Abstract
IN our opinion, the series of diagrammatic sketches of chemical apparatus just published by Messrs. Blackie may be put to extremely harmful use. “The sheets have been designed,” say the publishers, “as a lecture-room aid in the teaching of chemistry. They present, drawn in bold outline, the apparatus used in the experiments of a first course, and underneath each diagram is set down the chemical formula of the experiment. The diagrams are drawn in elevation, and are just what a student requires to sketch in the examination room, while the formulæ, being constantly before the eye along with the diagrams, will become indelibly imprinted on the memory.” If the sheets are merely used to describe the arrangement of apparatus for experiments actually performed, no one will, of course, object to them. But if (and this is more likely) the sheets are employed to impress upon the student's memory chemical reactions and apparatus never seen in reality, they could not be condemned too strongly. Teachers are often too glad to avoid experimentation and to refer their classes to textbooks for descriptions of chemical changes brought about by various means. Messrs. Blackie's wall sheets will facilitate such a shirking of responsibility.
Chemistry Demonstration Sheets.
(London: Blackie and Son, 1894.)
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 50, 196 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/050196b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/050196b0