VOL.2. NO. 5
Cnemrsm
IN
HOLLAND
341
CHEMISTRY IN HOLLAND The many publications which are to be found throughout the literature show more than a mere account how, in our little country, science has several earnest and devoted champions. Most of the people that are concerned with chemistry in their work are members of the Dutch Chemical Society, which a t this moment comprises more than 1200 members. The Society furnishes its members with (1) a weekly in which are published short communications on recent scientific work together with abstracts of diierent important articles, the review of books and obituary news; (2) a monthly paper called the Recueil des travaux chimiques des Pays-Bar. The research work of many of our workers is published in this paper in English, French or German, according t o the choice of the author; (3) a Year-Book, which contains many valuable data. The Society appoints several permanent committees each of which has its special field of work. I mention the committee for the economic position of the members, one for patents, one for education and one which examines analysts in order to create a well-instructed staff of them. The Cunseil International takes the international relations t o heart.
Twice a year the Society has a general meeting of its members where lectures are delivered on actual problems in the field of chemistry. During the last few years there have been founded special sections where members of like interest are able to discuss their problems. In the larger towns the members form more intimate and frequently meeting clubs. Notwithstanding the fact that Holland has no noteworthy natural resources which make an industrial country, except some coal, i t has some very important industries where chemistry plays an important role. I mention the Philips' Works of Incandescent Lamps. It has a large staff of scientifically trained men and an exquisitely equipped laboratory. Then there are the beet-sugar manufactories where more than 3 millions of beets are being worked up daily during the campaign. In connection with the well developed agriculture made possible by the favorable condition of the soil, there are some fertilizer plants. There are plants working up vegetable oils, and others producing milk-products, artificial silk, quinine, chemical and pharmaceutical products and paper. I give you this brief account of the more important industries to show that there are needed many well-trained men to enable them to maintain their position in the world-market. During the war many other plants sprang up like toad stools but most of them were not able to stand normal competition and disappeared more rapidly than they were started. Not only do we need scientific chemists in the industry but in the last decade chemistry has claimed its well merited influence on the, welfare of the population in general. There has been issued a law concerning foodcontrol. This law has spread over the country chemical laboratories where all sorts of foods are tested. There are special control-stations for agriculture and dairy-products. The colonies with their rapidly increasing industry and cultivation of their rich soil and mines attract many of our students, especially the oil and the cane-sugar industry. It will be seen from this short review that there exists a fair demand for well-trained chemists. In consequence the educational principles underlying our intermediate schools as well as our universities and still more our technical schools have more or less adapted themselves to the growing importance of science. At this moment the boys and girls after leaving the elementary school generally follow a three- or five-year course a t one of the many high schools which are to be found in nearly any town. The regulation of the school fees is such that the costs of this further education as well as that of the elementary education need not be the reason for not accepting it. At these schools the pupils are instructed in a large number of subjects so that after leaving high school a t the average age of 17-18 they can still choose what to do further. To make this possible the program is in the
VOL. 2. NO.5
CHBMISTBY M
.
HOWAND
343
opinion of many people overburdened hut it has nevertheless great advantages. Besides these high schools there are gymnasia where the classical languages receive a prominent place and the lycea which are institutions of more recent date and which try to combine the advantages of both the classical and the non-classical systems. The gymnasia and lycea furnish the preparation especially for the clerical and the literary professions. The high schools give attention in the 6rst place to science and mathematics but a normal student takes with him a knowledge of three modern languages which enables him to read hooks and foreign scientific literature. In later years the gymnasia have enlarged their dose of mathematics and science extensively. The task of the universities is to furnish men and women able to accomplish a task in the industry and the lahoratory and to train those who will he called upon to instruct the coming generation. At this moment there is no special course for the instruction of future teachers. Moreover the salaries are lately so much depressed that any word on that matter which has an idealistic sound is received with sarcasm. It depends chiefly on the vocational choice of the student and in many cases on pecuniary circumstances whether he will become a teacher. In several cases we meet teachers who have studied with the intention of going to work in the factory or in the laboratory hut who at the moment of taking their grade did not find a suitable place as has been the case especially since the war. The student a t any university for any profession takes officially 5 years to which we have to add in several cases some years needed for getting practical experience as in the case of medical students but most students need a year or two more to pass through the different examinations. After having passed these there remains the possibility of taking a degree. To attain this end the student has to work out a prohlem and present a dissertation. The technical education is in the care of three kinds of schools. There are trade-schools, primary and secondary, and schools which aim a t special training in chemical analysis. There is one technical university with a department for instruction in chemical technology. The efficiency of the chemical education which the student gets a t the university in general depends in the first place on the standard of the professors and of the laboratory assistants. During, and shortly after, the war there were too many students in chemistry compared with the number of professors and assistants and the available room in the laboratories. Although it would seem only natural that the chemical engineer is the first to find a place in the industry this is not always the case as the promovendi of the other universities sometimes are preferred. At the university the future chemist has in his first years to follow many
colleges. The rest of his time is devoted to practical training which consists of analytical work and physical experiments. Then the student passes a laboratory course in organic and inorganic chemistry together with one in general chemistry. After that he has to train himself in more specialized work. In the meantime he has completed a course in mathematics and physics and in the technical university in theoretical and practical mechanics. The secondary teaching of chemistry is limited to the 4th and 5th form in the high school and to 4, 5 and 6 in the gymnasium. In the first there are given, respectively, 4 and 6 lessons in chemistry weekly, each lesson of 50 minutes. There is generally little occasion for the pupils to perform experiments for themselves except a t home. Only some simple qualitative tests are performed in the 5th form. Nevertheless there are teachers who accomplish their task following for the greater part the heuristic method in the laboratory. At the end of the 5th form there is an examination, the written part of which is the same throughout the country. I n the two years mentioned the average pupil gets a fair amount of knowledge of the fundamental principles of chemistry which can be compared with the curricula presented in hooks such as Smith's Intermediate Chemistry, Practical Chemistry by Black and Conant, etc., except that we give more organic chemistry.
