COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY WILLIAM MCPHERSON AND WILLIAM EDWARDS HENDERSON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 515.8 The Athenæum Press PREFACE From an educational point of view, chemistry is really the oldest of the experimental sciences. The problem as to what laboratory work should constitute the first year's course is therefore one to which a great deal of thought has been devoted, and many educational experiments have been made in an endeavor to solve it. Much ingenuity has been exercised in the development of suitable laboratory experiments and in the invention of simple apparatus adapted to a beginner's inexperience, and a great wealth of admirable illustrative experiments is now at the command of every teacher. For one who sets about the task of arranging an experimental course for the beginner, there remains little opportunity for originality or invention. His problem is rather one of selection. Accordingly this laboratory manual lays no claim to originality, either in method or in content. It has been slowly developed in connection with the large beginning classes in which the authors have been interested, and has been revised and reprinted privately a number of times. In response to many requests it has again undergone a thorough revision and has been arranged to accompany the text by the authors, entitled, "A Course in General Chemistry." In common with nearly all teachers of chemistry, the authors have had to deal with the fact that the first course in college comprises students who have had an elementary course in the high school, as well as those who have had no earlier introduction to chemistry. As far as the laboratory is concerned, the authors have found that the most practical solution of this problem is to develop a manual ample enough to meet the needs of both classes of students. The [iii] 339633 |