Abstract
SIR EDWARD THORPE, who has enriched chemical literature with so many valuable biographical contributions, has added greatly to our indebtedness by the publication of these two small volumes of chemical history. In method and style they follow the eminently readable work of Thomas Thomson, which has been so long out of print, and in many respects out of date, and the modern student is now supplied with a brief history of chemistry, which is well within his; intellectual and material means, and cannot fail to add greatly to the interest of his studies. The divorce of historical and other human interest from the study of science, resulting from our examination system, is greatly to be deplored. It gives good ground for the allegations of aridity so often made against scientific teaching and scientific text-books, and it deprives the student of much that would aid him in the comprehension of modern chemical theory. It is to be hoped that these volumes will have a very wide circulation, and that students may be encouraged to proceed to study some of the works which are indicated in the appended bibliographies.
History of Chemistry.
By Sir Edward Thorpe. Vol. i., From the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century. Pp. viii + 148. Vol. ii., From 1850 to 1910. Pp. viii + 152. (Issued for the Rationalist Press Association, Ltd.) (London: Watts and Co., 1909 and 1910.) Price 1s. net each volume.
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S., A. History of Chemistry . Nature 85, 5 (1910). https://doi.org/10.1038/085005b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/085005b0