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HIGH-SCHOOL CHEMISTRY ,,
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Chemistry Must Not Lose Its Birthright CHARLES E . DULL Supervisor of Science, Newark, New Jersey
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N THE spring of 1915 one of my high-school boys asked, "Why don't we have any chemists in America the way they do in Germany?" He was astonished to learn that there were a t that time about 15,000 members of the American Chemical Society, some of them very good chemists indeed. When that day's recitation in chemistry began, I asked the various members of the class to mention the names of those men whom we had studied as leaders and founders of the science of chemistry. As the pupils mentioned the names I wrote them on the blackboard. When they had named some 20 or 30 men, I wrote the nationality of each one opposite the name. Everyone who had seen the stamp, "Made in Germany," on laboratory dishes and apparatus was amazed to observe that there was not a single German name in the group listed. The science of chemistry was not German made, but one must not imply that the Germans have not been successful in chemistry, particularly in organic chemistry. The industry and perseverance of the German chemist have helped to lead to his success. Then, too, he had the use of tax-free alcohol as a solvent long before it became available in America in January, 1907. Germany's near-monopoly of dye chemistry was promoted by Government subsidies and by the "full-lineforcing" methods used with textile manufacturers. Hence, we had not only a potash famine when World War I began, but we were soon "bled white" when German dyes failed to reach us, or a "sickly green" when dyes made for dyeing casket cloth were used by makers of hosiery. Our chemists arose to meet the situation. They made glass without potash, and i t was a much better glass. They began to make medicinal and pharmaceutical preparations and to synthesize dyestuffs. By the end of 1918 there were some fonrscore manufacturers of standard dyes in the United States. Factories for making poison gases or chemical agents had been built with capacities some three or four times those of German manufacturers. Chemistry in high schools, in colleges and universities, and in industry had come into its own. What is the situation in 1943? We hear everywhere that this new war is a war of physics. The Navy requires high-school physics for 23 out of 26 jobs listed for various kinds of work. We hear much about the
work of tanks, trucks, motorcycles, jeeps, and airplanes. Preinduction courses in mechanics and electricity have been prepared. Courses are given, too, in advanced shop work, in auto mechanics, in radio, and in preflight aeronautics. Every one of these courses has its place, and i t would be utter foolishness to belittle the usefulness of any one. If a high-school boy cannot find time for a full one-year course in physics, he should a t least manage to study some of the preinduction courses. We condemn Esau because he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Are we going to sit idly by while school administrators substitute preflight aeronautics, for example, for chemistry? That is being done in too many schools. That fact was brought out in a panel discussion in a group of administrators of schools in North Jersey. The writer has had some experience in teaching such a course, and he appreciates its value, but he is vehemently opposed to substitutingsuch a course for chemistry. Are tanks of value without munitions made by the chemist? Will the dropping of bombs help to win the war unless those bombs are filled with explosives? If chemistry is neglected, who will make such explosives? Who will make poisonous or irritating chemical agents if the war reaches the stage where such agents must be used? Who will make the chemicals for use in gas masks? Who will make the fertilizer needed to grow crops sufficient to feed the world? Who will make the penicillin, sulfa-drugs, and quinine substitutes that are needed in ever-increasing quantities? In World War I the slogan was, "Chemistry will win the war." When World War I1 came, the mechanized forces stepped into the foreground, and all eyes were focused upon airplanes, tanks, dive bombers, and submarines. We must not forget, however, that chemistry is ever present in the near background. Without the high-octane gasoline which the chemist makes, such weapons would not be effective. The chemist has never been much of an advertiser. He works quietly in his laboratory, but he must keep on making lubricants, chemical agents, medicines, antiseptics, and explosives, or we shall lose the war. Go to your administrator and tell him that he must not emulate Esau by depriving his pupils of their chemical heritage.
