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Letters to the editorChemistry in ScoutingI read the July 28 Newscripts, written by Fionna Samuels, with great interest and humor. Many years ago, I was a Boy Scout earning the rank of Eagle and earning the chemistry merit badge along the way. I still remember thinking it was something of a joke.I had had a chemistry set for several years and had done all the experiments in the two books my father had found that I had chemicals to do. I already knew more chemistry than the merit badge explored.Years later, now an associate chemistry professor, I mentored several Scouts seeking the chemistry merit badge. This time I thought the requirements were simplistic, the instructions and explanations outdated, and safety largely absent. I am heartened to see that this is being changed.I no longer have the two chemistry books my father had found for me in the mid-1960s and do not know the publication details. One of them had an experiment in which pigment was extracted from red cabbage and several common household products were tested for pH. I have since written and used first-year chemistry lab experiments and prepared a nonmajors chemistry classroom demonstration based on red cabbage pigment and pH."Colorful cabbage juice" has been known for many years but is not common knowledge. You have to be looking for it or know where to look to find information about it. I do not fault Samuels for being unaware of the dependence of color on the pH of the