isa-normaladvance-1913-00054

Description:	54THE NORMAL ADVANCEfaithful old standbys, three-deep and miller-boy.If you werent there, you have no one toblame but yourself. Try and be there nexttime. A good time is not only promised butassured.Since the last number of the Advance waspublished fresh honor has been heaped uponthe head of our esteemed College Course brother, Leonard McCloud. Knowing his profoundknowledge of chemistry, P. E. VanRaalte,superintendent of the Federated Boys Club,appointed Mr. McCloud instructor in chemistryat the club. The latter then prepared the outlines of six popular lectures in general chemistry and applied electro-chemistry, and atpresent writing he has delivered two of themwith great success. At the first lecture aboutfifty boys gathered in the large game room ofthe Boys Club, formerly the spacious drawing room of the old McGregor homstead.Amid a burst of applause, Mr. McCloud entered, conveying a large stock of apparatuswithout even the aid of a porter. After graciously acknowledging the applause he began:Boys of the Knabenbund: I am here uponrequest of Mr. Van Raalte I am not. here suasponte. So familiar am I with chemical phenomena and chemical apparatus, that when Icome before an audience with a complete setof apparatus before me, with which I am todemonstrate, I am like the character in thenovel, I stand upon my native heath, and myname is MacGregor. (Signs of apprehensionnoted in the audience, caused by the clause,my name is MacGregor. Some of the boysfeared that the speaker was the ghost of thelate owner of the house.) I should prevaricateif I should declare my ability to initiate youinto the profundities of quantitative and qualitative analysis after the masterful similitudeof a Remsen, a Faraday, or a Lavoisier. (Applause.) Strict, undivided attention, rigid, unmitigated concentration is a sine qua non tograsping the quintessence, the ne plus ultraquality of my dissertation and experimentation. (Tumultuous applause.) Now we shallseparate water into its elements.Mr. McCloud then very, ably explained to theboys the organizing principle of chemistry,and the various phenomena connected withoxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon and othergases, and the boys appreciated it very much.The continuance of the series was made dependent upon the success of the first lecture,and as the boys clamored very much for thelectures to be continued, a week after the firstlecture, namely on Saturday night, Nov. 9, thesecond lecture was delivered. This was a continuation of the discussion of general principlesof chemistry, begun in the first lecture, with anexplanation of the chemical composition ofseveral well known substancess.The climax of the second lecture came aboutthe middle part, when the lecturer said:Crow7d in close boys, this is the most interesting experiment in the lecture. I am going toshow you an explosion, and explain to you thechemical principles underlying it. The boysgathered in close, and behold, there was amighty noise, even of an explosion. Some ofthe boys will remember that explosion to theirdying day. Mr. McCloud also showed the boyshow to make baking powder.In conclusion we append a few incidentswhich show very clearly that Mr. McCloudslectures were not in vain. Two boys the otherday were talking about the longwindedness ofa certain other boy. One of them said, Hesfull of hot air.You should not say hot air, said theother boy, who was an auditor at Mr. McClouds lectures. You should say IIO2C.Another boy corrected his brother for saying, saltpetre, instead of potassium nitrate.Still another boy observed that decaying eggsgave off H2S gas. One very brilliant boy, noticing that a load of new hay was about to bepitched into the hay-mow of his fathers barnupon some old hay, said, Dont do that. Thatwill precipitate a union of oxygen and carbon,which will produce a sufficient amount of heat
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/34499
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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