254 SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

INTERESTING IDIOSYNCRASIES OR INEXCUSABLE IGNO-RANCE.

As part of a college education in science, there should be in-struction given to prospective science teachers, concerning theordering of science equipment and supplies. No apparatus housewould dare to come out boldly and state that eighty per cent ofthe science teachers ordering supplies, do not know how to orderwhat they want, but that statement is pretty near the truth.

In discussing the matter with an experienced man, he stated,"Doubtless many of our teachers in the small high schools of thecountry do’ not know how to order/5 We are prepared to gofurther and state that, frequently, teachers in the largest highschools in the largest cities do not know how to specify whatthey wish. It is true that the recognized science equipment com-panies in the United States publish catalogs in which the specifi-cations are so carefully and accurately given, that the customers,if they follow the catalogs, need have no ambiguous items in theirlists.The following are a few of the items taken at random from a

current order file:

1. 10 t fs..6- 1 Galvanometer.

2. 20’ Rubber Tubing. 7. 1 Spool Wire.3. 12 Rubber Corks. 8. 2 Lenses.4. 1 Assorted Spider. 9. 1 Tuning Fork.5. 5 Magnets. 10. 1 Burner.1. Under this item the shipping clerk must decide whether he

will ship T-tubes, thistle tubes, or test tubes. If he guesses testtubes, then he must also guess, not only the size which the cus-tomer had in mind, but he must decide by intuition whether cul-ture tubes, chemical test tubes or ignition tubes are desired.

2. How can the office determine whether the customer desiresred, white, or black tubing; whether the tubing is to be thin,medium or heavy wall; and, what is very important, how is heto guess the size of the tubing desired?

3. The writer has never seen a "rubber cork" though he hasseen the name hundreds of times upon the estimates. He isfamiliar with rubber and cork stoppers. How is the office todetermine whether the customer desires a cork or a rubber stopperunless he guesses from the word "rubber^5 which was used in thelist? He probably would guess correctly, but how is he to knowwhat size of stopper is desired or whether the customer is ex-pecting to receive a solid, 1-hole or 2-hole stopper?

INEXCUSABLE IGNORANCE 255

4. Biological catalogs offer assortments of ^uch insects as

beetles, wasps and spiders. When a customer orders "I AssortedSpider/’ does he expect the dealer to supply the body of onespecies, the head of another, the spinnerets of a third and thelegs of a fourth species?

5. Under this number, the intuition of the office must deter-mine whether the customer requires a permanent magnet or anelectromagnet. If a permanent magnet; then he must decidewhether the customer isi thinking about a horseshoe or a barmagnet, and when the office has supplied this to its doubtfulsatisfaction, it must then decide upon the size.

6. "1 Galvanometer." This frequently occurs upon high schoollists. Since "Galvanometers," according to grade, are sold allthe way from $1.00 to $100, the office must do some shrewdguessing if it fills the order for this item without correspondence,which means delay.

7. "One Spool Wire." How is the office to determine whetherthe customer desires aluminum, brass, copper, zinc, iron, Germansilver or fuse wire? Of course it is easy to eliminate magnesium,platinum and gold wire, without running much risk of disappoint-ing the customer. But how is he to predetermine the size of thewire desired, to say nothing of whether it is to be bare, singlecotton, or D. C. C., or if it is to be single or double silk covered?

8. "Lenses." Are these convex, concave or concavo-convex?As soon as the office has guessed that it is probably a double con-vex lens that is desired, it is then confronted with this problem:Is the customer thinking about a smooth edge or a finished edge ?What did he have in mind as to the focus of the lenses and whatdiameter does he want ? Are the two lenses to be -alike ?

9. "One Tuning Fork." What letter does he desire? Whatprice is he willing to pay?

10. "One Burner." Did this customer desire an alcohol lamp ?If so, is it to be glass, brass or copper, and what capacity ? Ordid he desire a Bunsen burner? If a Bunsen burner, does hewant one that will cost him 20c or $1.00? Does he wish a single,double, triple or quadruple tube? If it is not a Bunsen burner,possibly it may be a gasoline or kerosene blast lamp, or any oneof fifty different styles of "burners" on the market, each one for.a special purpose.The above ten items are fairly representative of thousands that

can be taken from the order files of nearly every apparatus

256 S.CHOOL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

house and they briefly present some of the problems which theapparatus office must solve in order that it may ship the goodspromptly, and deliver to the customer exactly what he wants at

the time he wants it, without vexatious delays which are dis-

agreeable to the customers.

Again, science masters in large high schools and colleges are

as frequently at fault as those in smaller institutions. Note thefollowing illustrations taken from correspondence:A superintendent writes:"Gentlemen:"Under separate cover, by express, I am sending you micro-

scope I wrote you about some few days ago. I do not know if itwas never any good or if it has gotten out of line or what. Ithink that you had better send cost of repairs to me, then I willlet you know what to do to it."One customer orders, "One Oxyhydrogen Voltmeter," without

any further specifications.The head of the department of physics in a well-known college

writes:"I am highly pleased with the static machine which you shipped.

It has been some time since I used one of these instruments. Willyou please tell me whether I am to use calcium chlorid or sulfuricacid in the Leyden jars?"To answer these questions without offending the customer is a

secret art in the apparatus office.A master of physics in one of the largest high schools in the

East, and the author of a widely used textbook on physics, orders:"1 Aneroid Barometer,��," giving the catalog number andprice. The company shipped the instrument. Many monthslater, the customer wrote:"The instrument ordered under requisition No. �, under date

of ��, has recently been examined by me, and found unsatis-factory. I have subjected it to all degrees of moist-ure, even putit into live steam, and the hand has never moved. What do youpropose to do in order to make it satisfactory, since the bill hasbeen paid?"The company looked up the entire correspondence, found that

the man through the purchasing department of the city actuallyordered the aneroid barometer which was shipped, and so wrotethe physics man and gently hinted that it was doubtless a hygrom-eter which he had in mind. rather than a barometer.

BEAVER DAMS 257

This letter, in due course, brought to the office a stinging andsarcastic letter flatly stating that he knew the difference betweena barometer and a hygrometer. The company then quoted fromthe order a second time, giving all the data. The customer re-fused to believe it.The next move of the company was to remove from the files

the entire list of correspondence from beginning to end, originalsand copies, and send these proofs to the physics master. A longsilence reigned. Eventually, the correspondence was returnedto the files without any further comment.The writer does not desire to criticise the profession at large,

but by means of these few concrete examples, to point out to theteachers preparing lists, the absolute necessity of giving catalognumbers, the names which belong to the numbers, and the sizeor other specifications, when such sizes and specifications areessential to the correct interpretation of the customers desire.Nothing has been said about the lack of judgment or sense ofproportion because there is a chance to object. But when aschool has only $100 in the year to spend and orders over $50worth of platinum, it is time that some one in charge of the fundshad something to say about the wisdom of the different itemspurchased.

BEAVER DAMS LAST 150 YEARS.How long will a beaver dam last? At least 150 years is the conclusion

of the New York Conservation Commission, as the result of an examina-tion of trees growing upon a very old dam in the vicinity of Eighth Lakein the Fulton Chain.Scrub white cedars on this dam were cut down, in order to count

their annual growth rings, by W. C. Talmage, of Camp Waubun, SeventhLake, whose study of beavers during the last thirty years has taken himover many of the wild portions of the United States and Canada. A sectionof one, just received by the Commission, is nine inches in diameter andshows 125 annual rings. Others as large as sixteen inches have rotted inthe center until they are mere shells, whose age can only be guessed at.On the supposition that the trees could not have taken root upon the

dam until it had become covered with humus from dead leaves, or siltwashed on by the stream, it is believed by the Commission that the damdates back certainly until 1765, before the power of the Iroquois Confeder-acy was broken, and when the Adirondacks were still in their beaver hunt-ing country of apparently inexhaustible supply. Then every stream heldevidence of their skill, and the pelts that they supplied even passed for cur-rency at Fort Orange and New York.

In their old haunts along the Fulton Chain they are coming into theirown again, until they have become one of the prime attractions of theregion.�American Forestry.