A letter to the ... Lord Provost, magistrates, and council, patrons of the University of Edinburgh, on the present state of practical chemistry : with remarks on ... a pamphlet by Dr Anderson / by D. B. Reid.

Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the ... Lord Provost, magistrates, and council, patrons of the University of Edinburgh, on the present state of practical chemistry : with remarks on ... a pamphlet by Dr Anderson / by D. B. Reid. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    stances that give to them their more peculiar interest; and would it not be an object of the most paramount importance, if arrangements could be made, so that the experiments should be performed by the student instead of the teacher, while he is studying the theory, and every thing at the same time in- cluded that has been peculiar to the Practical Class P In such a class, the teacher, instead of merely lecturing an hour a-day, would require to divide his students into par- ties, and attend to them for several hours every day; instead of a formal discourse delivered to a passive audience, the students would in reality begin to reap the i*eal advantage of studying under a professional teacher. Besides, what must be con- sidered as of the utmost importance in a system of effective teaching, the intercourse, in such a system, between the teacher and his pupils would be free and unreserved ; he would always be ready to explain their difficulties, and direct their attention to whatever is most interesting. Their minds would thus be continually kept on the alert by a familiar series of dis- cussions and examinations, naturally suggested by the subject before them, and under circumstances the most favourable to a lasting impression. Indeed, this course, with due attention from the teacher, along with its other objects, combines all the advantages of a continued series of examinations. It is admitted on all hands, that one of the main objects of education is the training of the mind and the strengthening of its different faculties. In this respect the student, at a course where the theory and practice are conjoined, would be placed in a situation eminently calculated to give new vigour and ac- tivity to all his powers ; so much so, that as a discipline of the mind alone, it would have decided advantages over almost every other branch of education. To teach to any rational purpose, the faculties of the understanding must be exercised; some ta- lent must be cultivated, and the student must be led to the formation of some useful habit; all these objects are admirably combined in a course of Practical Chemistry, conjoined with the Theory, and properly conducted. To leave the mind with- out discipline at the very time it needs it most—to allow the faculties to lie dormant at the time that that impulse is com- monly given, and those habits formed which fix the character