346
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
FEBKUAKY, 1931
were normal, six hundred and fifty boys were required to take the Terman Group Test of Mental Ability. The mean intelligence quotient for the group was 91.5. Surely that figure represents a normal group. Binet gives 90-109 as normal. The boys tested did not represent any sampling of the school, but the entire student body. The chemistry group a t that time consisted of twenty students who scored a mean 1.Q. of 100. Certainly that group represents the equal of any average high-school group. Fourteen boys who have graduated (and all of them have been employed by the chemical industries) show a mean I.Q. of 102.1. These boys all have the mental ability of the averagehigh-school boy, but the economic disadvantage which prevents their being sent to high school. Wein Essex County are trying to enable these boys t o capitalize their ability and prepare for a satisfactory place in our social and industrial civilization. We are offering high-type boys trained in the rudiments of chemical laboratory procedure to the chemical industry in place of the untrained and untried high-school boy some chemists seem to prefer. In this connection i t may be interesting to note that three of the firms who said they preferred highschool graduates employed our graduates and were satisfied with their experiment. All of our graduates are being placed and they all stay put. They wanted the training, were trained, and consequently their persistence on the job has cut down the junior laboratory turn-over. If we can secure recognition from the chemical profession for the two years training we give as equivalent to two years beyond the grammar school we shall do the boys a great deal of good and I know we shall provide suitable recruits for the junior positions in our profession.
Flexible Wood. Real wood which can be cut with scissors and bent almost double without breaking is offered in a new product which combines the texture and attractiveness of natural wood with the workability of heavy cloth. I t is made by cutting a thin veneer, 'Jaoth to t/120thinch in thickness, which is glued to a paper or cloth backing; after being dried it is flexed by a mechanical process. I t may be applied to walls by paperhangers and finished with sandpaper, shellac, and wax. Although the decorative features and economy of thin veneers have been known and used for many years, it is only recently that they have been made available on a large scale. The new product can be applied t o plaster, metal, wall board, or cheap grades of wood, which makes i t adaptable to a wide variety of uses. One of the most popular is as a wall covering in place of ordinary wood paneling, for which there is a growing vogue. The appearance is said to be duplicated a t one-half to one-third the cost, providing a finish which should be readily acceptable in high-class homes, hotels, clubs, libraries, stores, and executive offices. Since the appearance of wood finishes is generally preferred t o that of metal, this new flexible wood may soon be used to cover metal in furniture, office equipment, Pullman car interiors, and elevator cabs, and, although the cost is higher, it may supplant t o a large extent the unconvincing use of painted imitations of wood grain.-lnd. Bull., A r l k w D. Litlle. Inc.
