A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry

Abstract

THE writing of a “Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic Chemistry” presents a problem which becomes more and more difficult with each successive year. The small text-books of a century ago soon required to be expanded into a series of volumes such as were issued by Watts in 1868, and in the English translation of Gmelin, of which 19 volumes were issued between 1848 and 1872. In recent years the growth of the subject has been so rapid that nearly all the more recent successes have been scored by teams of workers, such as those who have collaborated in the production of Thorpe's “Dictionary of Applied Chemistry” in England, and of Moissan's “Traité de chimie min6rale” in France, as well as in the more recent German productions. Even so, as Dr. Mellor reminds us in his preface, the seventh edition of Gmelin, begun in 1905, is not yet completed, while three other unfinished compilations date back to 1905, 1900, and 1874 respectively. For every reason it is greatly to be hoped that Dr. Mellor will be able to carry through to completion the series of volumes of which the first two have now been issued.

A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry.

By Dr. J. W. Mellor. Vol. 1. Pp. xvi + 1065. Vol. 2. Pp. viii + 894. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1922.) 3l. 3s. net each vol.