Chemical & Engineering News 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 Editor: Michael Heylin Assistant Managing Editors: William F. Fallwell (New York), David M. Kiefer, James H. Krieger, Donald J. Soisson Staff Editor: Ernest L. Carpenter Senior Editors: Earl V. Anderson (New York), Wilbert C. Lepkowski, Howard J. Sanders Associate Editors: Jeffrey L. Fox, Rebecca L. Rawls, Richard J. Seltzer Assistant Editor: David J. Hanson Editorial Assistant: Theresa L. Rome Editing Services: Joyce A. Richards (Head), Marcia S. Montes (Editorial Assistant) News Bureaus: New York: William J. Storck (Head), Stephen C. Stinson (Associate Editor). Chicago: Ward Worthy (Head), Joseph Haggin (Associate Editor). Houston: Bruce F. Greek (Head). Washington: Janice R. Long (Head), P. Christopher Murray (Associate Editor). West Coast: M. Mitchell Waldrop (Assistant Editor) Foreign Bureau: London: Dermot A. O'Sullivan (Head) Indexer: Nancy R. Gleboff Graphics and Production: Bacil Guiley (Head). Leroy Corcoran (Manager). John V. Sinnett (Art Director). Norman W. Favin, Allen Kahan (Designers). Barbara Hayes, Linda Mattingly (Staff Artists) Editorial Services: Arthur Poulos, Editorial Promotion; Marion Gurfein, Circulation Development ADVISORY BOARD: Alfred E. Brown, Marcia Coleman, Ellis K. Fields, Alicja M. KirkienRzeszotarski, Peter Lykos, David P. Rail, Rustum Roy, Edward R. Thornton, Robert W. Todd, and six others yet to be selected. Published by AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (202)-872-4600 Raymond P. Mariella, Executive Director EDITORIAL BOARD: Gordon L. Nelson (Chairman); Board of Directors Chairman: William J. Bailey; President-Elect: James D. D'lanni; Past-President: Anna J. Harrison; and four additional, members from the society Committee on Publications. © Copyright 1979, American Chemical Society Subscription Service: Send all new and renewal subscriptions with payment to: Office of the Controller, ACS, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. All correspondence and telephone calls regarding changes of address, claims for missing issues, subscription service, status of records and accounts should be directed to: Manager, Membership & Subscription Services, ACS. P.O. Box 3337, Columbus, Ohio 43210; 614-421-7230. On changes of address, include both old and new addresses with ZIP code numbers, accompanied by mailing label from a recent issue. Allow four weeks for change to become effective. Claims for missing numbers will not be allowed if loss was due to failure of notice of change of address to be received in the time specified; if claim is dated (a) North America: more than 90 days beyond issue date, (b) all other foreign; more than one year beyond issue date; or if the reason given is "missing from files." Subscription Rates 1979: Printed or microfiche editions: nonmembers U.S. 1 yr. $19, 3 yr. $44; outside U.S. 1 yr. $31, 3 yr.$80. Air freight rates available on request. Single copies: Current $1.00. Rates for back issues and volumes are available from Special Issues Sales Dept., ACS, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. An annual index is available for $25 from Helen Adams, at the same address. Back and current issues are also available on microfilm and microfiche. For information, contact Microform Program, ACS. Published by ACS from 20th & Northampton St., Easton, Pa., weekly except for the last week in December. Second class postage paid at Washington, D.C, and at additional mailing offices. ACS assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by the contributors to its publications. Views expressed in the editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of ACS. Advertising Management CENTCOM LTD. (For list of offices see page 51)
4
C&ENJan. 22, 1979
Letters
Concerning trade with China SIR: I find Bruce A. Burton's letter (C&EN, Dec. 4, 1978, page 40) interesting. He states, concerning trade with China in high-technology areas, that "As we help any communist government we are only hastening our demise." Why should it not be the other way around? Why should we not assume that if the communist countries deal with us, they will only hasten their demise? Burton's attitude seems to reflect deep pessimism concerning the viability of our economic system, an outlook which is quite prevalent today. (Robert L. Heilbronner has discussed this view in an article entitled "Reflections," which appears in the Aug. 28, 1978, issue of The New Yorker.) Do we feel that a communist succession is inevitable, or have we simply lost faith in the present system? Or do these amount to the same thing? Columbus, Ohio Peter S. Shenkin
Why I don't vote SIR: In reply to Dr. Fox's letter in C&EN, Dec. 18, 1978, page 4,1 have not voted in ACS elections and I have two reasons. One is that I know too little about the administrative abilities of the candidates to make an intelligent choice, and making a random choice is an exercise in futility. A more effective election method would be for each section to select an elector who is informed and able to make an intelligent choice. My second reason is that the leadership of a voluntary organization, such as ACS, is controlled more effectively by our dues than by our votes; if the leadership does not deliver our money's worth, we can resign and join a more effective organization. At the present time, I feel that I am not getting my money's worth, despite the fact that our leaders are elected by popular vote. Wilmington, Del. Andrejs Baidins
Against authoritarianism SIR: There is a symptom of a serious disease, authoritarianism, in the recent pair of letters involving Laetrile (C&EN, Dec. 4, 1978, page 4), where one so-called scientist would suppress information on the basis that he did not agree with the conclusions. A true scientist will consider any theory at all, not on the basis of ref-
Letter to the Editor C&EN encourages readers to contribute to this letters section. However, please keep letters reasonably short, 400 words or fewer. As we receive a heavy volume of letters, persons writing letters are limited, as a general rule, to one letter within any given six-month period.
erences or who said it, but on the merits of the proposed theory. The use of authority to repress any concept, no matter how peculiar, is intolerable to a truly scientific community, and I would propose that ACS declare outright war against all forms of authoritarianism. James H. L. Lawler, Ph.D. Chairman, Chemical Technology Department, University of Dayton
Tell it like it is—hard SIR: Perhaps it is because I consider myself a teacher and not an educator that I find the efforts to detraumatize organic chemistry, as reported in C&EN, Sept. 26, 1978, page 32, so pathetic. The proper training of a person cannot be done without mental anguish. The student desires the benefits of education but pleads that it be painless. It cannot be. It is only the agony of the struggle that pushes the student over the summit of understanding. Organic chemistry is hard. It is time that we stopped apologizing for it and taught it straight as our predecessors did. First-semester students do not need to know about M-0 theory and NMR; they need to learn basic carbon chemistry— bonds and reactions. In the second semester some of the more difficult concepts may be brought in, but only after all the basics of carbon chemistry have" been learned. Leave the deep and mysterious for the third semester, which has only chemistry majors in it. Three items in the conference report are particularly alarming. The first is the idea of giving high grades in laboratory or allowing it to be taken pass/fail. Chemistry is laboratory. The fumble-fingered student whom we pass today will be the incompetent surgeon who buries his mistakes tomorrow or the engineer who contaminates a pilot plant with hazardous chemicals because he fails to close a valve on a waste pipe. Second, lowering the level of the material to the level of the students' abilities is equally absurd. We owe it to our professions to turn out quality students who will one day replace us. If the students cannot handle the material, fail them. If one really wants to make an impact in education, send the names of the students who drop or fail to the school boards of their high schools with letters stating that they were poorly prepared. High school teachers will quickly get the message and the quality of students will improve. Finally, the statement that "we must woo students" because enrollments are declining is unworthy of any professional. It is our job as teachers to give the best possible preparation to our students, passing only those who exhibit the abilities to be assets to their chosen professions. Granted, fewer students mean fewer faculty positions. Nonetheless, it is better to have a smaller department doing an honest job than to run a diploma mill. Arthur A. Eggert, Ph.D. Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison
