Recent Books
'I A History of Chemistry. F. J. MOORE. Late Professor of Organic Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Revision prepared by William T Hall. Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Second edition. MffirawHill Book Company, Inc., New York and London, 1931. xxiii 324 pp. 78 plates. 14 X 20 a.$3.00.
however, of a number of eminent scientists who are still alive. A portrait of the author and an account of his life and his career as a scientist and teacher precede the text proper. The author has done his work well. within the limits he has set for himself. The text has stood the test of classroom use and with the cobperation of a widely read instructor i t can senre as an excellent This volume was constructed from a framework on which to build an introseries of lectures which dealt with the ductory course. I t is frankly a textbook and suffers from the evils which are the fundamental ideas of the science; their origin, their philosophical basis, the criti- necessary accompaniments of its didactic cal periods in their development, and the objectives. Biographical paragraphs are personalities of the great men whose informing, but are usually uninteresting efforts have contributed to that develop- and never make for smooth reading. The title of the picture by Chartran ment. The person addressed is the more mature student of chemistry, though few facing p. 66 is not correct. an error that portions of the hook will present serious occurs in several other texts. The paintdifficulties to the general reader. The ing hangs in the Sorbonne, but Lavoisier aim has been to emphasize only those had no connection with this sfhoal and facts and influences which have contrib- certainly did no work there. The scene uted to make the science what it is today; is usually labeled "Lavoisier converting the claim of a topic for consideration has Berthollet to the antiphlogistic doctrine." been not its practical but its historical Rouelle lectured a t the Jardin du Roi (des Plants) and not a t the College importance. I t has been asked, not Mazarin (p. 52). Lavoisier was conwhether the work was itself of value, hut did it contribute a new fundamental idea. demned on a trumped-up charge of treason, Little attention has been paid to questions the watered tobacco actually playing a of priority. The general plan of the book minor r61e in the long list of accusations remains unchanged in this second edition; brought against him and his fellow Ferthe content has increased about five per miers GtnCraux. The reviewer cannot agree with the statement (p. 232) that cent by the inclusion of new material. Recently discovered data have in a few Baeyer was a practical empirical chemist cases necessitated the restatement of facts. rather than a theoretical dreamer. The I t is pointed out that alchemistic doc- biography of Nef (p. 307) was written trines prevailed in China as early as they by L. W. not L. F. Jones. Le Chatelier appeared in Egypt and that Basilius assuredly deserves mention for something Valentinus probably never existed (his more than his translation of Gibbs' paper reputed likeness is nevertheless repro- an heterogeneous equilibrium. A little more care might have been used duced). Brief biographical sketches of a number of brilliant chemists who died with regard to the references suggested during the last twelve years are given. for further reading. None of the standard An additional chapter is devoted to Ameri- English histories of chemistry are mencans who did much to develop chemistry tioned, the numerous recent books and in this country, no mention being made, particularly the articles in the periodicals 2101
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occurred, evidently in quartz veins, were worked by slave and prison labor with a ruthless disregard for health or life. The author deals a t some length with the achievements of the Muslim chemists and i t gives a human note t o cur science when we realize that Jabir, one of the great names in chemistry, was an attendant a t the court of that H a r m al-Rashid a t Bagdad of whom we used to read in the "Thousand and One Nights." This relationship between chemistry and the Arabian court may account for some of the stories in the "Thousand and One Nights" which involve the ideas of alUNIVBASITY OX C I N U N N A ~ chemy. m a t the western scientists Oaro CINCINNATI, really owe t o Muslim sources the author Makers of Chemistry. ERICJOHNHOLM- well illustrates by the following observaYARD. First edition. Oxford Univer- tion taken from a Spanish book written sity Press, 1931. 314 pp. 58 illustra- a thousand years before the classic experiments of Priestley and Lavoisier: tions. 12 X 18 cm. $2.50. "I took natural quivering mercury, free Erie John Holmyard (M.A., Cambridge) is an investigator in pure chemistry, a from impurity, and placed it in a glass vessel shaped like an egg. This I put teacher of experience, and author of various texts in chemistry. His interest in inside another vessel like a cooking pot the pedagogical side is shown by his book, and set the whole apparatus over an ex"The Teaching of Science." He has be- tremely gentle fire. The outer pot was then in such a degree of heat that I could come especially well known on account of his work in the history of chemistry bear my hand upon it. I heated the apwhere his investigations in the Arabic paratus day and night for forty days, after which I opened it. I found that sources of chemistry and in the Jabir the mercury (the original weight of which problem have been of very great value. Ih.) had been completely conMr. Holmyard has an advantage. as a his- was a red powder, soft to the verted into torian of chemistry, in his background of touch, the weight remaining as i t was scholarship and experience, wherein he originally." Mr. Holymard remarks: differs from some of the late popular "That no gain in weight was observed writers in this special field. is not surprising, as some of the mercury For the general student the most difwould probably have been lost by volatilificult part of the history of chemistry is the early period, and in this respect this zation, while the increase in weight of book is a very decided contribution. As mercury on oxidation is only about 8 an expert chemist, the author has evalu- per cent. The fact, however, that the ated the findings of archaeology concern- author attempted t o carry out the exing the technical arts of the ancient world, periment quantitatively is in itself imwhose development played such an im- portant, as indicating that he paid attenportant rAle in its political history. It is tion t o a fundamental chemical rule not a matter of interest to the student of universally observed until centuries later." Mr. Holmyard gives an account of the today t o realize that 3000 years B.C. the Egyptian Court had a monopoly of the contributions (with good perspective) of mining and metallurgy of copper, while Roger Bacon, Paracelsus, Van Helmont. the gold mines of Nubia, where the metal L h e r y (who was possibly the first writer
are largely ignored; definite citations to the literature could well have been incorporated in the body of the text. I n same eases the original German works are recommended although English translations are now available, a rather surprising condition if viewed in the light of the statement (p. 307) that "Nef's writings are hard to read, partly hecause they are published for the most part in German." This fault can easily be remedied in the next edition, for so useful a hook deserves to he brought up t o date periodically. RALPHE. O E ~ P E R
