THE PLACE OF BIOCHEMISTRY IN THE HIGH-SCHOOL CHEMISTRY CURRICULUM* LYMAN C. BOYNTON, UNIVERSITYOB WASHINGTON, S E A ~ LWASRINGTON E, Until comparatively recent years, all the recognition biochemistry received in the chemical curriculum was a few lectures in organic chemistry concerned chiefly with materials used, formed or excreted by living organisms. But the chemistry of life was not content with the cramped quarters furnished by its chemical-biological parents and erected a house of its own. Another member of the chemistry family, a clever fastidious fellow with clean hands and a mathematical turn of mind, physical chemistry, helped considerably. With a great deal of respect for its many progenitors and realizing they were a jealous lot, biochemistry let them all contribute their own particular architectural ideas. The result was anything but a simple cottage. Grandmother organic insisted on a group of elongated, low-ceilinged, ill-ventilated apartments. She is never satisfied, always changing the design and even now her end of the house looks quite unfinished. Physical chemistry erected beautiful spires extending to the heavens. To the very tips these are covered with elaborately carved figures quite indistinguishable to most of the passers-by. The biology quarters are comfortable with each room neatly labeled. They seem to be hardly satisfactory, as the biologists are continually wandering all over the house, sometimes quite losing their ways. Without carrying this analogy much further, it might be said that this biochemical mansion is attracting a great deal of attention and even viewed with considerable admiration by many whose scorn had previously been ill concealed. But is i t any place for a high-school student? There are a t least two considerations which argue against the introduction of any amount of biochemistry into high-school courses. The first is the lack of preparation on the part of the student for an understanding of the subject. The second is the undeniably crowded condition of the chemistry curriculum a t present in the secondary schools. The state of chemical and biological knowledge in the brain of the high-school student ;s embryonic and in the majority of cases will undoubtedly remain so. Nevertheless, there are certain phases of physiological chemistry which these boys and girls should be readily able to grasp without a thoroughgoing knowledge of the more advanced branches of chemistry. It is hardly necessary to be able to write the formulas for ten amino acids to get a conception of the building-stone structure of proteins. One need never to have heard of gamma sugars to realize the fact that the blood may contain more than ample quantities of glucose 'Presented before the annual meeting of the Washington State Asracistion of Chemistry Teachers a t Seattle, October 28, 1926.
yet the body be starving for the want of sugar. One is reminded of the plight of the Ancient Mariner with "Water, water everywhere And not a drop to drink." The inspiration of the discovery of insulin and something of its significance in this connection can hardly fail to be appreciated. Much has been said and written concerning the high-school chemistry curriculum. There is the problem of correlating it with college chemistry. The objectives of chemistry teaching have been analyzed and a faithful attempt made to bring the subject-matter presented in the secondary school into lime with the purpose of such a course. But even the minimum course seems to comprise a world of material to be digested. Were the modem youthful appetite for hearty cerebral meals as keen as it is for knicknacks, the problem of high-school teaching might be more simple. It is doubtful if the student's chronic state of mental dyspepsia can all be laid a t the door of a crowded curriculum. From the mass of chemical subject-matter which might be taught in the high school, there must be some selection of a certain amount which best satisfies the objectives of the course. High-school chemistry is certainly not fulfilling its purpose if the point of view is taken that it is entirely preparatory in nature. For the large majority of the students it is the only systematic presentation of the subject they will ever get. Certain minimum essentials are necessary to the presentation of elementary chemistry whether it is to be followed by more advanced work or not. When these fundamental principles are well in hand, it is appropriate and essential that the applications of chemistry be introduced, as the report of the committee of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society states, "to show the service of chemistry to the home, to health, to medicine, to agriculture, to industry, etc.-in a word, to show the the service of chemistry to the country," and I should add, "to the individual." Considering the value of chemistry to the student, one might be so bold as to suggest that to be able to outline the essentials of a properly balanced and adequate diet is as important as the ability to describe two processes for the manufacture of sulfuric acid. Even a boy aspiring to be a chemical engineer should know that a lunch consisting of a hot-dog sandwich and a bottle of pop is hardly in accordance with our modern knowledge of nutrition. Such knowledge should have as much of an appeal to the boy as to the girl. The great emphasis placed on proper diet of athletes is an illustration which he can well understand. The positive features in the ration should be emphasized. I t is not simply a matter of avoiding hot mince pie.
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Fmally, let us consider very briefly what rooms of the biochemical mansion can well be opened to the high-school student, a t least for a peep. Most texts seem to devote at least a few pages to the discussion of foods. The foodstuffs-carbohydrates, proteins, fats, mineral salts, and vitaminsare mentioned together with some idea of the purpose of each class. Some texts, notably McPherson and Henderson and Black and Conant, present tables with information as to the proximate composition of certain food materials as eggs, milk, meat, etc. The eientials of an adequate diet should be emphasized with some idea as to the methods by which these requirements have been established. Furthermore, it is not enough simply to answer the question of how much food, but how much of what and why. Don Quixote said to Sancho Panzo, "Eat little at dinner and less a t supper for the health of the whole body is tempered in the laboratory of the stomach." He might have said, "Seek salad for lunch and spinach for dinner for the health of the body depends upon more than meat and potatoes." What happens to the food in its journey through the alimentary canal need not remain a total mystery to the student as far as his chemistry course is concerned. The characteristic cleavages in digestion can be easily presented and readily understood. What sort of substances are absorbed and transported by the blood and what is exaeted could be profitably touched upon, without becoming lost in the more complicated field of metabolism or the chemistry of the changes in the tissues. There gradually may develop in the student's consciousness, some appreciation of the significance of Lavoisier's words, "La Vie est une fonction chimique." If life itself is a matter of chemistry, what can be of more interest and importance?
