396
JOURNAL
os CHEMICAL EDUCATION
APna, 1926
PANDEMIC CHEMISTRY WILDERD.BANCROW, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, I ~ A CN. A Y. ,
The universities have two functions in the teaching of the sciences. They should teach a science as a professional study and as a cultural study. In the case of chemistry the universities teach chemistry fairly well as a professional subject for the chemists, the medical men, the biologists, the engineers, etc. So far as I know, there is no university which now teaches chemistry as a cultural study-as a part of a general education. In almost all places the unfortunate student who would like to learn something about chemistry is forced to take the introductory or freshman course in chemistry. This is, and must necessarily be, entirely unsatisfactory. Freshman chemistry is avowedly and properly a professional course. It leads up to qualitative and quantitative analysis, to organic chemistry, to physical chemistry, and to other advanced courses in chemistry and medicine. The course in general chemistry does not cover enough ground to be of real value to the student seeking a general education and it goes into far too much detail for him. The better it is as a professional course the worse it is as a cultural course. With the exception of Syracuse University all the universities about which I happen to know take up the metals a t the end of the course. This is quite wrong for a cultural course because the student should start with things that he knows about. Gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, aluminum, nickel, zinc, and platinum are household words to everybody. The sooner one can begin talking about the metals, the more quickly will the student see the bearing of what he is being taught. The metals are about the only chemical elements that the average man handles. Since chemistry is the fundamental science, one which we are always encountering in some form and in some place, i t is particularly desirable that everybody should have some knowledge of chemistry; and yet the teaching chemist does nothing to make this possible. We have nobody but ourselves to thank for it. The chemists complain, and very properly, that the business men and the bankers are deplorably ignorant of chemistry; but the chemist provides no way for the prospective business man to get even the most rudimentary knowledge of chemistry as a whole. What we need as a cultural course in chemistry is a course which will cover all the ground in chemistry given in the universities without going into too much detail. This means a series of popular lectures covering the whole field of chemistry as well as i t can be done in the time. I urge the giving of a course of this sort, primarily for the benefit of the man who is expecting not to go on in chemistry. This course will be called "pandemic chemistry" (pandemicof, or pertaining to, all the people). Almost all chemists are agreed that such a course should be given, but .the difficulty
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is to decide just what ground it should cover. I have been working on this problem for a number of years and I have discussed it with a good many chemists. Through the assistance of Mr. Francis P. Garvau, president of the Chemical Foundation, I was able to secure the services of Dr. Edward P. Phelps, now professor of chemistry at Marshall College, to work ont for me lecture notes for those portions of the course about which I knew relatively little. I am deeply indebted both to Mr. Garvan and to Dr. Phelps. I am now ready to give a tentative outline of what I think should be included in a course on pandemic chemistry. The division into lectures is, of course, arbitrary. Some topics will need more time than I have assigned to them and others will require less; hut I don't yet know which is which. ' The line of approach is in all cases from things about which the student knows. Hydrogen is used in balloons; helium is the noninflammable gas used in the Shenandoah. Nickel is familiar from nickelplated skates and bicycles. We have mercury in our thermometers and we paint a sprained thumb with a solution of iodine. So it goes all along the line. Everybody knows about quicklime and slaked lime. Very few people except chemists know anything about barium hydroxide. If one is to mention barium hydroxide, it must come through its relation to lime. They tell a story of Louis Agassiz which always appealed to me. Before the opening of a session a t Penikese Island, somebody said: "I suppose yon will begin with a general classification." "No," said Agassiz, "I shall begin with a bushel of clams."
Pandemic Chemistry Lecture 1.-What is the world made of and how is i t made? What are salt, sugar, marble, granite, etc.? Wind makes us conscious of air. Mixture of oxygen and nitrogen. Pressure-volume relations. Absolute temperature. Other gases and their densities: hydrogen, helium, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and dioxide, chlorine. to vapor and liquid to solid. Evaporation and boiling Lecture 2.-Water-liquid point. Geysers. Mercury, ammonia, etc. Liquefaction and solidification of gases. Critical temperatures and pressures. Commercial production of compressed gases. Lecture 3.-Solubility and Crystallization. Alcohol and water in the radiator. Fractional distillation of ordinary liquids and of liquid air. Dewar flask and thermos bottle. Properties of materials a t liquid air temperatures. Lecture 4. General Properties of Metals.-Copper, gold, silver, iron, aluminum, tin, lead, nickel, zinc, mercury, platinum, tungsten. List of metals with specific gravities, melting points, boiling points, and electrical conductances. Lecture 5. General Properties of Alloys.-Brass, bronze, aluminum bronze, duralumin, magnalium, cupro-nickel, Monel metal. German silver, constantan, manganin. invar, nichrome, gold alloys, silver alloys, soft solder, Babbitt metal, type metal, Wood's alloy, alloy steels. Leclures 6-7. General Properties of Non-Metals.-Carbon, diamond, graphite, coal, coke, sulfur, phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, iodine, hydrogen, bromine, arsenic, silicon, selenium, helium, argon. Lecturs 8. Elements and Compounds.-Definition of elements and campounds.
of
Law definite and multiple proportions. Atoms and molecules. Gram-molecular weights. Formulas and valence. Avogadro's number. hydrochloric, nitric, boric, phosLedure 9. Acids, Bases, and Salts.-Sulfuric, phoric, acetic, butyric, oxalic, lactic, citric, and tartaric acids. Sodium, potassium, calcium, and ammonium hydroxides. Sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, borax, sodium chloride, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, sodium sulfate, ammonium sulfate, calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, water glass, vermilion, alum. Lecture 10. Qualitative Analysis.-Detection of metals. Detection of acids. Ledure 11. Quantitative Analysis.4ravimetric analysis: brass and lead. Volumetric analysis: hydrochloric acid and silver. Lectures 12-13. Organic Chemistry.-Hydrocarbons; halogen derivatives of hydrocarbons, alcohols and phenols, ethers, aldehydes and ketones, acids, esters (including fats), carbohydrates, amines, amino acids, proteins, and other nitrogen compounds. Lecture 14.-Fire and flame: spectium analysis. Ledure 15.-The periodic law. Lecture 16.-Isotopes. Lecturer 17-19. Ele~1rochernistry.-Electroplating and electrolytic refining; electrolytic chlorine, etc. Sodium, aluminum, and magnesium. Electric furnace products: phosphorus, carborundum, graphite, alundum, calcium carbide. Storage battery, etc. Lecture 20. Rocks and Minerals.-Granite, limestone, marble, slate, soapstone, conglomerate, glassy racks. Rock salt, potash salts, asbestos, talc, gypsum, mica. calcite, garnet, quartz, feldspar. Lectures 21-22. Occurrence and Extraction of the Metuis.--Copper, gold, silver, iron, tin, lead, nickel, zinc, mercury, platinum, tungsten. Lectures 23-25. Manujacture of Heavy Chemicals, ek.-Sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, sodium chloride, borax, sodium carbonate and bicarbonate, water glass, sodium nitrate, lime, bleaching powder, superphosphate, alum, aluminum sulfate, ammonia and ammonium salts, white lead, potassium salts, zinc salts, lithopone, copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, magnesium sulfate, sulfur. Lecture 26. Catalysis-Contact sulfuric acid, nitrogen fixation, hydrogenation, CtC. Lectures 27-29.-Coal, coke, gas and oil, tar, and asphalt. Lecture 30.-Destructive distillation of wood. Lectures 31-33.-Soaps, fats, oils. Water purification and washing. Lectures 34-38.-Glass, pottery, plaster, cement, building stones (marhles, etc.). Lecture 39.--Gelatin, glue, and other adhesives. Lectures 4W1.-Tanning of hides. Lectures 4243.-Rubber. Lectures 44-45.-Textiles, wood, and paper. Ledures 46-48.-Cellulose nitrate: collodion, celluloid, films, rayon. Lectures 49-51.-Dyeing, printing, and writing. Lectures 52-53.-Photography. Lectures 54-57.-Dyes and explosives! war gases. Lectures 58-59.-Matches, fireworks, etc. Ledures 6a-62.-Paints and varnishes. Lectures 63-64.Structural colors. Lectures 65-66.-Phosphates and fertilizers, plants and acid soils, ferrous sulfate, and dandelions. Lecture 67.-Fermentation. Leclure 68.-Distillation of liquors; perfumes. Lecture 69.-Milk, butter, and cheese. Lectzrres 70-71.-Cooking, eggs, cocoa, bread, etc.
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Lectures 72-73.-Food values, vitamins, etc. Lecture 74.-Chemistry and medicine. Lecture 75.-Chemistry and myth. Kalewala. Lecture 76.-Lost arts.
It is evident that a course such as outlined will not teach a student any chemistry t o speak of. It is not intended to; but i t will teach him about chemistry and i t will give him a n interest in chemistry which will stay by him throughout his life. The course is intended primarily for those who do not expect to go farther in chemistry-in other words for those who wish to get a cultural course in chemistry and for those who are required t o take chemistry t o complete the underclass requirements in science. To this extent i t will relieve the strain on the freshman chemistry and will thereby make i t possible to improve that course. The course in pandemic chemistry will undoubtedly be taken by all the graduate students in chemistry-presumably without credit-to give them a perspective, which they don't get now. It will probably be taken by a certain number of graduate students in physics, biology, etc., who would like to get a bird's-eye view of the field of chemistry. I may be wrong about this last, but I am basing my opinion on the fact that several graduate students in chemistry have told me that they would like to take a course in pandemic physics or pandemic biology. Professor Phelps has tried out the first half of this course on a small class a t Marshall College. Professor Findlay is hoping t o introduce pandemic chemistry a t the University of Aberdeen before long. Yale University is going to try a modified form of it this Autumn, although there it is planned to be to some extent a substitute for the orthodox freshman chemistry. At Cornell we are still hoping that somebody will endow the first chair of pandemic chemistry in the world. It is a wonderful opportunity for somebody to start a new era in university education because all the leading universities will follow suit in time. In addition to the chairs in pandemic chemistry, there will eventually be chairs in pandemic physics, pandemic biology, etc., and perhaps, some day, a chair in pandemic science. The proposed course in pandemic chemistry is interesting from another viewpoint. Since most of the students in the public schools do not go to college, i t would be much better for them to have a course in pandemic chemistry rather than the introductory course which they now have. Before that can come to pass, we shall have t o have a text-book for the students to study, we shall have t o have teachers competent t o give instruction in the subject, and we shall have to educate the colleges to the point of accepting this work for college entrance. This will take much time, although a text-book must be written a t once for the benefit of the college student. It is merely a question of time, however, when this
reform will go through in the schools and in the colleges. When that time comes, people will wonder why i t was not done long before. I n "The Humanizing of Knowledge," James Harvey Robinson says that the great aim of modem education is to develop such abilities, inclinations, and ideals as may qualify our youth to take an intelligent and effective part in an evolving society. He adds, "I wonder why we should think of history, economics, politics, and geography as distinctively social sciences; language is pretty social too; and why is geography more social than chemistry or physics or botany? The importance of all of them lies in their relation to ourselves and our fellowmen."
