Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Note: Boldface text is indicated by │bars│ and Italic text by _underscores_. Subscripts are shown as normal numbers: H2O.

A HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES

│Astronomy│, by Prof. GEORGE FORBES, F.R.S.

│Chemistry, 2 volumes│, by Sir EDWARD THORPE, C.B., D Sc., F.R.S.,
etc. (Director of Government Laboratories)

│Old Testament Criticism│, by Prof. ARCHIBALD DUFF (Prof. of Hebrew
and Old Testament Theology in the United College, Bradford)

_In Active Preparation_—

│New Testament Criticism│, by F. C. CONYBEARE, M.A. (Late Fellow
and Prælector of Univ. Coll., Oxford)

│Geology│, by H. B. WOODWARD, F.R.S., F.G.S. (Assistant Director of
Geological Survey)

│Geography│, by Dr. SCOTT KELTIE, F.R.G.S., F.S.A.

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

New York London

_A HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES_

HISTORY
OF
CHEMISTRY

BY
SIR EDWARD THORPE

C.B., LL.D., F.R.S.

AUTHOR OF “ESSAYS IN HISTORICAL CHEMISTRY,” “HUMPHRY DAVY:
POET AND PHILOSOPHER,” “JOSEPH PRIESTLEY,” ETC., ETC.

TWO VOLUMES

II.

From 1850 to 1910

_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1910

COPYRIGHT, 1910
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

This series is published in London by
THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION, LIMITED

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

A History of the Sciences has been planned to present for the information of the general public a historic record of the great divisions of science. Each volume is the work of a writer who is accepted as an authority on his own subject-matter. The books are not to be considered as primers, but present thoroughly digested information on the relations borne by each great division of science to the changes in human ideas and to the intellectual development of mankind. The monographs explain how the principal scientific discoveries have been arrived at and the names of the workers to whom such discoveries are due.

The books will comprise each about 200 pages. Each volume will contain from 12 to 16 illustrations, including portraits of the discoverers and explanatory views and diagrams. Each volume contains also a concise but comprehensive bibliography of the subject-matter. The following volumes will be issued during the course of the autumn of 1909.

│The History of Astronomy.│

By GEORGE FORBES, M.A., F.R.S., M. Inst. C.E.; author of _The
Transit of Venus_, etc.

│The History of Chemistry: Vol. I. circa 2000 B.C. to 1850 A.D. Vol.
II. 1850 A.D. to date.│

By SIR EDWARD THORPE, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., Director of the
Government Laboratories, London; Professor-elect and Director of
the Chemical Laboratories of the Imperial College of Science and
Technology; author of _A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry_.

_To be followed by_:

│The History of Geography.│

By Dr. JOHN SCOTT KELTIE, F.R.G.S., F.S.S., F.S.A., Hon. Mem.
Geographical Societies of Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels,
Amsterdam, Geneva, etc.; author of _Report on Geographical
Education_, _Applied Geography_.

│The History of Geology.│

By HORACE B. WOODWARD, F.R.S., F.G.S., Assistant Director of
Geological Survey of England and Wales; author of _The Geology
of England and Wales_, etc.

│The History of Anthropology.│

By A. C. HADDON, M.A., Sc.D., F.R.S., Lecturer in Ethnology,
Cambridge and London; author of _Study of Man_, _Magic and
Fetishism_, etc.

│The History of Old Testament Criticism.│

By ARCHIBALD DUFF, Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Theology
in the United College, Bradford; author of _Theology and Ethics
of the Hebrews_, _Modern Old Testament Theology_, etc.

│The History of New Testament Criticism.│

By F. C. CONYBEARE, M.A., late Fellow and Praelector of Univ.
Coll., Oxford; Fellow of the British Academy; Doctor of Theology,
_honoris causa_, of Giessen; Officer d’Academie; author of _Old
Armenian Texts of Revelation_, etc.

Further volumes are in plan on the following subjects:

│Mathematics and Mechanics.│

│Molecular Physics, Heat, Life, and Electricity.│

│Human Physiology, Embryology, and Heredity.│

│Acoustics, Harmonics, and the Physiology of Hearing, together with
Optics Chromatics, and Physiology of Seeing.│

│Psychology, Analytic, Comparative, and Experimental.│

│Sociology and Economics.│

│Ethics.│

│Comparative Philology.│

│Criticism, Historical Research, and Legends.│

│Comparative Mythology and the Science of Religions.│

│The Criticism of Ecclesiastical Institutions.│

│Culture, Moral and Intellectual, as Reflected in Imaginative
Literature and in the Fine Arts.│

│Logic.│

│Philosophy.│

│Education.│

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I PAGE

STATE OF CHEMISTRY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 1
Introductory. Some Founders of Modern Chemistry: Liebig,
Wöhler, Dumas. Rapid Extension of Organic Chemistry after
1850: Laurent and Gerhardt, Hofmann. Development of theory
in Organic Chemistry. Other representative men of the middle
period of the Nineteenth Century: Graham, Williamson, Bunsen.
Modern Chemistry in relation to the Atomic Theory.

CHAPTER II

THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS DISCOVERED SINCE 1850 26
Nomenclature and Classification of Elements. Numerical
relationships. Modes of discovery. The Spectroscope. Cæsium,
rubidium, thallium, indium, gallium, scandium, germanium. The
rare earth elements. Industrial applications of rare elements.

CHAPTER III

THE INACTIVE ELEMENTS: RADIUM AND RADIO-ACTIVITY 43
Argon, helium, krypton, neon, and xenon. Radium.
Disintegration theory of Rutherford and Soddy. Actinium and
polonium. The emanations.

CHAPTER IV

ATOMS AND MOLECULES: ATOMIC WEIGHTS AND EQUIVALENTS 61
Hypothesis of Avogadro. Stanislao Cannizzaro. Determination
of molecular weights. Applicability of law of Dulong and
Petit. Relations of molecular weight to osmotic pressures.
Determination of atomic weights. Hypothesis of Prout, Dumas,
Stas, Lord Rayleigh, Leduc, Morley, Guye, Theodore Richards.
Validity of law of conservation of mass: Landolt.

CHAPTER V

THE MOLECULAR THEORY OF GASES 79
Interdependence of the gaseous laws. Kinetic theory of gases:
Bernoulli, Waterston, Clausius, Maxwell, Boltzmann, Schmidt,
Graham. Gaseous diffusion. Van der Waals’s equation. Ratio
of specific heats: Kundt and Warburg. Liquefaction of gases.
Critical temperatures and pressures: Andrews, Pictet and
Cailletet, Wroblewski, Olszewki, Dewar, Kammerlingh Onnes.
Liquefaction of air on the large scale. Research at low
temperatures.

CHAPTER VI

THE PERIODIC LAW 101
Prout, Thomson, Döbereiner, Newlands, De Chancourtois.
Statement of the Periodic Law by Mendeléeff and Lothar Meyer.
Its importance as a system of classification.

CHAPTER VII

VALENCY 112
Origin of conception of Valency: Williamson, Gerhardt,
Frankland, Couper, Kekulé. Tetravalency of carbon and linkage
of atoms. Rational and constitutional formulæ. Dynamical
theories of valency.

CHAPTER VIII

THE CHEMISTRY OF AROMATIC COMPOUNDS 119
Peculiarities of aromatic compounds. Kekulé’s benzene theory.
Its applications. The essential oils. Terpenes. Camphor.
Synthesis of perfumes. Alkaloids.

CHAPTER IX

STEREO-ISOMERISM: STEREO-CHEMISTRY 138
Opticity: Biot, Mitscherlich, Pasteur, Wislicenus, Van ’t
Hoff, Le Bel. Asymmetry. Racemisation. Multirotation.
Geometrical isomerism. Geometrical inversion.
Stereo-isomerism among nitrogen, sulphur, selenium, tin, and
silicon compounds. Tautomerism. Steric hindrance.

CHAPTER X

ORGANIC SYNTHESIS: CONDENSATION: SYNTHESIS OF VITAL PRODUCTS 152
Use of specific condensing reagents. Carbon suboxide.
Artificial preparation of naturally occurring substances.
Synthetic medicines. The ptomaines. Artificial alizarin.
Indigo. The sugars and proteins: Emil Fischer. The doctrine
of “vital force.”