Common Science

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Transcriber's Note:

Minor inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation and formatting are
retained as in the original. Where detailed corrections have been made
on the text these are listed at the end of this document.

Disclaimer:

This is a work of historical interest only and much of the scientific
content has been superseded. There are numerous experiments described
in this book which are hazardous and should not be attempted. Advice
given on handling toxic substances, electrical apparatus etc. should
not be followed.

Do not try this at home!

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                  COMMON SCIENCE

              NEW-WORLD SCIENCE SERIES
            _Edited by John W. Ritchie_

         *       *       *       *       *

  SCIENCE FOR BEGINNERS
    By _Delos Fall_

  TREES, STARS, AND BIRDS
    By _Edwin Lincoln Moseley_

  COMMON SCIENCE
    By _Carleton W. Washburne_

  HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY
    By _John W. Ritchie_

  SANITATION AND PHYSIOLOGY
    By _John W. Ritchie_

  LABORATORY MANUAL FOR USE WITH "HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY"
    By _Carl Hartman_

         *       *       *       *       *

  EXERCISE AND REVIEW BOOK IN BIOLOGY
    By _J. G. Blaisdell_

  PERSONAL HYGIENE AND HOME NURSING
    By _Louisa C. Lippitt_

  SCIENCE OF PLANT LIFE
    By _Edgar Nelson Transeau_

         *       *       *       *       *

  ZOOeLOGY
    By _T. D. A. Cockerell_

  EXPERIMENTAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    By _Augustus P. West_

         *       *       *       *       *




            _NEW-WORLD SCIENCE SERIES_
            _Edited by John W. Ritchie_


                  COMMON SCIENCE

                      _by_
              _Carleton W. Washburne_

  _Superintendent of Schools, Winnetka, Illinois_
  _Formerly Supervisor in Physical Sciences and
      Instructor in Educational Psychology_
               _State Normal School_
            _San Francisco, California_

                  _ILLUSTRATED_
              WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND
                    DRAWINGS

          _Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York_
                WORLD BOOK COMPANY
                      1921


  WORLD BOOK COMPANY

  THE HOUSE OF APPLIED KNOWLEDGE

  Established, 1905, by Caspar W. Hodgson
  YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK
  2126 PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO

One of the results of the World War has been a widespread desire
to see the forces of science which proved so mighty in destruction
employed generally and systematically for the promotion of human
welfare. World Book Company, whose motto is The Application of the
World's Knowledge to the World's Needs, has been much in sympathy
with the movement to make science an integral part of our elementary
education, so that all our people from the highest to the lowest will
be able to use it for themselves and to appreciate the possibilities
of ameliorating the conditions of human life by its application to the
problems that confront us. We count it our good fortune, therefore,
that we are able at this time to offer _Common Science_ to the
schools. It is one of the new type of texts that are built on
educational research and not by guess, and we believe it to be a
substantial contribution to the teaching of the subject

  NWSS:WCS-2

  Copyright, 1920, by World Book Company

  Copyright in Great Britain

  _All rights reserved_




PREFACE


A collection of about 2000 questions asked by children forms the
foundation on which this book is built. Rather than decide what it is
that children ought to know, or what knowledge could best be fitted
into some educational theory, an attempt was made to find out what
children want to know. The obvious way to discover this was to let
them ask questions.

The questions collected were asked by several hundred children in the
upper elementary grades, over a period of a year and a half. They
were then sorted and classified according to the scientific principles
needed in order to answer them. These principles constitute the
skeleton of this course. The questions gave a very fair indication of
the parts of science in which children are most interested.
Physics, in simple, qualitative form,--not mathematical physics, of
course,--comes first; astronomy next; chemistry, geology, and certain
forms of physical geography (weather, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc.)
come third; biology, with physiology and hygiene, is a close fourth;
and nature study, in the ordinary school sense of the term, comes in
hardly at all.

The chapter headings of this book might indicate that the course
has to do with physics and chemistry only. This is because general
physical and chemical principles form a unifying and inclusive matrix
for the mass of applications. But the examples and descriptions
throughout the book include physical geography and the life sciences.
Descriptive astronomy and geology have, however, been omitted.