3. I n the Research Laboratory ROSS A. BAKER The College of the City of New York
Information furnished by research executives in a number of industrial laboratories indicates surprisingly uniform rules for the recording of wperimental work. Their practices should be of interest to laboratory instructors as well as to newly appointed research workers.
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HERE is such a great diversity of opinion among chemistry teachers regarding the objectives of laboratory work, and such a wide variation in the methods of recording laboratory notes, that one is tempted to violate a canon of academic freedom by asking the simple question, "Can all be right?" It has been said that a good teacher using a poor method may have greater success than a poor teacher using a good method, and there is evidence to show that, in some situations, laboratory notebooks may do more harm than good. In industrial laboratories, the making of notes is of fundamental importance. Where research is an organized effort t o discover and profitably apply facts all new data must be properly recorded, correlated, interpreted, and finally harnessed in order to yield a return on the investment. Hence the original procedure
of the research worker, his findings, his bibliographic searches, his conversations with others, and similar items of potential value must be recorded in permanent form. I t is generally agreed that many valuable experimental data are lost for want of proper recording; even the omission of an apparently unimportant detail may necessitate the repetition of costly experiments. Hence research workers are expected to make such accurate and detailed records that, years later, their experiments may be duplicated in every particular. In a well-organized industrial laboratory, the notebook of a new man is regularly scrutinized by a counselor, with more care, probably, than is exercised by his counterpart, the freshman laboratory instructor, and, according to the principle of Le Chatelier, economic pressure must inevitably operate to produce a notebook system of tested efficiency. Upon the assumption that chemistry teachers might profit from a glimpse a t the notebooks of workers in applied fields, an inquiry was addressed to research directors of sixty-five representative industrial laboratories, inviting general comment and, in particular, asking what instructions they customarily issue to new laboratory appointees regarding notes and reports.
Constructive replies were received from the companies listed below.* All who answered expressed a keen interest in the subject, although, as one executive confessed, "there is probably a greater difference in practice than in opinion of what is desirable." The assumption that one who is capable of doing research is also prepared to record his notes efficiently or to make acceptable reports to his employers is unwarranted. To quote from several replies: "The average college graduatc receives inadequate training in methodsof rwording crptrimental data and preparing reports " ' I h a w found a very great difirrence in thc ahilitiea of various men to keep good records, and sometimes I am inclined t o think that the most important training that can be given a man in a scientific course in college is that of observing accurately and recording clearly and systematically the things be bas seen." "It seems to me that if those in charge give careful thought to simple methods of recording data, the 'embryo chemist' could render much more valuable service in industrial laboratories than he sometimes does." "We have had indications that men leaving college are not sufficiently observant, and in the case of those who do notice things, there are many instances where they fail t o record their observations." "Our greatest criticism of recent graduates is that they are, as a rule, exceedingly poor writers and have the bad habit of jumbling everything together. There is not enough effort being made to turn out a man who knows how t o keep a notebaok. One of the difficulties we have encountered, and which I think traces directly back t o college training, is that they try t o keep two notebooks. I n one they try t o jot down notes as they go along, and then they try to keep another notebwk which looks pretty, for the inspection of their superior. Naturally this secondary notebook has very little value. T o be of value, from the patent point of view. the notebook must be orieina~and must contain the man's original observations. whenwe put this sort of thing up to our new men, they invariably produce terrible books, showing complete absence of system in many cases." "Keeping of satisfactory records is an important problem and one of the mast valuable points of technic which can be imparted to students while in schwl." "The chief deficiency in young chemists is failure t o date and title records properly. The other important deficiency of the young American chemist is in spelling. Most university graduates come to us spelling and pronouncing 'laboratory' as 'labratory,' 'insoluble' as 'insaluable,' and making other mistakes too appalling to record." "Quite frequently, the laboratory manuals given the students
* Ahhutt Laboratories; .Uuminum Co. of America; American Cyanamid Company; Amwican Hard Kubhrr Co.; Amerirsn Shert & Tin Plarc Co.: Armour & Co ; B~keliteCorporation; Ilarbcr A~phnltCo.; Bristol-Myers Co.; llruuklyn i.&n Gas Co.: Californix Fruit Grurers I'rrhangc; Champion Filrr' Co.; Chencv Bros (.\llers. of Silk): Consolidated (;as Co. oi S. Y.: coming Glass WO&; Crane CO. : DeLaval Senarator Co. : Mar: tin Ih;ni, Co.; Ucnniion W g . Co.; DimnonA Smte I'ihre Co.; Ihherty Rescarch Co.; Dorr Co.; Dow Chrmral Co.;du Pont de Scmows& Co.: Flinrkote Co.: General I
