Vor.. 6.No. 1
SPLINTS son TESTINO GASES
81
First semester high-school physics with second semester high-schaol physics 0.87
for 91 cases;1°and IowaChemistryAptitudewith first semester high-school chemistry,0.48 for 356 cases.
From this summary one is inclined to be cautious in making statements regarding the place of tests in the sectioning of students-especially if this sectioning accomplished by the tests is to alter the stndent's life plans. However, it is not too much to say: in classifying our chemistry students, intelligence and aptitude tests may help but with them "emotional and volitional traits1'.13 should be considered as well as the student's educational achievement found recorded in the form of school grades or often obtainable in personal estimates from former teachers." A very heartening fact coming out of these studies is-tests do locate the superior student with more certainty than they do his less capable classmates. Once located, it is possible for his teacher to make special effortsto secure an achievement from him commensurate with his ability.
WOODEN SPLINTS FOR TESTING GASES E. D. PALMFAR, SYRACUSE UNNERSITY, SYRACUSE, NEW YORE Splints such as are commonly used in the elementary chemical laboratory to test for oxygen, etc., may be purchased in the form of applicators which are used by physicians for swabbing. The size is convenient, the cost is low, and the splints glow freely. Standard applicators measure about 15 cm. in length and 1.5 mm. in diameter. They may be purchased through local hospitals a t a cost, in quantity, of approximately 5 cents per hundred. At Syracuse University the cost averages 2 cents per student per year.
Coal from Crude Oil Refining By-Product. An oil r e h i n g plant that makes bituminous coal from crude oil and sells it at a profit was described recently hy Prof. Walter F. Rittman of the Camegie Institute of Technology speaking before the Second International Conference on Bituminous Coal a t Pittsburgh. In connection with the cracking process used to convert a larger portion of the crude oil into gasoline, a heavy refuse fuel oil was obtained. In treating the refuse oil there vas produced an amorphous bituminous coal suitable for caking, burning under boilers, or even conversion into petroleum again by the liquefaction of coal processes now being developed abroad. Prof. Rittman predicted that natural gas piped thousands of miles from the Texas fields t o middle westcities would, during the next few years, compete seriously in price with fuel oil.--Science Service
