Abstract
THIS text-book, which is intended for use in higher schools, does not differ to any very remarkable extent from numerous other elementary treatises on the same subject. Perhaps the first volume, described as an introduction to chemistry and mineralogy, shows the most originality in treatment. In this part the beginner is made acquainted with the most important chemical processes, such as oxidation and reduction, and is taught something of the more common chemical compounds, mainly by means of experiments, of which a hundred are fully described. These experiments are in most cases quantitative, and involve the weighing of gases as well as of solids and liquids. The laws of chemical combination which receive their expression in the atomic theory are thus impressed on the student by his own actual quantitative results. The treatment of the mineralogy is of a somewhat perfunctory character. The six systems of crystals receive the usual brief and inadequate exposition common to chemical text-books, and the Naumann system of notation for the crystal-faces is explained, but no mention is made of Miller's system. A review of the most important minerals appears at the end of the volume, and brief descriptions, with figures of the crystals, of natural phosphates, sulphates, &c, are given in their appropriate places in the text. The second volume is devoted to inorganic chemistry, and the elements with their principal compounds are treated in turn, the non-metals in the order of their valencies, and the metals in the usual groups. The third part deals with organic chemistry. Structural formulæ are explained, but the treatment is sufficiently elementary, as is evident from the fact that the whole subject of both fatty and aromatic compounds occupies less than a hundred pages. In an appendix are given the descriptions of a number of simple experiments illustrating the methods of production and properties of some of the most important organic compounds. A very brief introduction to organic and volumetric analysis completes the volume.
Lehrbuch der Chemie und Mineralogie.
By Prof. G. Siebert. 3 vols. Pp. viii + 101, vi + 144, vi + 110; figs. 100, 91, 32. (Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn, 1901.) Price Mk. 4.25.
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Lehrbuch der Chemie und Mineralogie . Nature 65, 317 (1902). https://doi.org/10.1038/065317a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/065317a0