GENERAL INTRODUCTION 



American Chemical Society Series /( of 

 Scientific and Technologic Monographs 



By arrangement with the Interallied Conference of Pure and Applied 

 Chemistry, which met in London and Brussels in July, 1919, the Ameri- 

 can Chemical Society was to undertake the production and publication 

 of Scientific and Technologic Monographs on chemical subjects. At the 

 same time it was agreed that the National Research Council, in coopera- 

 tion with the American Chemical Society and the American Physical 

 Society, should undertake the production and publication of Critical 

 Tables of Chemical and Physical Constants. The American Chemical 

 Society and the National Research Council mutually agreed to care for 

 these two fields of chemical development. The American Chemical 

 Society named as Trustees, to make the necessary arrangements for the 

 publication of the monographs, Charles L. Parsons, Secretary of the 

 American Chemical Society, Washington, D. C.; John E. Teeple, Treas- 

 urer of the American Chemical Society, New York City; and Professor 

 Gellert Alleman of Swarthmore College. The Trustees have arranged 

 for the publication of the American Chemical Society series of (a) 

 Scientific and (b) Technologic Monographs by the Chemical Catalog 

 Company of New York City. 



The Council, acting through the Committee on National Policy of 

 the American Chemical Society, appointed the editors, named at the close 

 of this introduction, to have charge of securing authors, and of consider- 

 ing critically the manuscripts prepared. The editors of each series will 

 endeavor to select topics which are of current interest and authors who 

 are recognized as authorities in their respective fields. The list of mono- 

 graphs thus far secured appears in the publisher's own announcement 

 elsewhere in this volume. 



The development of knowledge in all branches of science, and espe- 

 cially in chemistry, has been so rapid during the last fifty years and 

 the fields covered by this development have been so varied that it is 

 difficult for any individual to keep in touch with the progress in branches 

 of science outside his own specialty. In spite of the facilities for the 



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