Abstract
THERE is no branch of chemistry in which greater progress has been made in the last twenty years than the study of valency. A full understanding of the principles of chemical combination demands a versatile mind: for it needs to be familiar with what we may call pure chemical reasoning and experiment; it must be on friendly terms with most, if not all, of the tools of modern physics (X-rays, electron scattering, vibration and rotation spectra, electric oscillations, and so on): and lastly, it must not despise mathematics (did not Dirac say, in effect, that all chemistry is a branch of mathematics?). He who writes a book about valency must decide from the start what kind of approach he will make. To be all-inclusive would require more space than the bare 250 pages which Dr. Palmer has allowed himself; some selection has to be made.
Valency: Classical and Modern
By Dr. W. G. Palmer. Pp. x + 242. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1944.) 10s. 6d. net.
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COULSON, C. Valency: Classical and Modern. Nature 154, 784 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/154784a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/154784a0