Abstract
WITHIN the brief compass of this work the author aims at introducing the student to some of the chief groups of the carbon compounds, as represented by familiar substances, and at the same time at providing a series of experiments to illustrate the properties and reactions of these compounds. Thus the subject of the hydrocarbons is developed from an examination of the properties of coal gas, which leads to the study of marsh gas, ethane, olefine, acetylene and benzene. A feature of the book is that aromatic compounds are described along with fatty derivatives belonging to the same group, phenol along with alcohol, benzoic and salicylic acids along with acetic acid, aniline along with ethylamine, & c. This arrangement of the matter produces, no doubt owing to the severe compression, a somewhat disconnected effect, as it in many cases prevents a complete and logical discussion of the constitution of the compounds which are mentioned. This renders the book less suitable for absolute beginners than for students who have already a slight elementary acquaintance with the subject, and to these it cannot fail to afford valuable assistance. The experiments are on the whole well selected, but they are conducted on purely qualitative lines, no attention being paid to that important factor—the yield.
An Introduction to the Carbon Compounds.
By R. H. Adie Pp. viii + 90. (London: W. B. Clive.)
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H., A. An Introduction to the Carbon Compounds. Nature 60, 271 (1899). https://doi.org/10.1038/060271a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/060271a0