Chemistry One of Six Courses First Given at Institute

I I THE TECH SPECIAL CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING ISSUE VOL. XXIX. NO. 101. BOSTON, MASS., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1910 PRICE FIVE CENTS INSTRUCTORS AND MEMBERS OF COURSES V. AND X. FEW INDUSTRIES NOT CHEMISTRY ONE OF SIX COURSES "THEORETICAL" MEANS FOUNDED ON CHEMISTRY FIRST GIVEN AT INSTITUTE PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY Manufacturing Processes Ad- Deals With Laws And Princi- vance With Knowledge Of Charles W. Eliot, Afterwards President Of Harvard pies Rather Than Separate Its Principles And F. H. Storer Were First Professors Facts By W. H. WALKER. By HENRY P. TALBOT. the entile- course. Until 1872 the de- By A. A. NOYES gree awar-ded The art of tanning, of dyeing, of The first catalogue of the Institute I for all courses was The name theoretical chemistry has "Graduallte of the Institute brewing, and of the other industries for 1865-66, describes six professional in ," the come to be employed to designate that which depend for success upon a change courses, of which degree ]Jachelor of Science having been one is a "Course in first used in tilat plart of chemistry which deals with the in the composition of the material acted Practical Chemistry." The subjects of year. In 1865 generalizations of the sciencc,-with the upon, preceded by many years the dis- the first two years of all of these the Department was numeri- callyv small but potentially covelry of the principle of science upon courses were identical, and important. laws and principles which have been are of in- It comlprised Charles WV. which these arts in reality rested. Our terest both by comparison and contrast Eliot, w\ho found to suml up or express a large num- was Professor forefathers could brew good beer long with the subjects of the Course in of General and Indus- ber of chemical trial Chemistry, phenomena. The term before they could distinguish a saceha- Chemistry as offered at present. They and Frank Ii. Storer. Professor of Ana!jtical Chellistry and thloretical is therefor used in the sei- romyces cerevisiae from a bacillus pas- were: Algebra, Plane and Spherical Metallurgy, the first now so widely entific sense, to signlify a correlated body torianis; our mothers could dye yarns Trigonometry, Solid Geometry, Mechani- and color known for his educational cloth before they were familiar cal and Freehand Drawing, Elenlentary work in the of knowledge, and not at all in the col- with the diazoalmido-quinazolines. presidency of Harvard, to which To Mechanics (later called Physics), Chenl- he loquial sense, in which theoretical is tan leather it is not necessary to know went from tile Institute in 186!), and the istry. English Language and Literature often contrasted with practical and is that an animal hide is a colloidal mem- and French in the first year, and second recognized as an authoritative brane susceptible to changes in osmotic Co- writer on made to imply a conclusion reached by ordinate Analytical Geometry, Calculus. agricultural chemistry. The pressure. But so long as these methods plursuled mental processes indus- Navigation and Nautical Astronomy. by these men were rather than one based tries depended for their success also upon Surveying, Descriptive Geometry, Ex- signiticant, for the Institute was on experience. In so far as the progress rule of thumb method, failure was coim- anmmn, the first perimental Physics, German, to insist upon the im- of the science has enabled the facts of mon, costs were high, and progress was Qualitative portance of laloratolry Analysis and English methlods of in- exceedingly slow. It was only as the in the second year. struction chemistry to be expressed by generalized In the third and fourth years ot tl. which, in the terms of the chemical principles which underly the original catalogue, statements or principles, it is evidently Course in Practical Chemistry three "trains the senses to processes involved in an industry were observe with accuracy, and far simpler and more practical to study groups of studies were offered: the judg- determined and appreciated did the Indus- ment to those principles than to attempt to learn trial Chemistry, Metallurgy, and Gen- rely with confidence on the product improve in quality, the cost de- proof of actual experiment." The De- one by one the vast number of isolated crease, and the industry grow. eral Studies, the last including such facts from which they have been derived. subjects partment occupied five rooms in the as French, German, History, "Theoretical" chemistry is therefore to There are relatively few industries Political Economy, Science basement of the Rogers Building for a upon of Govern- number be considered a most practical part of which we are dependent for the ment, Mental and Moral Philosophy. of years, to which other rooms necessities, or indeed were gradually added until the education of the technical chemist, comfort of life, Logic, Rhetoric, English Literature, in 1883 the that are not founded upon Department especially in view of its great develop- chemical Zoology, Physiology, was transferred to the change. But the mechanical appliances and Botany. present 'Walker Building. ment within recent years in directions Quantitative Analysis and Drawing were These quar- or apparatus by which chemical reaction ters have, in turn, been outgrown that are of direct application in chemi- included in both of the first two groups until may be carried on, are not infrequently the Department occupies cal industries. and considerable Mineralogy in the first about forty- the controlling factors in determining five rooms, located in four It will be seen, however, from this and Geology in the second. Organic different whether a given chemical process will be buildings and accommodating statement, that theoretical chemistry is Chemistry and additional Physics were- nearly or a commercial or practical success or not. quite a thousand students. not properly to be regarded as a sepa- Thus the chemical reactions involved scon introduced and these constituted rate branch in The development of the of the science. The princi- the Solvay Soda Process were well the subjects of the Course with minor Department may be most concisely stated by not- ples with which it deals are the funda- understood many years before the modificaiions for a considerable num- plant ing the men who have mainly contrib- mental ones underlying all branches of in which the process could be economi- ber of years and, indeed, may be said chemistry. Accordingly, throughout to be still uted to its growth. In 1866 Cyrus I. all cally carried on was designed and con- the foundation of the Courses the chemical subjects, beginning with the structed. in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Warren, the founder of the Warren Funds for Chemical Research, inorganic chemistry of the first year and as they exist today. It is interesting to became continuing m Hence the two points of view from Professor of Organic Chemistry through the qualitative and note that until 1871 graduates were and re- quantitative analysis, the organic which a course in industrial chemistry mained such until 1871. In chem- expected to pass a degree examination. 1868 John istry, and industrial 'chemistry or, as the subject may more appropri- M. Ordway brought to the Department of the whichll could be oral, written or in the higher years, much emphasis is laid on (Continued on page 45.) lalbratory, on all subjects taken during I (Continued on page 48.) (Continued on page 44.).

Load more