Abstract
THIS work has been compiled for the use of students preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge Middle Class Examinations, and the Matriculation Examination of the University of London; it lays claim to no originality of treatment, and professes to be simply a collection of “enlarged notes,” . . . “originally culled from the best modern books.” Under these circumstances we are somewhat surprised that the author should have ventured to publish it; we are quite unable to detect any special merit in the book, and it is disfigured by many passages which show great want of exactness. Thus, we find “nitric acid, or nitric anhydride, N2O5;” “sulphate of potassium or dipotassic sulphate;” the formula of phosphate of calcium is written 3Ca2PO4, of chloride of lime CaOCl2O. We are told that “ammonium and sodium are distinguished by the smell of ammonia on the addition of caustic potash.” “Pure water has no action upon the metal (lead), but water charged with air corrodes it, and the oxide of lead thus formed dissolves in the water.” Among, the redeeming qualities of the book may be mentioned the questions which are selected from various University examination papers, and the examples given worked out in the text; but with errors of the nature of those given above it is impossible to recommend the book to the student, or to regard it as a reliable source of information.
A Class-book of Inorganic Chemistry, with Tables of Chemical Analysis, and Directions for their Use.
By D. Morris. (London: G. Phillip and Son, pp. 157.)
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A Class-book of Inorganic Chemistry, with Tables of Chemical Analysis, and Directions for their Use . Nature 5, 282 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/005282a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/005282a0