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every advance in modem technology is due to the application of the physical sciences-in which the metric system is an appreciated tool. Back of the industries which still put most of their products on the market in pounds and gallons, the chemists and physicists are in careful control of the processes which they have more conveniently worked out in grams and liters. The only criticism of the metric system of measurement which deserves serious consideration must come from persons who have thoroughly tried both metric and English units in actual use. If such persons can then give sensible reasons why they still prefer to use the English system, they shall have our courteous attention.
MAKE CHEMISTRY A REQmRED HIGH-SCHOOL SUBJECT I find that a great many people do not know what they are talking about; some don't know tin from zinc, others don't know concrete from granite, some think that where there is an ice cave there must be ammonia near a t hand. There are many strange ideas among ordinary people. It is therefore astounding to my mind that educators in this country do not press for the requirement of chemistry in high-school courses. To live and get the most out of life, to best enjoy the good things, and to best he ahle to solve the difficulties of life, we discover sooner or later that our problems work out better when we have some knowledge of the matters with which we have to deal. A great many times we come to the crossroads and must make a decision and i t is the ratio of correct to incorrect decisions that determines our degree of success. To make good decisions requires knowledge. Knowledge comes from the study of English, mathematics, and chemistry, and such other subjects as we may desire, but today and tomorrow chemistry must be ranked of fundamental importance to every individual. Chemistry is the study of the properties of matter and as we learn more about these properties we are ahle to make better and better use of this matter, which in one form or another constitutes everything in the nniverse. The white man is now producing beautiful colors and curative medicines from the coal the Indian sat upon. The ordinary household is more contented if the furnace is run properly and if the proper food is purchased and properly prepared. The farmer is interested in foodstuffs, fertilizers, etc.; the mechanic in the properties of his metals, the baker in his dough, the painter in his pigments, the chemical worker in his chemicals. Our automobiles and storage batteries work
on chemical principles; so do our cleaning agents. The development of our modem metallurgical processes, glass, electric bulbs, textiles, leather, sugar, etc., all owe a great debt to chemistry. Chemistry touches everything from the celestial bodies to those of ultramicroscopic size; recently the combing of the great ocean has been undertaken for the gathenhg of its chemical treasures. The development of the seed which gives us a fruit or a vegetable or a beautiful flower, often accompanied by a delicate perfume, is essehtially a chemical process. The ancient rock systems of our planet from which we get our coal, ores, building stone, etc., and which feed all of the multitude of vegetable life are the result of chemical reactions on a vast scale. The human system is the last of the complex and mysterious things chemical, with which the chemist has come to deal, and as he works along with the doctors and other scientists, as they unravel the profound nature of the glands, etc., we may look forward with deepest faith that the mystery of life will yet be solved, as the evolutionary story leads us to believe, and when chemistry has exerted its full power in the struggle, the rise from savage to superman will have become a fact. In other words the science of chemistry is the most fascinating and vital of all the sciences. Everything has a chemical aspect viewed in one light or another. Chemistry stimulates curiosity, imagination, the desire to invent, caution, admiration for truth, in fact it might be called the science of infinite variety in the number of lessons which we might leam from it. Is it not agreed that chemistry should be made a compulsory course in place of one of the five or six language courses now given? It certainly seems to my mind that every high-school student (the majority of whom get no further education) should be the recipient of a good, broad, general course in chemistry, which I believe will give him: a better understanding of his daily work; a foundation on which to increase his knowledge if he so desires; and an optimistic philosophy.
SCIENCE CLUBS I t would be difficult to h d a high school these days where there are no science clubs and this extra-curricular work of the teacher is demanding the attention of educators more and more. I t is furnishing material for some rather comprehensive theses for the Master's and the Ph.D. degrees. It is our opinion that neither the teacher nor the pupil is given sufficient credit for this work which is done voluntarily. In most schools the membership of these clubs is altogether voluntary and there is no difficulty in securing a membership of from twenty-five to fifty. The pupils as a rule are deeply interested and, being interested, undoubtedly derive much
