McKinley High School - Nugget Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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CHEMISTRY IN THE I-IoME --eglzgjgiu qflzemziftry 172 the H ome Let us stop for a moment to consider a few of the myriads of articles which we use daily, in the preparation or discovery of which the chemist plays a more or less important part. , Imagine that there is to be a party given at your home. You arise early in the morning in order to start preparations, but find your mother already engaged in the all important process of cake baking. As she sifts in the flour, you cannot see how it is possible that the chemist has had a hand in its production. But stop. How could the wheat be grown without the aid of a fertilizer? And what is the fertilizer but phosphates prepared or at least purified in the laboratory? After the wheat had been ground, it was bleached by nitrogen peroxide, another product of the chemist's art. Now the baking powder is added. The chemist has prepared the bicarbonate in it from salt, the alum from mineral matter. Even the tin in which the baking powder is purchased is an artificial product prepared by the chemist. When the gas jet is turned on, it belches out a gas made by the chemist from coal. A match is applied, and, as its head is scratched, the phosphorous compound in the head is ignited by the friction, and is kept lighted by some substance which imparts oxygen to it. The heat is now transferred to the stick by means of paraffin. All of these substances are made and the laws governing their action formulated by the chemist. After the cake is put into the oven you go upstairs to dress. The soap you use has been made by the chemist. The guests have arrived and it is now time to take snapshots. The collodion film has been made by the chemist from cotton. After this you adjourn to the dining room. It is gayly lighted by means of electricity, which the chemist has made possible by the discovery of tungsten. After the meal is finished, the phonograph is turned on. The chemist has obtained large quantities ofcarbolic acid, used on this invention for the making ofthe records, from coal. This sounds strange, but is nevertheless true. The day after the party your mother feels slightly rheumatic from yesterday's exertion. She takes sodium salicylate. The natural source of the acid from which this is derived is the wintergreen leaf. If this were, however, the only source of it, the supply would be very limited and the price very high. However, the chemist has found a way to prepare it from coal. So you see from these few illustrations how largely both the necessaries and luxuries of our lives depend upon the chemist. -PHILIP SCHUTZ Trogreff 0 Ifz'vefzz'z'0m Little did our ancestors dream, some century and a half ago, that we of today would be able to sail under the surface of the water. Little did they dream that we would be able to make trans-continental voyages over land and sea. But science will march onward!

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apiiii.. THE CARNA Tzoiv Tru zffiml 5a'zzm!z'01z The history of education in the United States, for the last century, has shown it to be eminently practical, and peculiarly responsive to public de- mand. Its close relation and responsibility to the people preclude its taking any other form. It is not a thing apart from the public and for the benefit of the few as in the days of the Egyptian priesthood, but ratherit is the instru- ment of the people in shaping the destiny of the country. Given, then, the trend of the development of this country and there follows as its corallary, the tendency of its education. The twentieth century is the scene of the struggle for commercial and industrial supremacy. The rivalry of nations has become intense and their activities are turned toward the thousand-fold phases of commerce and industry, each requiring special training, and each dependent on the Hexibility of mind and adaptability to conditions of its followers. The United States has entered this world conflict, with all its energy, and the successes it has gained have startled its competitors. The kind of education, therefore, of value to these changed conditions, and best likely to train our citizens for their future work, will be the kind of education to which our schools will perforce adapt themselves. This falls naturally into three divisions: education for commerce, education for trades and other industries, and education for agriculture. The educational leaders of the country are busily engaged upon the problem of how to adapt sufficient training in these lines to meet the demands of the age, and, at the same time to retain, the balance which has been maintained in our curriculums with the more clearly cultural subjects, the broad and liberal training in which has been the source of our past strength and present power. This must not be sacrificed in the adjustment which must inevitably come, for to do so would be to remove the cornerstone of the edifice. The education of a democracy determines its duration. We are engaged upon the greatest experiment in popular government the world has ever seen. Our remarkable progress should not blind us to the inherent danger of a republic. The advancing tide of socialism, the destructive doctrine of anarchy, the theories of Utopians, and false principles of government can only be met by making our general public familiar with true economic principles. To bring economic science within the reach of the masses is the vital problem of a democracy. There is only one machinery that can effect- ually do this-education. Education including a continuous and extensive drill on the rational principles of political and social economics, during the formative period of the minds of our future citizens. It is an old saying that every artisan philosophizes in his own way, but it is a responsibility of the state to teach them the right way. The strength and promise of our great country depend on the correct education of the boys and girls of today, who are to be the citizens of tomorrow. -NELLIE BOSWELL

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apsjgi.. T H E Cd R NA TI o N Previous to a century and a half ago, the only means of transportation were the sail boat and what may be termed the pony express. It took days to make a journey of a few miles on land and it required weeks and months to cross the ocean. But science presented a swifter and more convenient form of transportation when, in 1786, John Fitch exhibited the first steamboat in the United States. . However, this invention did not improve the method of land transpor- tation. However, the people were to have another opportunity to marvel at genius, when,ain 1826, the first railroad was put on successful trial. This progress in invention seemed even more marvellous, and all difficulties in transportation and travel seemed to have been solved, but let us go a step farther. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the world was even more astonished at the production of the automobile. This vehicle, very crude in the beginning, was an object of fear at first, but now is the most common means of travel and has, to some extent, replaced the railroad. But even the automobile is likely to be replaced in time. As another stepping-stone in the improvement of transportation, we have the aeroplane. This machine, though very simple in its infancy, has been vastly developed, until now we have planes which are able to make non-stop flights across the continent, to fly across the ocean, and to attain the terrific speed of two hundred forty-five miles per hour. As a result of the developments in methods of transportation, we have the pony express replaced by the railroad, the sail boat by the steamboat, the steamboat, in its turn, by the great ocean liner, and the railroad, to some extent, by the automobile. What may we expect as a result of the develop- ment of the aeroplane, or what may we expect to replace it? The march of the human mind is slow, but when started on the road to success, there is no limit to its power. 1NELLIE BoswELL what zz Boy From Holland Tlzinkf of Ur Three years ago, my family left Holland to start a new life in America. We decided to come to St. Louis and settled in the Riddick School district. I was placed in the fourth grade. The first week was one of the hardest I have ever experienced in America. The children would not play with me because I could not understand them. But about a month later, I was beginning to understand the language. After living in St. Louis for a few months, we moved to Boston, Massa- chusetts, where I entered the Hfth grade. Instead of taking music and clay- work there, I studied English and Arithmetic in the sixth grade. When ex- amination time came, I passed the test for the sixth grade and at the same time took, and passed, the seventh grade test. Continued on Page 128