November 22, 2002

Chemistry? In This Course, It's Elementary

Sherlock Holmes, always interested in the cold, hard facts, sometimes spent the day in his chemistry lab on Baker Street, although he wasn't a chemist. Now Bradley T. Jones, an associate professor of chemistry at Wake Forest University, uses fiction's favorite sleuth to teach analytical reasoning to freshmen.

Unlike traditional introductory-chemistry classes, which involve basic experiments and their outcomes, "The Analytical Methods of Sherlock Holmes" begins with an outcome and