vi WORK AT MANCHESTER 



149 



In 1866 the first edition of my Lessons in Elemen- 

 tary Chemistry appeared. A fair copy for press of 

 the whole book was written out by my wife. I 

 had already done some small amount of work for 

 Macmillan, but this was the first book of any import- 

 ance. It seems it was published at the right time and 

 suited the public, for edition after edition was called 

 for, and up to the present year (1906) the number of 

 copies sold is 2 1 1 ,000. I spared no pains to keep the 

 book up to the level of the science of the day, and the 

 publishers also grudged no expense in reprinting in 

 order that this might be done. That the book should 

 be so successful in England was more than I expected, 

 but much greater was my astonishment that it should 

 be received with favour in other countries. I sent a 

 copy to my friend Prof. Lothar Meyer at Tubingen, 

 and he urged me to have it translated into German, 

 adding that he was sure it was just the book that was 

 wanted for the German schools. I agreed ; my friend 

 Schorlemmer translated it, and it was published by 

 the great scientific publishers in Germany, Frederick 

 Vieweg and Son. I had always been accustomed to 

 think that the Germans wrote scientific books for the 

 rest of the world, but I suppose there is something in 

 the expository powers of Englishmen which is to some 

 degree wanting in the Germans. However this may 

 be, the fact remains that the book at once found its 

 way into the German schools and colleges, and that it 

 has passed through so many German editions that 

 the total number sold in that country from 1867-98 

 has been 57,500. At the present moment it is 

 still largely in demand, in spite of the fact that 

 whereas, in 1866, when it first appeared, there were 

 scarcely any books of the kind in existence, thirty 

 years afterwards their name was legion. I granted 



