CORRESPONDENCE SUGGESTED EXPERIMENT FOR HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS To the Editor DEARSIR: I t is stated in textbooks that lithium always occurs in ashes of tobacco and I have never observed tobacco ashes that did not conform to this statement. Tberefore I suggest that a group of students grow tobacco plants this summer in pots with definite additions of lithium salts and also in a soil spectroscopically free of lithium, and then note the results on the plant and on nicotine formation. The analytical work involved is not too difficult for high-school students. So far as my reading extends no one has tried this experiment. Respectfully, F. W. SMITH VIA NOGALES ARIWNA GUASAVE SINALOA, MEXICO
CHEMISTRY AIDS To the Editor DEARSIR: Every chemistry teacher knows 06semation is the keynote to progress of all good science students. I am wondering if a list of the discoveries made by close observation would not impress students and encourage them to observe more closely. The methods of discoveries may be divided into two groupsthose that were made by deliberate intent and those that were accidental. Since it is generally conceded that it takes a keener observation to find something one is not hunting than to find a thing that one expects, the latter group will be the more impressive. With this idea in mind I wish to enlist the help of teachers and students to compile a list of the two divisions. The compiled list will be offered for publication and when published will become the property of all. A few examples will illustrate. Becquerel while testing
fluorescent substances to find if they gave X-rays accidentally discovered radioactivity. Neither Perkins, Ramsay, Gomberg, nor Remsen were looking for the discoveries they made. The list should be extended to great length. While searching for the above we might be on the lookout for certain earmarks which indicate the slowness of scientific advancement despite the rapidity in some lines. A list of these should give an impetus to look about us to see how we might apply our cbemishy. For example, coal tar up to the middle of the last century was a nuisance; phosphorus was discovered many years before matches were invented; and refuse burners destroyed millions of dollars worth of wood before complete utilization of sawmill refuse was obtained. Science should be moderately skeptical. A list of incidents in which science has been too skeptical might h e l ~us not to deny too stronrrly ideas but -. -proposed hofd them in abeyance for future evidence. Newland's law of octaves paper was refused publication by the English Chemical Society and he was ridiculed by such remarks as, "Have you tried an alphabetical arrangement of the elements or the new possibilities in the field of music?" Twenty-one years later the Royal Society made amends by awardmg him the Davy medal for the very same paper. To show how scientific ideas "are in the air" one might list the number of discoveries that have been made simultaneously and independently. For example, Mendeleeff, Meyer, and Chancourtois on the periodic table; Darwin and Wallace on the origin of species; Hopkins and James on the discovery of illinium. After a few months the contributions to the four lists with the names of the contributors will be offered for publication as mentioned above. Please give complete reference where each incident is discussed (original where possible). Send lists to the compiler, undersigned. Sincerely yours, ALFRED M. EWING 56 E. W O O D RAVENUE ~
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