Abstract
(1) ALMOST at the beginning of this little volume the student is directed to make an experiment, whereby he may find out for himse1f certain propetties of chalk and gypsum. Experiment, in fact, is the keynote of the book. The authors teach mainly by experiment, and endeavour, as they put it, “to lead from fact to fact in an interesting and logical sequence.” This setting of the student to “do things” straight away will awaken his interest, if anything will; and the experiments are well devised to make him absorb knowledge at his fingers' endsthe kind of knowledge which comes to stay. Quantitative experiments are introduced early in the course, and even though these are, sometimes, approximative only in the results, they have considerable educative value. No special syllabus has been followed, but the book treats of the inorganic substances usually included in an elementary course. A chapter on technical processes at the end, however, gives short accounts of some classes of carbon compounds—oils, soaps, coal-tar dyes, and perfumes; and this adds to the comprehensiveness of the volume. The description of the experiment with iron filings (p. 93) needs revision, as also does that with sodium chloride and silver nitrate (p. 233, fifth line from the bottom). Sulphuric acid, moreover, can scarcely act upon the formula of formic acid (p. 180).
(1) Text-book of Elementary Chemistry.
By Dr. F. Mollwo Perkin Eleanor M. Jaggers. Pp. vii + 384. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1916.) Price 3s. net.
(2) Elementary Practical Chemistry.
Part ii. By Prof. F. Clowes J. Bernard Coleman. Eighth edition. Pp. xvi + 255. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1916.) Price 3s. 6d. net.
(3) Technical Chemists' Handbook. Tables and Methods of Analysis for Manufacturers of Inorganic Chemical Products.
By Dr. George Lunge. Second edition, revised. Pp. xvi + 264. (London: Gurney and Jackson, 1916.) Price 10s. 6d. net.
(4) Chemistry for Rural Schools.
By E. Jones A. Jones Griffith. Pp. 184. (London: Blackie and Son, Ltd., 1916.) Price 2s. 6d. net.
(5) A Text-book of Quantitative Chemical Analysis.
By Drs. A. C. Cumming S. A. Kay. Second edition. Pp. xv + 402. (London: Gurney and Jackson, 1916.) Price 9s. net.
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S., C. (1) Text-book of Elementary Chemistry (2) Elementary Practical Chemistry (3) Technical Chemists' Handbook Tables and Methods of Analysis for Manufacturers of Inorganic Chemical Products (4) Chemistry for Rural Schools (5) A Text-book of Quantitative Chemical Analysis . Nature 99, 223–224 (1917). https://doi.org/10.1038/099223a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/099223a0