To the Editor: The paper by Carlin in the January issue ("Do Courses in Chemistry and Physics a t the High-School Level Contribute to Success in Beginning College Chemistry?") reminds me of a wry joke told me by a statistician friend. An economist studying the Cauadian North Atlantic fisheries observed a 0.90 correlation between the fish catch and the price of fish on the Montreal market. A biologist a t the same time noted a 0.92 correlation between the fish catch and the temperature of the fishing waters. And of course a statistician reported that the temperature of the North At,lantic is controlled by the price of fish in Montreal. Dr. Carlin notes that students with high-school chemistry and physics do better in freshman college chemistry than those without collegiate chemistry or
VOLUME 34. NO. 6, JUNE, 1951
physics or both. From this he says that he may conclude that the study of these subjects in high school contributes to success in the rollege course. ProhabIy this is true, but I do not see that the conclusion logically follows from the evidence given, which does not exclude the following interpretation: Students who take no physical sciences a t high school are not interested in them, and are only taking chemistry a t college as a required science elective. On the other hand, students who take physics and chemistry at high school do so because they are very interested. In college this interest is maintained, because of the high-school experience.
