The French Chemical Literature and Its Use - ACS Publications

The French Chemical Literature and Its Use ERNEST F. SPITZER

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Chas. Pfizer & C o . , Inc., Brooklyn 6, Ν . Y.

The major sources of French chemical literature are discussed. Some French-English dictionaries are listed; compendia and reference works are discussed. An industrial directory and publications listing disserta tions and theses and recent books are available. Sources of abstracts are three journals; these and other French chemical journals are evaluated.

In common with chemical information published i n many other countries, material of interest printed i n French chemical books, journals, and patents has, i n the past, been difficult of access, primarily because of the lack of organization and centralized docu mentation on one hand, and as a result of haphazard indexing on the other. This applies especially to the publications printed during the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century. Y e t , whatever its indexing problems, the French chemical literature has b y no means been dormant; i t may well be characterized by its long period of continuous growth and its steady rate of progress up to 1940, and i t now appears to be i n the midst of an active period of postwar resurgence, marked b y the publication of many excellent books and journals. Quite recently, Boig and Howerton, i n the course of their studies of the history and development of chemical periodicals i n the fields of organic and analytical chemistry (7, 8) listed the ten leading journals throughout the world and included two French journals of long standing—the Comptes rendus fobdoirnadaires des seances de Γ académie des sciences and the Bulletin de la société chimique de France (14,20). Laboratory and literature chemists using English as their primary language today find themselves i n a singularly fortunate position. Theirs is the best documented of the natural sciences. The bulk of the world's chemical literature, with the possible excep tion of the Russian literature, is at their fingertips through two major abstract journals published i n the English language. The wartime skimp i n scientific publication has been superseded b y a new flood of books and periodicals made available b y improved methods of coverage and new abstract journals such as the Bulletin analytique (10). Thus, an approach to the French chemical literature b y an English-speaking chemist involves the scaling of a threefold psychological hurdle—the high percentage of French original material already covered i n the A n g l o - U . S. abstract journals, the occasional lack of accessibility to the primary sources, and, finally, the language barrier. There are indications that French chemical literature is becoming more familiar to English-speaking users, and, in this connection, the growing interest i n world-wide scientific documentation has been a contributing factor of major importance. A list of documenta tion centers and documentation services i n France was published i n 1951 under the aus pices of the U N E S C O and under the direction of the Library Service of France. I t is called "Répertoire des Bibliothèques de France" (48) and is the third of three volumes dealing with French library resources; the two preceding volumes covered the libraries of Paris and of the Departments. This compilation is well indexed and includes services offered as well as descriptions of the general nature of the library holdings. 487

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The English-speaking chemist has many aids to assist h i m i n reading chemical French. Assuming a reasonably good background of college French or, better still, the benefit of a period of actual conversational practice, he can refer to a number of fine technical and chemical French-English and English-French dictionaries. B u t chemical French, like chemical German, has its own peculiarities and its traps for the unwary. The capital letter M , for instance, used before an author's last name, is not likely to be his first initial, but rather an abbreviation for Monsieur. This custom of preceding a person's name with M i s t e r has had its effects on the documentation of early French literature i n some English-language indexes where most, if not a l l , French authors seemed to have first names starting with the letter M . Some other points to be guarded against i n reading and translating chemical French are these. I n French the hydroxyl group is not usually expressed as " h y d r o x y , " but rather as ' o x y . " " O x y " is also sometimes used to designate the ketonic group. " H y drate" i n French is used to indicate hydroxide as well as hydrate. The French equiva lent for ester is "ether." The meaning of the French word " b i l l i o n " should always be checked from the con text. I t may, and usually does, conform to American usage. If, however, the term " m i l l i a r d " — i . e . , one thousand million, has been used to denote billion ( U . S. usage), the French " b i l l i o n " becomes the equivalent of the U . S. " t r i l l i o n . " Transliteration from Russian into French differs from German and English practice. Thus, the German transliteration of a Russian author may appear as Tschitschibabin whereas the French equivalent will be Chichibabin. Because of the wealth of the French language i n idioms, figures of speech and prover bial expressions, a book of idioms (39) i n addition to the'dictionary is not amiss as part of one's reading and translating equipment.

Dictionaries A considerable number of general and special dictionaries are available which are suitable for use i n reading chemical, technical, and medical French. A few of the better known ones are listed (19,23-25,33,84,38-40,46,56).

Compendiums and Reference Works L i k e other countries, France has its classics i n the field of chemical compendiums and reference works. M o s t l y , they are part of the chemical literature of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and today their value and significance are mainly historical. The first three titles discussed belong to this group. The "Dictionnaire de Chimie Pure et Appliquée" is a set of fourteen books, made up of three original volumes i n five books and two supplements i n nine books (58). The "Encyclopédie C h i m i q u e " is a compendium of ninety-four volumes containing historical and biographical data and reporting advances i n various branches of chemistry (28). "Traité de Chimie Minérale" (43), a set of five volumes, has been superseded b y the second edition under the authorship of Pascal. The second edition (45) comprises twelve v o l umes, is of an encyclopedic nature, and is generally considered a fairly recent basic set i n the French literature of inorganic chemistry. "Traité de Chimie Organique" comprises twenty volumes, of which nineteen, i n twenty-three books, are available at present. W r i t t e n i n monograph style, this large and complete compendium may be considered the organic counterpart of Pascal's treatise on inorganic chemistry (81). "Traité de Chimie Industrielle" is a three-volume reference work on industrial chemistry, with special emphasis on mineral acids, industrial water treatment, fuels and the petroleum industry, and metallurgy; other industrial topics are also covered (6).

Annual Tables The "Tables Annuelles de Constantes et Données Numériques de Chimie, de Physique, de Biologie, et de Technologie" (53), which have been printed with both French and English text, were originally published under the auspices of the International Council of Scien-


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tific Unions and of the International U n i o n of Chemistry. They were started i n 1910 with the intention of bringing together a l l the numerical data published i n chemistry, physics, biology and technology i n a given year. These annual summaries however, gradually fell behind schedule, and publication stopped somewhere around 1945, with data for 1939. These tables are frequently used as a supplement to the "International Critical Tables" for the years after 1924. It should be noted however, that no critical selection was made in assembling the numerical data and constants.


Dissertations and Theses The M i n i s t r y of Education i n Paris has been publishing an annual volume called "Catalogue des Thèses et Escrits Académiques," arranged by academic subjects and u n i versities, then by authors. The volume for 1949 appeared i n 1952 (42). However, the best place to look for recent French theses i n the field of chemistry is the volume on chem istry of the "French Bibliographical Digest," which includes doctoral theses and dis sertations i n chemical subjects published between 1940 and 1948 (29); later years will be covered i n a supplement.

Industrial Directory " L ' A n n u a i r e Industriel" is a French industrial directory of 87,000 firms, goods, and services in three volumes (4).

Recent French Scientific Books The chemistry volume of the "French Bibliographical Digest" (29) mentioned in connection with French dissertations in chemistry, is a valuable source of information and a bibliographic guide to recent French chemical books. It is one of a series of bib liographical digests published by the Cultural Division of the French Embassy i n New Y o r k C i t y and describes scientific works published i n France between 1940 and 1948. A supplementary series of digests is now i n preparation and will list books published during 1949 to 1951. There are eight of these digests: N o . 1, Biology (part I ) ; N o . 2, Biology (part II), Zoology, Botany; N o . 3, Geography; N o . 4, Geology, Paleontology; N o . 5, Psychology; No.6,Mathematics,Astronony; N o . 7, Physics;and N o . 8, Chemistry. Digest N o . 8 includes a number of books published i n French by Belgian and Swiss scientists. Each book or set listed carries full bibliographical information, including pub lisher, year of publication, format, and number of pages, and a review selected from one of the following journals: Nature (London), Bulletin analytique du C.N.R.S., Revue générale des sciences, and Bulletin critique du Livre Français. The bibliography includes sections on general, organic, inorganic, analytical, physical, and industrial chemistry. It lists thirty representative French periodicals i n the field of chemistry and general science, with name of publisher and frequency of publication. A directory of French and Swiss publishers is also supplied. The most recently published volume in the field of chemical bibliography is Gaudenzi's " G u i d a Bibliografica Internazionale per i l C h i m i c o " ; it lists about 3200 books and 1100 periodicals on chemistry i n English, French, German, and Italian (SO).

French Chemical Journals For historical searches i n the French chemical journal literature, reference should be made to Dyson's list of obsolete journals (26). This list covers obscure titles and short runs published during the nineteenth century, with special attention to the problem of multiple publication, anonymity, briefness of publication period, and changes of title. Annales de chimie. T h e yeaxs of inception and earliest growth of the F r e n c h chemical journal literature and the present period are linked b y Annales de Chimie (1) which is the oldest chemical journal still being published. Established i n 1789 by Lavoisier, Berthollet, and several others, it appeared under the title of Annates de chimie et de physique until 1914 when it was divided into separate journals, the Annates de chimie In LITERATURE RESOURCES; Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1954.


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and Annales de physique. The Annales de chimie is known for its complete and de tailed papers which, i n some instances, may have been published previously i n the Comptes rendus (20) i n very brief form. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des seances de l'académie des sciences. French chemists sometimes seem to prefer publication of their original work i n the Comptes rendus (20) which, although a general scientific journal, is not a chemical periodical in the strict sense of the term. It does, however, assure prompt publication, and publication in its pages carries a very high prestige rating. Its policy of limiting a l l papers to about two printed pages has, no doubt, had its effects i n furthering the discipline of concise writ ing. Comptes rendus has appeared continuously since 1835. It is published in two volumes per year and contains many important chemical papers, usually i n the form of first a n nouncements, with detailed publication at a later date and i n other journals. Bulletin de la société chimique de France (14). T h i s is the official journal of the French Chemical Society and is devoted to'the field of pure chemistry. It has been published since 1858 and has gone through a number of variations i n publication procedure. The Bulletin used to appear in alternate volumes of papers and abstracts with the Memoirs i n odd-numbered volumes and the Documentation in even-numbered ones. Abstracts were started in 1863 and, for some years prior to 1930, abstracts of foreign papers were printed separately; then all abstracts were combined in one volume. N o abstracts of patents are included. Memoirs and Documentation sections were merged in 1946, and the Documentation section was discontinued i n 1949. The Documentation part of this journal, up to 1949, is an important source of French abstracts i n pure chem istry; after this date, the Bulletin analytique should be consulted. Chimie et industrie. Chimie et industrie (18) is, without doubt, the best and most important French journal publication on industrial chemistry, and merits general and frequent use i n reference and research work. Started i n 1918 and published monthly by the Société de Chimie Industrielle, it now appears i n two volumes per year. Each issue at present is made up of three main sections: Technology, containing complete papers on all phases of industrial chemistry, Documentation, which is a very complete abstract section, and a section on Economics. I n addition, there may be other brief sections headed Sociology, Teaching, Organization, and Miscellaneous News. The Documentation section compares very favorably with the German, British, and American abstract journals with regard to the quality of its abstracts on applied chemistry since 1919, and for abstracts of French patents. It is also well worth consulting for ab stracts of patents from European countries i n general. Unfortunately, no numerical patent indexes are supplied. Bulletin analytique. The Bulletin analytique (10) is published by the D o c u mentation Center of the Centre N a t i o n a l de l a recherche scientifique ( C . N . R . S . ) i n Paris. It is a general scientific abstract journal appearing i n three parts. Part 1 covers mathematics, physics, chemistry and related aspects; part 2 deals with the bio logical sciences, agriculture and the food industries: and part 3 is headed philosophy. Parts 1 and 2 come out monthly, part 3, three times a year. The abstracts are fairly brief summaries prepared from scientific and technical original papers selected from the world scientific literature. Bulletin analytique started i n 1940 with parts 1 and 2 con taining about 10,000 abstracts per year for each part. I n 1950 it averaged more than 100,000 yearly abstracts and covered more than 4000 scientific periodicals. The C . N . R . S . Documentation Center also furnishes photostats and microfilms of articles abstracted

in the Bulletin.

The five aforementioned journals will, in a l l likelihood, be the ones most frequently consulted by the literature chemist. Some of the many other more specialized French chemical periodicals have been listed in the bibliography.

Sources of Abstracts A s regards the total number of scientific abstracts produced per year, France is now in third place after the U . S. and B r i t a i n (66). B u t , whereas U . S. and British abstracts In LITERATURE RESOURCES; Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1954.


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in the chemical literature can be approached through single major sources, the Chemical Abstracts (16) and the British Abstracts (9), checking of French abstract literature in chemistry requires a triple approach—the Bulletin analytique for general science and chemistry, the Documentation Section of the Bulletin de la société chimique de France for pure chemistry abstracts, and the Documentation Section of Chimie et industrie for abstracts in applied chemistry and for patents. Because of overlapping and in view of the difficulties of classifying borderline subjects in pure or applied chemistry, both chemical journals should ordinarily be consulted, at least prior to 1949. In addition to these major and general publications, quite a number of French journals carry good documentation sections. The Bulletin de U institut Pasteur (12), a monthly abstract journal in the field of bacteriology, medicine, biology, physiology, biological chemistry, and microbiology, publishes about 4400 abstracts and book reviews per year, and there are two journals in the perfumery field, La Parfumerie moderne (44) and rindustrie de la Parfumerie (35), both having good abstract sections. Mellon's "List of Sources of Chemical Abstracts" (41) covers various branches of chemistry, including sources of French abstracts on applied chemistry prior to 1919. No discussion of the French journal literature would be complete without a reference to some of the important journals published outside of France, either entirely in French or containing individual papers in the French language. To this group belong the Bulletin des sociétés chimiques Belges (15), formerly called Bulletin de la société chimique de Belgique, the Helvetica Chimica Acta of Switzerland (32), and the Recueil des travaux Chimiques des Pays-Bas (47) of the Netherlands. These are primarily chemical journals; a broader scientific approach is met in journals such as the Comptes rendus des travaux du laboratoire Carlsberg (22) of Denmark, and the Arkivfôr Kemi, of Sweden (5). French Patents French patents as a source of information for chemical literature research have undoubtedly been the source of many a headache, if one can judge from the exasperated comments of Worischek (57) and Fleischer (27) ; nor can any encouragement be offered at this time. French patents list no claims, but provide resumes which summarize their contents. Their only function is to establish a priority date for use in French courts in case of litigation. There is no formal examining procedure, and duplication of patents is not uncommon. Pharmaceutical compositions or medicines cannot be patented under French law, but the processes for manufacturing them are patentable. French patents do not extend to French Morocco, Tunis, Syria, or Lebanon which have separate patent systems. They do, however, extend to the other French colonies. From the U . S. point of view, French patents are of interest especially because of the priority established by their dates. Bibliography

(1) Annales de chimie (Paris), Masson et Cie., Libraires de l'académie de médecine, 120 blvd. St.Germain, Paris (6e), France. (2) Annales des falsifications et des fraudes, Secy., G. Janssens, 18 ave. de Villars, Paris (7e), France. (3) Annales de la nutrition et de l'alimentation, M. G. Kersaint, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 45 rue d'Ulm, Paris (5e), France. (4) "l'Annuaire Industriel," Paris, Services Commerciaux et Techniques, 1950-1. (5) Arkiv för Kemi, Almqvist & Wiksells Boktryckeri A B, Stockholm, Sweden. (6) Baud, P., "Traité de Chimie Industrielle," 4th ed., Paris, Masson, 1951. (7) Boig, F. S., and Howerton, P. W., Science, 115, 25-31 (1952). History and Development of Chemical Periodicals in the Field of Organic Chemistry: 1877-1949. (8) Ibid., pp. 555-60. History and Development of Chemical Periodicals in the Field of Analytical Chemistry: 1877-1950. (9) British Abstracts, Bureau of Abstracts, Colquhoun House, Broadwick St., London W.1, England. (10) Bulletin analytique, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris, France. (11) Bulletin de l'association française des chimistes des industries du cuir et documents scientifiques et techniques des industries du cuir, 64 rue René-Boulanger (Anciennement rue de Bondy), Paris (10e), France. (12) Bulletin de l'institut Pasteur, Masson et Cie., Libraires de l'académie de médecine, 120 blvd. St.Germain, Paris (6e), France. In LITERATURE RESOURCES; Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1954.


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(13) Bulletin de la société de chimie biologique, Masson et Cie, 120 blvd. St.-Germain, Paris (6e), France. (14) Bulletin de la société chimique de France, Masson et Cie., 120 blvd. St.-Germain, Paris (6e), France. (15) Bulletin des sociétés chimiques Belges, Secrétaire-général, Mme. Bogaret, 28 ave. Armand-Huysmans, Brussels, Belgium. (16) Chemical Abstracts, 1155 Sixteenth St., NW, Washington 6, D.C. (17) Chimie analytique, Les presses documentaires, 28 rue St. Dominique, Paris (7e), France. (18) Chimie et industrie, 28 rue St. Dominique, Paris (7e), France. (19) Clairville, A. L., "Polyglot Medicinal Dictionary," French-English-German-Latin, Paris, S.I.P.U.C.O., 1950. (20) Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'académie des sciences, Gauthier-Villars Imprimeur-Libraire, Quai des Grands-Augustine 55, Paris (6e), France. (21) Comptes rendus des séances de la société de biologie et de sesfiliales,Masson et Cie., Libraires de l'académie de médecine, 120 blvd. St.-Germain, Paris (6e), France. (22) Comptes rendus des travaux du laboratoire Carlsberg, H. Hagerup, Fiolstr. 10, Copenhagen, Den mark. (23) Cornubert, "English-French and French-English Dictionary of Chemistry," 2 volumes. Paris, Dunod, 1952. (24) Cusset, F., "English-French and French-English Technical Dictionary," Ν. Y., Chemical Pub lishing Co., 1946. (25) De Vries, L., "French-English Science Dictionary" 2nd. ed., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1951. (26) Dyson, G. M., ADVANCES IN CHEM. SER., 4, 96-103 (1951). Searching the Older Literature. (27) Fleischer, Joseph, ADVANCES IN CHEM. SER., 4, 81-95 (1951). Exploring Foreign Patent Literature. (28) Fremy, E., "Encyclopédie Chimique," Paris, Dunod, 1882-1899. (29) "French Bibliographical Digest No. 8, Chemistry," New York, Cultural Division of the French Embassy, 1951. (30) Gaudenzi, N., "Guida Bibliografica Internazionale per il Chimico," Florence, Sansoni Edizioni Scientifiche, 1952. (31) Grignard, V., Dupont, G., Locquin, R., and Baud, P., "Traité de Chimie Organique," Rev. éd., Paris, Masson, 1935-1950. (32) Helvetica Chimica Acta, Georg & Co., Basel, Switzerland. (33) Holmstrom, J. Ε., "Bibliography of International Scientific and Technical Dictionaries," 2nd ed., New York, Columbia University Press, 1952. (34) "Hoyer-Kreuter Technological Dictionary," Vol. 1. German-English-French, Vol. 2, EnglishGerman-French, Vol. 3 French-German-English. 6th ed., Berlin, Julius Springer, 1932. Reprinted, New York, Ungar Publishing Co., 1946. (35) l'Industrie de la Parfumerie, Editions des presses documentaries, 28 rue St.-Dominique, Paris (7e), France. (36) Journal de chimie physique et de physico-chimie biologique, Société de chimie physique, École nationale supérieure de chimie, 11 rue Pierre-Curie, Paris (5e), France. (37) Journal des recherches du centre national de la recherche scientifique, Laboratories de Bellevue (Paris), Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 13 quai Anatole-France, Paris (7e), France. (38) Kettridge, J. O., "French-English and English-French Technical Dictionary," New York, H. W. Wilson Co., 1934. (39) Kettridge, J. O., "French Idioms and Figurative Phrases," New York, Scribner, 1939. (40) Mayer, A. W., "Chemisches Fachwörterbuch. Deutsch-Englisch-Französisch," Leipzig, Otto Spamer, 1929. "Chemisches Fachwörterbuch für Wissenschaft, Technik, Industrie, and Handel. Bd. II. Englisch-Deutsch-Französisch." Leipzig, Otto Spamer, 1931. (41) Mellon, M. G., "Chemical Publications," 2nd ed., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1940, pp. 84-7. (42) Ministry of Education, Paris, "Catalogue des Thèses et Escrits Académiques," 1952. (43) Moissan, H., "Traité de Chemie Minérale," 1904-1906. (44) Parfumerie moderne, 34 rue Sadi-Carnot, Puteaux(Seine), Paris, France. (45) Pascal, P., "Traité de Chimie Minérale," Paris, Masson, 1931-4. (46) Patterson, A. M., "A French-English Dictionary for Chemists," New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1921. (47) Recueil des travaux chimiques des Pays-Bas, Nederlandse Chemische Vereniging, Bureau, Lange Voorhout 5, The Hague, Netherlands. (48) "Repertoire des Bibliothèques de France," Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, 1951. (49) Revue générale du caoutchouc, Société d'éditions techniques coloniales (S.E.T.Co.) 3 Sq. Pétrar que, Paris (16e), France. (50) Revue génèrale des matières plastiques, 196 ave. Jean-Jaurès, Paris (19e), France. (51) Revue des produits chimiques, 4 rue Lamblardie, Paris (12e), France. (52) Société industrielle de Mulhouse, Bulletin (Bulletin de la société industrielle de Mulhouse), Secré tariat of the Society, 3 rue Bonnes-gens, Mulhouse, France. In LITERATURE RESOURCES; Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1954.

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(53) "Tables Annuelles de Constantes et Données Numériques de Chimie, de Physique, de Biologie et de Technologie," Paris, Herman & Cie., 1910-. (54) Teintex. Revue générale des matières colorantes, du blanchiment, de la teinture, de l'impression et des apprets. F. Krolilowski, 60 rue Richelieu, Paris (2e), France. (55) Varossieau, W. W., Rev. Document. 16(2), 25-45 (1949). A Survey of Scientific Abstracting and Indexing Services. (56) Veillon, E. "Medical Dictionary," German-English-French, New York, Grune & Stratton, 1950. (57) Worischek, Α., "Introduction to 'Manual of Foreign Patents,'" "Manual of Foreign Patents" by B. Severance, Washington, D. C., Patent Office Society, 1935. (58) Wurtz, Α., "Dictionnaire de Chimie Pure et Appliquée," Paris, Hachette, 1874-1908. RECEIVED October 14, 1952. Presented before the Division of Chemical Literature, at the 122nd Meeting of the


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