MATHEMATICS AND CHEMISTRY 407 



taught mathematics without sufficient instruction in the way in 

 which the weapons put into their hands are to be used and 

 especially the way in which they are not to be used. 



In this connection it may be questioned whether it is advisable 

 to use chemical problems in the teaching of mathematical pro- 

 cesses. They are not necessary for the mathematics and cannot 

 be the real problems of practice but must be spoiled of their 

 difficulties and given a spurious simplicity likely to produce a 

 very false impression. Mr. Partington's book has a wealth of 

 chemical illustrations and useful examples but seems to stop 

 short where the real difficulties begin ; it gives the impres- 

 sion that chemical problems are very much simpler and straight- 

 forward than is really the case. It would probably be vastly 

 more satisfactory if the necessary parts of mathematics were 

 taught without attempting to deal with chemical problems, with 

 sufficient examples and exercises to make the student proficient 

 in the carrying out of the various processes and if afterwards real 

 chemical problems were dealt with thoroughly. This course 

 would give an insight into the nature of the difficulties actually 

 met with and dispel the idea that the acquirement and use of 

 a few mathematical processes and formulae will unravel the 

 tangled knots of chemical theory. Such a book, besides teaching 

 the student how to deal with such problems, would also form a 

 most valuable reference for cases not usually dealt with in books 

 on mathematics and physical chemistry. Chemists as a class 

 are never likely to be mathematicians. The very nature of their 

 work and their habit of thought are opposed to the mathematical 

 frame of mind ; furthermore, they are never likely to have 

 sufficient practice in mathematics to enable them to rely on 

 their own skill in carrying out even a comparatively simple 

 integration. 1 It is consequently highly desirable that the 

 mathematical treatment of a question, such, for instance, as that 

 of mass action, should be thorough, dealing with all the diffi- 

 culties that arise. Usually we find it very incompletely dealt 

 with, from a practical point of view, in books on physical 



1 Mistakes are made not only by students but also by more experienced 

 workers. In Mr. Partington's book we find, for instance, on the top of p. 145 a 

 slip that should not be made in a mathematical book, the value of K in the 

 unimolecular mass action equation being given as 



1 . a- x., . 1 a - x, 



j—i x l °s ,7— f; instead of l^r-t 1o * ^T.; 



