PREFACE. vii 



Fresenius, Liebig, Johnston, Orfila, Stockhardt, etc.) The names of many 

 eminent chemists will be found wanting in Section V. simply because they 

 have published no independent works, although voluminous contributors 

 to periodicals. 



VI. The Section of Alchemy is purposely restricted to a comparatively 

 small number of the more important works, as the subject is chiefly of an- 

 tiquarian interest. This Section could easily be expanded to 5,000 titles, 

 but I do not think profitably ; books in this Section are catalogued with 

 special attention to bibliographical details and cross-references are freely 

 inserted ; those marked with asterisks are in my private library. 



VII. The Section of Periodicals is actually an excerpt from my '' Cata- 

 logue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals, 1665 to 1882," (Smithsonian 

 Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 29, Washington, 1885), enlarged by the ad- 

 dition of serials published by Societies and brought down to date. 



In each Section, excepting those of Biography and Periodicals, the 

 titles are arranged alphabetically by authors, translations of each work fol- 

 lowing the original in the alphabetical order of the English names of the 

 languages. The order is the same as in the table on page xiii. This 

 table must not, however, be regarded as indicating the relative number of 

 chemical works in the given languages, since the facilities for collecting 

 the information from different countries are very unequal. 



In the Section of Biography the titles are placed under the names of 

 the persons described, with cross-references from the authors ; in the Sec- 

 tion of Periodicals the titles are arranged alphabetically by the first word, 

 articles and " New " excepted, with cross-references from the editors. 



Notes and comments, bibliographical and explanatory, have been oc- 

 casionally introduced, especially in the Sections of History and of Alchemy, 

 to aid students in conceiving the character of a book, or the status of the 

 author. 



The sources of the titles are, of course, general and special bibliogra- 

 phies, and libraries (named below). For the principal bibliographies con- 

 sulted see Section I 



In several of the larger libraries the manuscript catalogues of chem- 

 istry were transcribed with great care (Kunigliche Bibliothek, Berlin ; 

 Grossh. Bibliothek, Darmstadt) ; in others I had access to the shelves as 

 well (British Museum, London ; Patent Office, London ; Universitats 



