The list of topics is itself interesting (see below). Students did not learn about atoms and molecules until near the end of the academic year. In 1927–28 the standard curriculum consisted almost completely of descriptive and practical chemistry of the elements. Such a curriculum probably needed some spicing up—doesn’t every curriculum—and the Chemistry Leaflet was an excellent condiment. In the first issue, for example, a student would learn that bees are “the heaviest consumers of oxygen in proportion to their weight” of any animals (17,336 cm³ per kilogram per hour, T and P not specified).

This first Leaflet devotes more than two pages to Joseph Priestley’s personal description of his discovery of oxygen. Priestley speculates about using “dephlogisticated air” to produce high-temperature flames, to treat the lungs of seriously ill patients, and as “a fashionable article in luxury”. The same issue includes news items about oxy-acetylene welding and treatment of Rudyard Kipling’s pneumonia with oxygen. One item decried the use of pure oxygen by athletes—perhaps the first performance-enhancing drug. The first Leaflet also describes restoration of the Priestley house in Northumberland, PA, not far from Penn State University, where Beery was located.

Each Chemistry Leaflet was 16–20 pages long, so in a year student subscribers would have read more than 500 pages about the chemical elements in addition to their textbooks. Presumably many students were willing to do so. The Leaflet also suggested other sources of information, such as brochures from manufacturers of oxy-acetylene welding equipment. Finding sources and writing original material each week must have required a major part of Pauline Beery’s time. Her dedication to attracting more students to chemistry is obvious. Finally, Beery often quotes from “Conversations on Chemistry” an early 19th century book by Englishwoman Mrs. Jane Marcet in which a character identified only as Mrs. B converses with two young women, Caroline and Emily, about chemistry. The young women are clearly fascinated by and competent in science. Presumably Beery intended the Chemistry Leaflet to encourage women into science.

During the 1930s or 1940s the connection between JCE and the Chemistry Leaflet was broken. By 1944 the Leaflet had been transformed into Chemistry magazine, which was published through 1961 by Science Service and then purchased by the American Chemical Society. Chemistry was published by ACS until 1979 when it became SciQuest, a general science magazine similar to Discover or Scientific American that soon ceased publication. This left a gap that was filled 20 years ago by ACS’s ChemMatters. (In honor of its 20th anniversary, ChemMatters has created a CD-ROM that includes all issues published to date —highly recommended.)

When I tore myself away from reading Chemistry Leaflets, I had two main thoughts. First, so that others might have access to Leaflets, I would like to scan unbound copies and digitize them for JCE Online. If you have copies, or know of someone who does, please contact me. Second, I was impressed that Pauline Beery brought in so much relevant, fascinating, and timely information to illuminate chemical principles and facts. Her medium was the printed page; content was obtained from newspapers and magazines. Today’s students are far more likely to consult the Web for information, and there’s a lot more information there. I would love to find a cadre of volunteers to Google appropriate subjects, vet the Web pages found, provide an annotated set of links to material that is both interesting and scientifically correct, organize those links around the National Science Education Standards, and include them in JCE Online. How about it? Are you game for some fascinating work that could help both teachers and students? If so, let me know. Together we could create a Chemistry Leaflet for today’s students.