The Methylene Group, Karl Marx, and "Das Kapital": An Interaction of Nineteenth Century Science and Philosophy A t& rommonlv covered in introductory genrral and organic rhemisrg. courses ir the wncrpt of thr hc~m~hyou, srrirs. For ~ x a m p l rthe , student is acquainted wlth the fact that all normal alkanrs haw the general alprhrn~rfurmula C,H ?,. and the monobasic fatty acid* haw the general hrmuln CnHln02. He i$ R ~ S Otold that their usrful a~nernliratiunca r w from the fact that as onevraceeds from on; eom~oundto another. one is in effect insertine a methvlene . a& .. . into the terminal C-H lumd Few of us-stud~ntior teachrm-are aware that the-se topics played a role in rhe Byantint, ~ ~ T I I ~ Y lor I P Lided~gical supremacy among nineteenth rmrury mrialists, the outcome of which aficcrs u s to thts w r y da\.. I t is the purpuir u i t h k article to present a brief o u t h e o f the d~velupmentof the concept
