Canisius College - Azuwur Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

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To the chemist, common table salt is known as NaCl, Na rep- resents sodium and Cl represents chlorine. Salt, then, is a compound composed of two elements, a sodium atom and a chlorine atom influence one another, and together they form a sodium chloride molecule. lnfinitesimal molecules, in turn, build together to form a salt crystal. When salt is examined under a microscope, the crystals resemble minute cubes built upon one another like eltin toys. These building blocks or cubes which constitute the structure of salt are sodium and chlorine atoms electrically charged. The physicist conceives an atom as a nucleus surrounded by elements, positive and negative, each whirling in its own orbit. An illustration of the charged atoms or ions which form a structural unit of salt may be seen in the space lattice on the title page. It would be dilticult to estimate the enormous grouping of these units required to form one crystal. lt is not possible to realize the beneficial nature of salt by a mere acquaintance with its parent elements, sodium is an extremely reactive metal, and chlorine is a poisonous gas. When they are combined, one of mankind's most treasured

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Salt is more than a symbol, our very existence depends on salt. lt purifies the body and keeps all chemical fluids in proper balance. A man would die in forty-eight hours if all traces of salt were removed from the human system. Salt is found in blood and tears and these might be called the essence of man. There has always been salt that man might live, and to- day salt is vital in securing our unparalleled standard of living. Our own city, Buffalo, became prosperous after the completion of the Erie Canal, the ditch that salt built. Chemistry has taken salt as an inexpensive source of so- dium and chlorine, two fundamentally important elements in modern industry. Salt is indispensable in the manufacture of steel, synthetic rubber, metal plate, detergents, and dyes. Remove salt from industry, and life as we know it would be radically changed. 5

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gifts is revealed. lt is from the physical and chemical structure of salt that the plan of this book was derived. But, the college is more than matter, its foundation is in the spirit. Thus, the theme also embodies those vast intangible and symbolical proper- ties of salt. The ultimate goal of the university is the making of the complete man. Like the structure of the compound, salt, a well-developed student must have governing influences. Ad- ministration and faculty represent the major influence. They guide the student through paths of knowledge, always em- phasizing the student's totality of view. Student activities represent the remaining element, they enable this systema- tized knowledge to be applied directly to life. A balance and a blending of these parent elements prepares the graduate for his place in society. Thus, in our analogy the graduate, who represents this true proportion of curricular and co-curricular activities, may accept his responsible role as the salt of the earth in the complex pattern of lite. odiu