CORRESPONDENCE REVIEW OUTLINES OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY To the Editor Organic chemistry, assumed its rBle as an inde~endent branch of the science a little over one hundred years ago. Since that time synthesis after synthesis has been developed, and new compounds have been added by the thousands. As a result, the beginning student in organic chemistry is apt to find himself, as it were, in a wilderness of prolific growth with no adequate and concise guide book to direct the way. The function of a course in organic chemistry is to fill just such a need. Lecture courses are designed to differentiate between essentials and non-essentials. They aim to sift the fundamental organic chemistry of today from the mass of less important material. Such courses strive to give the student a, perspective of a field in which certain well-defined landmarks are evidenced. c It has occurred to the authors, however, that the lecture course, as conventionally conducted, often defeats this purpose. Not infrequently such courses require the student to occupy himself feverishly throughout the entire period with the recording of numerous and disconnected annotations. During this confusion, the instructor is trying to clarify the issue under consideration. He endeavors to build up certain associations and correlations that will permit a definite organization and orientation of the material in the student's mind and thus minimize the tendency merely to memorize isolated facts. The net result of these two opposing influences is that the average student frequently leaves the lecture with nothing more than a few pages of unintelligible notes. He has actually retained little or nothmg with respect to explanations, interpretations, and correlations. . The authors are cognizant of certain arguments in favor of such joint exercises in mental and physical gymnastics, but they are also convinced that the teach-
ing of organic chemistry could be accomplished much more esthetically and effectively by the use of an adequate review outline of organic chemistry. Such an outline would, for the most part, obviate the necessity of taking notes and the student could concentrate on the content of the lecture. This outline would serve as the basis for review work. With this in mind, the authors of this communication have prepared a preliminary draft of "Review Outlines of Organic Chemistry" to he used as a supplement to the regular textbook. The plan calls for a brief and readable outline of general.jsa%ility. The outline now in use by the authors has been tested for a number of years, and the results seem to warrant more general use of such outlines. In order that this review outline may represent the general trend in the teaching of orgaqic chemistry and may, therefore, meet the general need, one hundred copies of this outline will be available on or before September first to a corresponding number of teachers of organic chemistry who may wish to cooperate in this project. Those instructors who elect to cooperate will be rated as assistant editors and will share in the meager royalties accruing from the publication. Those desiring to cooperate in this project are most cordially invited to communicate with the authors at an early date. The completed volume should contain about two hundred pages of outline material, and should retail for about seventy-five cents.
very truly yours, &EM.
DEFT., PURDUE UNIVERSITY
WESTLAPAYBITE. INDIANA
ED. F. DEGERING
CHEM.DEFT.,PURDUB UNIVERSITY R. E. N ~ L S O N WESTL ~ A Y E TINDIANA ~E,
orno
UNIVBRSITY
ADA, OHIO
J. R. HARROD
