h has cast so
much light upon the chemical processes in living plants and animals,
processes upon which life itself depends. The analysis of organic
compounds is probably best taught in connection with the course in
organic chemistry. It is here that the student is introduced to the
use of the combustion furnace and the method of working out the
empirical formulae of the compounds which he has carefully prepared and
purified. The laboratory practice in organic chemistry generally
requires the use of larger pieces of apparatus. Some of the
experiments also are connected with peculiar dangers of their own.
These facts require that the student should not approach the course
without sufficient preliminary training. Furthermore, the teacher
needs to exercise special care in supervising the laboratory work so
as to guard the student against serious accidents.

The historical development of organic chemistry is especially
interesting, and allusions to the history of the important discoveries
and developments of ideas in organic chemistry should be used to
stimulate interest and so enhance the value of the work of the
student. The practical side of organic chemistry should never be lost
sight of for a moment, and under no condition should the course be
allowed to deteriorate into one of mere picturing of structural
formulae on the blackboard. All chemical formulas are merely compact
forms of expression of what we know about chemical compounds. There
are, no doubt, many facts about chemical compounds which their
accepted formulas do not express at all, and the wise teacher should
lead the student to see this. There is peculiar danger in the course
in organic chemistry that the pupil become a mere formula worshiper,
and this must carefully be guarded against.

The applications of organic chemistry to the arts and industries, but
especially to biochemistry, will no doubt interest many members of the
class of a course in organic chemistry if the subject is properly
taught. This will be particularly the case if the teacher always holds
before the mind of the pupil the actual realities in the laboratory
and in nature, using formulation merely as the expression of our
knowledge and not as an end in itself.

=Place of physical chemistry in the college curriculum=

Physical chemistry, commonly regarded as the youngest and by its
adherents the most important and all-pervading branch of chemistry, is
presented very early in the colle