculiar properties of the substances
studied and the typical concomitant changes of chemical action, but on
the other hand a sufficient number of quantitative exercises in the
laboratory should be introduced to bring home to the student the