Abstract
“THIS book is not designed as a manual for special chemical students. It aims to meet the wants of that considerable class, both in and out of school, who would like to know something of the science, but who are without the opportunity or the desire to pursue it in a thoroughly experimental way. Such a class-book as the present. . . . .must be but a brief compendium of general principles and descriptions of the most important substances, and is not to be judged of by the fulness of its details.” This extract from the author's preface sufficiently explains the objects which he has had in view in compiling the book before us. Certainly the work has no claims as a textbook for students; for the general reader we are afraid it will prove of little interest. Within the compass of about 350 pages we have an account of Gravity, Heat, Molecular Attraction, Electricity and Light, besides Chemistry proper. Surely the day has passed when this kind of thing could be tolerated in a book which professes to teach science. People cry out against the teaching of science as a regular part of educational discipline. It is all very well in its own place, they say, but the only true mental training is to be derived from a study of classics.
A Class-book of Chemistry.
By Edward L. Youmans. (London: Henry S. King and Co., 1876.)
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MUIR, M. A Class-book of Chemistry . Nature 13, 424 (1876). https://doi.org/10.1038/013424a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/013424a0