Chemistry and Monographs

Abstract

THE serial scientific literature of the world increases yearly in bulk, and the knowledge contained therein is cumulative. Of all the sciences contributing to this already vast ocean of fact, theory, and opinion, chemistry, in all probability, heads the list, because the field covered by it and its related subjects is greater than that of any other science. The recent issue, in five volumes, of the decennial index of the American Chemical Society came as a startling reminder of what it is now thought proper to include under the head of pure and applied chemistry, and constituted a warning to which other societies, dealing with the publication of chemical abstracts, must have regard. It showed, moreover, that although reference to the original literature is essential to workers in connexion with their activities in some particular field, it cannot be regarded, except in special cases, as a practicable proposition for those who wish to keep abreast of development in sections other than those in which their own work lies. Views change, and much of the published work is subject to correction and alteration as the outcome of further research; a cause of confusion which is enhanced at the present time by the premature publication of results and conclusions by the ‘young man in a hurry’.

The Pyrolysis of Carbon Compounds.

Prof. C. D. Hurd. (American Chemical Society Monograph Series, No. 50.) Pp. 807. (New York: The Chemical Catalog Co., Inc., 1929.) 12.50 dollars.