Transcriber’s Notes:
Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_
in the original text.
Equal signs “=” before and after a word or phrase indicate =bold=
in the original text.
Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals.
Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs.
Deprecated spellings have been preserved.
Typographical and punctuation errors have been silently corrected.
[Illustration: A Chemist’s Work Bench.]
CHEMISTRY:
DEVELOPED BY
FACTS AND PRINCIPLES DRAWN CHIEFLY FROM THE NON-METALS,
BY
JOHN HOWARD APPLETON, A. M.,
_Professor of Chemistry in Brown University_.
AUTHOR OF
“THE YOUNG CHEMIST,”
“QUALITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS,”
“QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.”
“THE LABORATORY HANDBOOK.”
PROVIDENCE:
PROVIDENCE LITHOGRAPH COMPANY.
1884.
OTHER WORKS ON CHEMISTRY
BY PROFESSOR APPLETON:
=I. The Young Chemist=: A book of chemical experiments for beginners in
Chemistry. It is composed almost entirely of experiments, those being
chosen that may be performed with very simple apparatus.
=II. Qualitative Analysis=: A brief but thorough manual for laboratory
use.
It gives full explanations and many chemical equations. The processes
of analysis are clearly stated and the whole subject is handled in a
manner that has been highly commended.
=III. Quantitative Analysis=: The treatment of the subject is such as
to afford an acquaintance with the best methods of determining all the
principal elements, as well as with the most important type-processes
both of gravimetric and volumetric analysis.
THE EXPLANATIONS ARE DIRECT AND CLEAR so that a pupil is enabled to
work intelligently _even without the constant guidance of the teacher_.
By this means the book is adapted for self-instruction of teachers and
others who require this kind of help to enable them to advance beyond
their present attainments.
=IV. The Laboratory Handbook=: An annual publication containing many
convenient tables for laboratory use. New tables are constantly
introduced, and changes are made in order to keep the matter abreast of
the latest discoveries.
COPYRIGHT, 1884,
BY
JOHN HOWARD APPLETON.
PRINTED AND ELECTROTYPED BY
E. A. JOHNSON & CO.,
PROVIDENCE, R. I.
PREFACE.
This little book has been prepared as a popular introduction to the
study of chemistry.
It is probably needless to recommend the _subject_: chemistry is
recognized as a science of such general interest, such wide usefulness,
and such universal application, that no intelligent person can endure
long to remain ignorant of its principal facts and laws.
This book treats principally of the _non-metals_; it is believed to be
the verdict of authors and teachers of experience, that these furnish
the most suitable material for a beginner in the study of chemistry;
these best present the fundamental facts and principles of the science,
and they do it in connection with objects and phenomena easily
accessible to almost every civilized human being.
The author contemplates the preparation hereafter of a book of similar
general character, only having its principal facts drawn from the
chemistry of the _metals_.
In writing this book it has been the effort to treat the subject in
a style that shall be attractive to the general reader; but it is
believed that in no case has scientific fact been sacrificed in the
interest of popular form.
The arrangement of matter in the book is in accordance with the
following plan: After the introductory chapters, which present the
general principles of chemical action, the chief non-metals are treated
in a scientific order as follows: the _monads_, hydrogen, chlorine,
bromine, iodine, and fluorine; then the _dyads_, oxygen and sulphur;
next the _triads_, boron, nitrogen; finally the _tetrads_, carbon and
silicon; thus including the four great groups into which the non-metals
are naturally arranged.
The _historical and biographical sketches_, that are distributed
through the book, have been introduced with the view of legitimately
helping to retain the reader’s attention. Most of the _experiments_
described are such as may be performed by any one possessed of
reasonable skill; it is believed that they will afford profitable
instruction as well as entertainment. Allusions to the _applications
of chemistry_ to the affairs of every-day life have been carefully
introduced and have been developed as fully as the circumstances seem
to warrant.
Perhaps some comment upon the _reading references_ (pp. 10, 17, 24, 27,
31, 38, 45, 56, 73, 84, 98, 111, 116, 133, 156, 161, 186, 196, 214)
is proper. They are largely from periodical publications, and it is
thought that they will be of service, especially to mature students.
Helps to reading are now viewed as among the most important offerings
of teachers to learners. The reading lists in this book point out some
papers which are selected as being chiefly popular in style; if these
lead the reader to consult the others he will find himself introduced
to some of the most important contributions to the knowledge of our
science.
BROWN UNIVERSITY, August, 1884.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.—The scope of chemistry, 7
CHAPTER II.—The elementary substances, 12
CHAPTER III.—Names and symbols of elements, 19
CHAPTER IV.—Classification of the elementary
substances; metals and non-metals, 28
CHAPTER V.—Compound substances; examples of
binary and ternary compounds, 32
CHAPTER VI.—The construction of substances;
the mass, the molecule, the atom, 39
CHAPTER VII.—How chemical affinity works; the
modern atomic theory, 46
CHAPTER VIII.—Hydrogen; its discovery; method
of preparation; its properties, 58
CHAPTER IX.—Balloons; their invention and uses, 74
CHAPTER X.—Chlorine; its preparation and properties;
chlorohydric acid; bleaching-powder, 85
CHAPTER XI.—Bromine, 100
CHAPTER XII.—Iodine, 105
CHAPTER XIII.—Fluorine, 112
CHAPTER XIV.—Oxygen; its discovery; its preparation;
its properties; its relation to hydrogen; the compound
blowpipe; its relation to combustion in general, and
to animal respiration, 117
CHAPTER XV.—Water, its importance to living beings;
its terrestrial circulation; its influence on climate, 134
CHAPTER XVI.—Sulphur; sulphuretted hydrogen;
sulphur dioxide, 142
CHAPTER XVII.—Sulphur trioxide; manufacture of
sulphuric acid, 151
CHAPTER XVIII.—Boron, 157
CHAPTER XIX.—Nitrogen; its discovery; its properties;
compound with hydrogen; compounds with oxygen;
nitric acid, 162
CHAPTER XX.—The Atmosphere, 170
CHAPTER XXI.—Explosives; gunpowder; fireworks;
fulminates gun-cotton; nitroglycerine, 177
CHAPTER XXII.—Phosphorus; friction matches, 187
CHAPTER XXIII.—Carbon; charcoal; lamp-black; coal;
graphite; the diamond; other natural forms of carbon, 197
CHAPTER XXIV.—Compounds of carbon and oxygen, 215
CHAPTER XXV.—Illuminating gas, 221
CHAPTER XXVI.—Silicon, 228
CHEMISTRY.
CHAPTER I.
THE SCOPE OF CHEMISTRY.
Chemistry treats of all kinds of material substances. This is a very
broad assertion, but it appears to be true. The solid rock matter of
the earth and the wealth of living animal and vegetable substances
upon it undergo all their varied changes in subjection to chemical
laws. The same is true of the water and of all liquid things we know;
and the declaration applies yet further to the invisible gaseous mass
which surrounds and envelopes our terrestrial globe. This deeper but
thinner ocean which we call the atmosphere is also governed by chemical
law in all its varied relations to the living beings as well as to the
inanimate substances that have their existence within it. In thought we
may ascend above these solid, liquid and gaseous substances connected
with our earth. When thus we reach out to the heavenly bodies beyond,
we feel sure that these, possessing as they may, solid, liquid or
gaseous matter, are likewise controlled by chemical laws, and that
in their changes they exemplify with more or less fulness, distinct
chemical principles.
The Great Number of Different Substances in the Earth.
Here then it is intimated that chemistry relates to an enormous number
of substances. In fact the number of the various kinds of matter
already existing on our earth is so great that they have never been
so much as counted, much less described, in any list or volume; nay
more, doubtless many exist that human beings have never recognized at
all. This last statement refers not merely to such substances as may
be known only to savages dwelling beyond the reach of civilization and
commerce, nor yet to such as may be secreted in absolutely uninhabited
portions of the globe, nor even to those that exist so deep in the
earth that man’s power may never be sufficient to reach them. Probably
even some of the most humble and familiar natural things, such as
blades of wheat, petals of daisies, silks of corn, and the like,
contain small quantities of distinct and separate compounds that have
not yet been recognized as such by even the most skillful chemists.
But even compounds such as are described in books on chemistry are
exceedingly numerous; and further, the chemical laws now known
suggest the possibility of producing _artificially_ a great multitude
of substances not yet recognized, and even more than have yet been
produced in the great laboratory of nature.
How it Happens that there is such a Variety.
By searching aright for the secret of the countless number and the
rich and splendid variety of beings that nature and art present to the
curious gaze of man, a comprehensive answer is at last obtained.
Forms of ordinary matter may be compared to great cathedrals, like
those of Cologne and of Milan, which have been growing for centuries
and which by the combined labor of artists and artisans have at
length become intricate and beautiful structures, the admiration and
delight of the beholder. Just as these arise from the combination
in a multitude of ways of a comparatively small number of original
and fundamental substances—like stone, brick, iron, copper, plaster,
glass, wood—so all things known to chemists are made up of a few simple
substances, either existing alone or in richly various combination.
The simplest substances when alone are called the _chemical elements_
or elementary substances; the things resulting when different elements
are united together are called _compounds_. Thus metallic iron is
one familiar example of a chemical element; the oxygen gas of the
atmosphere is another example. A piece of iron exposed to damp air soon
becomes changed to a mass of iron-rust. This rust is a compound; it is
made up of iron and oxygen united together.
In the light of what has been said the chemical elements assume a new
and grand importance: they are the individuals chosen by the Creator to
be the foundation stones and the essential constituents of the glorious
natural edifices of his handiwork.
Again when the elementary individuals unite together they do so by
reason of the interaction of many and complex forces which reside,
almost like soul and spirit, within the elements.
These last remarks suggest the twofold character of chemical study. It
involves, _First_, the examination of elementary substances and their
compounds. _Secondly_, it requires a consideration of the many general
and special _laws and forces_ which determine the various possible
combinations.
READING REFERENCES.
In general, the first-mentioned books in each group are those which are
most accessible and at the same time most serviceable. Some rare and
costly books are mentioned, for the benefit of persons who have access
to large libraries.
Chemistry, General and Applied, Serial Publications.
=Chemical= News. (William Crookes, Ed.) London. Weekly.
(Commenced 1860.)
=Popular= Science News and Boston Journal of Chemistry.
Boston. Monthly. (Commenced 1867.)
=Journal= of the Chemical Society. London. Monthly.
———— Index to foregoing. 1841-1872: pp. 263.
=Annales= de Chimie et de Physique. Paris. Monthly.
———— Table des Tomes I à XXX. (1841-1851.) Paris, pp. 134.
———— Table Analytique des Tomes XXXI à LXIX. 3d Series.
(1851-1863.) Paris. pp. 474.
———— Table des Noms d’Auteurs et Table Analytique des Matieres.
(1864-1873.) 4th Series. Paris. pp. 249.
=Berichte= der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft. Berlin.
(Commenced 1868.) 20 parts per year.
=Wagner=, Johannes R. v.—Jahres-Bericht über die Fortschritte
und Leistungen der chemischen Technologie. Leipzig.
Annual. (Commenced 1855; last vol. had 1,332 pp.)
———— Index to foregoing. Vols. I-X.
———— ” ” Vols. X-XX.
Dictionaries of Chemistry, etc.
=Watts=, Henry.—Dictionary of Chemistry and the allied branches
of other sciences. 8 vols. London. 1865-1875.
=Storer=, Frank H.—First Outlines of a Dictionary of
Solubilities of Chemical Substances. Cambridge. 1864.
=Wurtz=, Ad.—Dictionnaire de Chimie, pure et appliquée.
3 vols. Paris. 1870.
=Fehling=, Hermann v.—Neues Handwörterbuch der Chimie.
A to Morphin. Braunschweig. 1871—now issuing.
General Treatises on Chemistry.
=Roscoe=, H. E., and Schorlemmer, C.—A Treatise on Chemistry.
London and New York. 1878. Vol. I, pp. 771; Vol. II, part I,
pp. 504, part II, pp. 552; Vol. III, part I, pp 724.
(Now issuing.)
=Cooke=, Josiah P., Jr.—Principles of Chemical Philosophy.
Boston. 1881.
=Gmelin=, Leopold (Henry Watts, Tr.)—Hand-Book of Chemistry.
Printed for the Cavendish Society. 14 vols. London.
1848-1860.
=Graham-Otto’s= Ausführliches Lehrbuch der Chemie. 6 vols.
Braunschweig. 1857.
=Schützenberger=, P.—Traité de Chimie générale. 3 vols.
Paris. 1880.