PREFACE. 



The purpose of this Bibliography is to enumerate the articles upon the 

 metals of the platinum group found in scientific literature to the close of 

 the year 1896. It is sought to make the record of the chemistry of these 

 metals as complete as possible, and it is believed that few references of 

 importance are omitted. Chloroplatinates of organic bases are consid- 

 ered only in the case of those early formed. Outside of the department of 

 chemistry several divisions of the subject have not been followed beyond 

 the earlier references, e. g., the use of platinum in electrical apparatus, 

 in photography, and in connection with the X-rays. To facilitate the 

 use of the indexes the number of each title includes the year. The first 

 reference is that of the original article. The abbreviations used are gen- 

 erally those recommended by the Committee on Bibliography of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 



After having been engaged on this work for some time, the compiler 

 obtained a copy of the pamphlet " Fragment einer Monographic des 

 Platins und der Platinmetalle," by C. Claus. This was published in 1883 

 by the St. Petersburg Academie des Sciences, from papers found after 

 Professor Claus' death, which had occurred more than twenty years be- 

 fore. But three hundred copies of the pamphlet were printed and it is 

 very rare. Among other material it contains a quite complete biblio- 

 graphy of the platinum metals, brought down to 1861, but unfortunately, 

 owing probably to the illegibility of the manuscript, it suffers from very 

 many errors. It is a critical bibliography and hence, owing to the 

 author's unique knowledge of the platinum metals, is very valuable. 



Much of the work on this Bibliography has been done in the Library 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in that of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, and the compiler is greatly indebted for 

 the facilities offered him at both these places. Especially valuable was 

 the assistance rendered by Dr. Holden, the Librarian of the Academy. 

 He would also gratefully acknowledge the aid received from his former 



