CT lOOpOO
l»»
1900
1920
*
1030
Applications Filed, Patents Granted, and Patents Granted Per 100,000 Population this year and begin to drop again, as should the number of patents issued per 100,000 population. Calvert (Chem. Ind., 64, 576 [1949]) suggests there is a marked change in the attitude of examiners in the patent office, but this alone will only ameliorate the fall in the number of patents issued unless the number 'of applications remains high. Many industrialists already distrust the protection of the patent grant. Both chemists and attorneys should follow the trend of the next few years with keen interest. I am sorry to have made an error which overemphasized the actual condition. JOHN H. WILLS
Philadelphia, Everything
Pa. in
Moderation
DEAR S I R :
In the April 4th C&EN, William Cadbury, Jr., makes some statements concerning requirements for admission to medical schools. I do not wish to question his definite statements, but rather to point out that his letter contained an implication that is undesirable. It is C H E M I C A L
true that technical requirements for admission to medical schools, as published in their catalogs or announced by admission officers, are quite low. I t is true that most schools do not care to urge students to major in chemistry or biology. However, those experienced in the teaching of premedical students are aware that a student who manages to secure admission t o a medical school on the basis of t h e bare minimum requirements is rare indeed, and probably is admitted then o n some special basis (age, for example). Furthermore, such students are invariably handicapped by lack of more thorough training in organic and analytical chemistry, to say nothing of a t least an intermediate physical chemistry (4 semester hours). Students should not anticipate medical school courses in their premedical work, but should remember that basic training should not be slighted. A few years ago Roy I. Grady and I asked the deans of the medical schools about their recommendations as well as their requirements for admission. On the basis of 70 replies it became obvious that t h e premedical students should take n o t less than 24—28 semester hours of chemistry, 16-20 of biology, and t h e 8 of physics. In many schools that automatically amounts to a major in chemistry. Of course, English, psychology, history, music, the proper language, etc., should not be neglected, for the physician needs to have a broad general culture in his four years in college. I am not interested in any controversy over "requirements" but I am concerned that t h e student not be misled. He should take neither the minimum nor the maximum amount of science, but the carefully chosen optimum. J O H N W. CHITTUM
Wooster, Ohio Not Where but
What
DEAR SIR:
Concerning research articles, Jean Turgcon writes (C&EN, page 1324, May 2), "a first-glance appraisal of the quality of the work is impossible without a knowledge of where it was done." Such an attitude seems t o b e all too prevalent. A published report is highly regarded, or disregarded, depending entirely upon this "first-glance appraisal*' of its geographical origin. I s there scientific evidence to support this attitude? DORS a maestro become a moron when he crosses the Mississippi? Or is* it possible that the quality of work depends not upon the latitude and longitude of the author's body, but rather upon the latitude and longitude of his mind? A. R. PATTON
Fort Collins, A N D
Colo.
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