IF YOU HAVE TO PIPETTE OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER YOU NEED THE NEW, IMPROVED ADAMS AUPETTE®
An automatic pipetting device that repeatedly delivers accurate, predetermined quantities of liquid.
IMPORTANT FEATURES •k Hairline "lock-in" micrometer adjustment for accurate settings ~k Can be used interchangeably with standard lOcc. and 5cc. syringes or lcc. tuberculin type syringe •k Newly designed for comfortable grip or can be mounted on a laboratory stand * All moving parts encased in stainless steel * Ideal for washing and diluting procedures where accuracy is important.
N E W A U P E T T E VALVE — made of durable,
i n e r t p l a s t i c —no s p r i n g s —no s e a t e d valves, in fact, NO metal and NO moving parts. Backflow is eliminated and it primes readily even at minute settings. T h e Aupette Valve is ideal for a variety of uses in t h e laboratory and is available separately. Available from your dealer
Clay-Adams
New York l u , N. Y. | Circle No. 38 on Readers' Service Card
34 A
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ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
REPORT FOR ANALYTICAL CHEMISTS sciences, or in any other field, no m a t t e r how much of an investment we make in their education. Neither does it appear likely t h a t such techniques will be developed in t h e immediate future; a t any rate, it would not seem prudent to make national plans on the basis t h a t they will be soon available. But this means t h a t if we are to optimize the general social use of our h u m a n resources, then there is no alternative to providing opportunity, for as m a n y of our youtli as can meet the minimum intelligence requirements, to acquire the scope and complexity of knowledge now obviously necessary to provide a reasonable chance to be productive in the sciences. However, although this level of intelligence is fairly high (estimated by some to be a t an I Q level of 130 or so) there are very large numbers of men and women, a t and above this level, who do not now reach the university. This is particularly true among members of the underprivileged groups, especially the negroes. Obviously, our society is incurring a major loss in scientific productivity because of this circumstance, and ways must be found to overcome this needless national waste. As a m a t t e r of fact, it is possible to construct a very persuasive argument, t h a t our long run national capabilities in science and technology can be more surely, and perhaps more quickly, enhanced on a large scale by following this route than any other now open to us. Strong individual motivations for intensive intellectual training extending over m a n y years are necessary to prepare a person for productive research a t t h e frontiers of science and technology. However, unless our society's general scale of values is modified to provide more generally enthusiastic approval of intellectual pursuits—including scientific creativity—we cannot expect any large proportion of those with the necesssary n a t u r a l endowments to begin, and to continue with persistent zeal, the devoted but difficult labors which are necessary. T h e a t t a i n m e n t of intellectual excellence, as compared to other personal
endowments and accomplishments, must come to be much more generally accepted by our youth as a challenge rather than evidence of "squareness." There has been some improvement in this situation in r e cent years but even strong motivations are not enough. Personal interests in, and devotion to, the sciences and mathematics through t h e early years of schooling cannot be adequately exploited without a p propriate learning opportunities, or in the absence of imaginative and stimulating teaching firmly founded on a broad mastery of subject matter. I n addition to its direct contribution to superior intellectual development for future creativeness, such intensive early training might well provide a more reliable basis for selection of t h e unusually well endowed, as well as for t h e better use of the student's time, energy, and of university resources, on reaching t h a t level of work. It may be for reasons such as these t h a t the Soviet ten-year cycle of primary and secondary education provides t h a t to graduate, all students must t a k e 5 years of physics, 6 years of mathematics, 3 years of biology, and 4 years of chemistry, with t h e course content of this work, during the last two years of the cycle, being comparable in level to t h a t of the usual introductory courses in these subjects in our liberal arts colleges. By contrast, our corresponding school cycle contains 12 rather t h a n 10 years and, in addition, has been estimated to provide, on the average, less than V-, this volume of training in mathematics and the sciences. Of course, it has been argued t h a t there is insufficient evidence to show t h a t t h e depth, or the intensity, of early Soviet scientific training is either necessary or desirable, particularly if it involves sacrifice of some emphasis on the humanities. While there is no need to debate these issues in detail a t this conference, and quite aside from the m a t t e r of increasing scientific p r o ductivity, it seems beyond doubt t h a t most of our schools do not now, on the average, provide even approximately, a level of effort in mathematics and the sciences which our youth have t h e energy and
