Transcriber’s Note: Boldface text is indicated by │bars│ and Italic text
by _underscores_. Subscripts are shown as normal numbers: H2O.
A HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES
│Astronomy│, by Prof. GEORGE FORBES, F.R.S.
│Chemistry, 2 volumes│, by Sir EDWARD THORPE, C.B., D Sc., F.R.S.,
etc. (Director of Government Laboratories)
│Old Testament Criticism│, by Prof. ARCHIBALD DUFF (Prof. of Hebrew
and Old Testament Theology in the United College, Bradford)
_In Active Preparation_—
│New Testament Criticism│, by F. C. CONYBEARE, M.A. (Late Fellow
and Prælector of Univ. Coll., Oxford)
│Geology│, by H. B. WOODWARD, F.R.S., F.G.S. (Assistant Director of
Geological Survey)
│Geography│, by Dr. SCOTT KELTIE, F.R.G.S., F.S.A.
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
New York London
[Illustration: JUSTUS VON LIEBIG]
_A HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES_
HISTORY
OF
CHEMISTRY
BY
SIR EDWARD THORPE
C.B., LL.D., F.R.S.
AUTHOR OF “ESSAYS IN HISTORICAL CHEMISTRY,” “HUMPHRY DAVY:
POET AND PHILOSOPHER,” “JOSEPH PRIESTLEY,” ETC., ETC.
TWO VOLUMES
II.
From 1850 to 1910
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1910
COPYRIGHT, 1910
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
This series is published in London by
THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION, LIMITED
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE
A History of the Sciences has been planned to present for the
information of the general public a historic record of the great
divisions of science. Each volume is the work of a writer who is
accepted as an authority on his own subject-matter. The books are
not to be considered as primers, but present thoroughly digested
information on the relations borne by each great division of science
to the changes in human ideas and to the intellectual development
of mankind. The monographs explain how the principal scientific
discoveries have been arrived at and the names of the workers to whom
such discoveries are due.
The books will comprise each about 200 pages. Each volume will contain
from 12 to 16 illustrations, including portraits of the discoverers and
explanatory views and diagrams. Each volume contains also a concise but
comprehensive bibliography of the subject-matter. The following volumes
will be issued during the course of the autumn of 1909.
│The History of Astronomy.│
By GEORGE FORBES, M.A., F.R.S., M. Inst. C.E.; author of _The
Transit of Venus_, etc.
│The History of Chemistry: Vol. I. circa 2000 B.C. to 1850 A.D. Vol.
II. 1850 A.D. to date.│
By SIR EDWARD THORPE, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., Director of the
Government Laboratories, London; Professor-elect and Director of
the Chemical Laboratories of the Imperial College of Science and
Technology; author of _A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry_.
_To be followed by_:
│The History of Geography.│
By Dr. JOHN SCOTT KELTIE, F.R.G.S., F.S.S., F.S.A., Hon. Mem.
Geographical Societies of Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels,
Amsterdam, Geneva, etc.; author of _Report on Geographical
Education_, _Applied Geography_.
│The History of Geology.│
By HORACE B. WOODWARD, F.R.S., F.G.S., Assistant Director of
Geological Survey of England and Wales; author of _The Geology
of England and Wales_, etc.
│The History of Anthropology.│
By A. C. HADDON, M.A., Sc.D., F.R.S., Lecturer in Ethnology,
Cambridge and London; author of _Study of Man_, _Magic and
Fetishism_, etc.
│The History of Old Testament Criticism.│
By ARCHIBALD DUFF, Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Theology
in the United College, Bradford; author of _Theology and Ethics
of the Hebrews_, _Modern Old Testament Theology_, etc.
│The History of New Testament Criticism.│
By F. C. CONYBEARE, M.A., late Fellow and Praelector of Univ.
Coll., Oxford; Fellow of the British Academy; Doctor of Theology,
_honoris causa_, of Giessen; Officer d’Academie; author of _Old
Armenian Texts of Revelation_, etc.
Further volumes are in plan on the following subjects:
│Mathematics and Mechanics.│
│Molecular Physics, Heat, Life, and Electricity.│
│Human Physiology, Embryology, and Heredity.│
│Acoustics, Harmonics, and the Physiology of Hearing, together with
Optics Chromatics, and Physiology of Seeing.│
│Psychology, Analytic, Comparative, and Experimental.│
│Sociology and Economics.│
│Ethics.│
│Comparative Philology.│
│Criticism, Historical Research, and Legends.│
│Comparative Mythology and the Science of Religions.│
│The Criticism of Ecclesiastical Institutions.│
│Culture, Moral and Intellectual, as Reflected in Imaginative
Literature and in the Fine Arts.│
│Logic.│
│Philosophy.│
│Education.│
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PAGE
STATE OF CHEMISTRY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 1
Introductory. Some Founders of Modern Chemistry: Liebig,
Wöhler, Dumas. Rapid Extension of Organic Chemistry after
1850: Laurent and Gerhardt, Hofmann. Development of theory
in Organic Chemistry. Other representative men of the middle
period of the Nineteenth Century: Graham, Williamson, Bunsen.
Modern Chemistry in relation to the Atomic Theory.