PREFACE 



THE present work, the aim and objects of which are set forth in 

 the introductory chapter, originated in the year 1895, when, in the 

 course of preparing an address as President of the Chemical Section 

 of the British Association at Ipswich, I had occasion to take stock 

 of the present state of knowledge of synthetical chemistry l . I have 

 been encouraged from time to time by various chemical and bio- 

 logical friends, among whom I would especially mention Dr. Horace 

 Brown, Mr. Francis Darwin, Professors J. R. Green, "W. D. Halliburton, 

 Marshall "Ward and "W. P. Wynne, to proceed with a compilation which, 

 in the midst of many other occupations and with very little leisure 

 time, has necessarily been a somewhat arduous task. 



As it stands, this contribution to chemical literature represents the 

 result of fragmentary labour carried on at odd intervals during the last 

 nine years. From the nature of the conditions under which I have 

 been compelled to carry on the work, and in view of the wide domain 

 which it covers, it will, I am afraid, be found imperfect in many 

 respects, both with regard to omissions and inclusions. Encouraged, 

 however, by the belief that no similar work has hitherto been under- 

 taken, and that the time has arrived when a complete presentation of 

 the synthetical achievements of modern Organic Chemistry would be 

 of service to investigators here and abroad, I have decided to offer the 

 book in its present form for whatever value may be attached to it 

 as a work of reference. I am not without hope that it may be found 

 of service as a step towards the foundation of a more exact science of 

 Biochemistry. 



Commencing in 1 895 with simply a tabular list of synthetical products, 

 it was soon found that the scope of the treatise would have to be con- 

 siderably enlarged in order to give an adequate account of the distribu- 

 tion in nature of the vital products and of the numerous synthetical 

 processes. Concurrently with the progress of the work a constant super- 

 vision over current literature had to be kept up in order that new 

 discoveries might be interpolated as they were announced. The rapid 



1 Rep. Brit. Assoc., Ipswich, 1895, p. 648. 



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