CHEMICAL RESEARCH I N LIBERAL-ARTS COLLEGES I N 1952

S T m m s have been made of the contributions from liberal-arts colleges to the Journal of the A m e n ' m Chemical Society1 and the JOURNAL OF CFIEMICAL EDUCATION.^ A broader picture of the research inter- ests of the chemistry departments of these institutions can be drawn from a survey of the periodical Chemical Abstracts.

A check of the issues of Chemical Ab#tracts for 1952 shows that 51 liberal-arts colleges had 98 articles ab- stracted in this key to the world's chemical literature. Thirty-four of these colleges had only one article each, whiie the eight most active (Amherst, Brooklyn, Car- son-Newman, Funnan, Mount Holyoke, Oberlin, Richmond, and Wesleyan) account for a total of 45 articles. "The College Blue Book," sixth edition (1950), has been used to determine the liberal-arts status of the colleges. Institutions which grant the Ph.D. degree, or which have professional schools of agriculture, engineering, medicine, pharmacy, etc., are not classed as liberal-arts.

A check of Chemical Abstracts for a longer period than one year is desirable, but a record kept for two and one- half years on liberal-arts colleges in the South has not changed the basic p i c t ~ r e . ~ Eleven colleges in this section had 24 articles in Chemical Abstracts for 1952, and during the preceding 18 months (to the middle of 1950) 12 colleges had 25 articles abstracted; only five colleges (Bethany, Carson-Newman, Florida Southern, Furman. and Texas Lutheran) amear on both the 1952

' SAMPEY, J. R., J. Higher Educ., 20, 208 (1949); C h . Eng. News, 28,860 (1950). ' SAMPEY, J. R., J. CHEM. EDUC., 27,69 (1950). a SAMPEY, J. R., Furmun University Magazine, 1 , No. 2, 8

(1952).

JOHN R. SAMPEY Furman University, Greenville, South Camlina

and 195&51 lists of abstracts, and they account for a total of 34 articles.

A survey of Biological Abstracts for 19514 reveals a similar pattern of publication from liberal-arts colleges. Forty-seven colleges contributed 103I/s articles abstrac- ted during the year; only 12 institutions appear in both Biological Abstracts for 1951 and Chemical Ab- stracts for 1952. This emphasizes the fact that research in liberal-arts colleges depends more upon the interest and initiative of individual faculty members than upon the standing or general reputation of the institutions in academic circles.

Distinction in the trainmg of the leaders of American science is reflected somewhat in the current research interests of liberal-arts colleges. Of the 46 colleges which trained present members of the National Acad- emy of Sciences, nine appear in the 1952 volume of Chemical Abs&acts (Amherst, College of Wooster, Grin- nell, Haverford, Lebanon Valley, Oberlin, Pomona, Trinity, and We~leyan).~

Four of the 22 liberal-arts colleges which trained lead- ers in the American Chemical Society are also in the 1952 Chemical Abstracts (Amherst, Grinnell, Haver- ford, and We~leyan).~

Five of the 13 colleges which granted bachelor's de- grees to leaders of the American Association for the Advancement of Science produced articles in the 1952 Chemical Abstracts (College of Wooster, Oberlm, Rich- mond, Wesleyan, and Wheaton).'

' SAMPEY, J. R., J . Higher Educ., in press. ' SAMPEY, J. R., Science, 116,309 (1952). @SAMPEY, J. R., AND J. SAMPEY, J. CIIEM. EDUC.. 30. 256

(1953). ' SAMPEY, J. R., AND J. SAMPEY, Science, 117,699 (1953).