NATURE 



21 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER lo, 1891. 



GERMAN TECHNOLOGY FOR ENGLISH 

 MANUFA CTURE RS. 

 A Theoretical and Practical Treatise on the Manufacture 

 of Sulphuric Acid and Alkali. By George Lunge, 

 Ph.D. Second Edition. Vol. I. Sulphuric Acid. 

 (London : Gurney and Jackson, 1891.) 

 The Alkali-maker's Hand-book. By George Lunge, 

 Ph.D., and F. Hurler, Ph.D. Second Edition. 

 (London : Whittaker and Co., 1891.) 



SULPHURIC acid plays a part, directly or indirectly, 

 m every manufacturing industry of civilized countries. 

 It has been said, indeed, that one could gauge the civiliza- 

 tion of a country by the amount of oil of vitriol it con- 

 sumes. It is satisfactory, therefore, to know that Great 

 Britain produces annually nearly a million tons of this 

 civilizing agent, or an amount but slightly less than that 

 made by all the rest of the world. 



It is, however, a remarkable and not very creditable fact 

 that no English or Scotchman has been at any particular 

 pains to give his fellow-men an adequate description of 

 the details of manufacture of this civilizing agent. Of 

 course a certain number of books of a kind have appeared ; 

 but it has been left to a German Professor to give us the 

 first complete monograph on the subject. No one is more 

 competent than Prof. Lunge to write authoritatively 

 concerning the manufacture of sulphuric acid. For 

 eleven years previous to his election to the Professorship of 

 Technical Chemistry at the magnificently equipped Poly- 

 technic School which the forethought and patriotism of 

 the Swiss Government have caused to be erected at Ziirich, 

 Dr. Lunge was the manager of a large alkali-works in the 

 north of England'; and he has added to the experience thus 

 gained by numerous visits to the other alkali manufactur- 

 ing districts of Great Britain, and to those of Belgium, 

 France, Germany, and Austria. His work, however, is 

 not wholly based on the results of personal observation ; 

 it reflects, in fact, the existing state of chemical literature 

 on the subject, for practically every important memoir or 

 communication, wherever published, bearing on the 

 manufacture, properties, or uses of sulphuric acid, is 

 referred to and judiciously criticized. Moreover, the 

 author's position, as director of one of the most modern 

 and in many respects one of the best-appointed labora- 

 tories in the world, gives him unique advantages in the 

 compilation of such a work ; for, surrounded as he is by 

 a band of earnest and enthusiastic workers, eager to aid 

 him in elucidating the theory of established chemical 

 manufactures or in investigating the validity of new pro- 

 cesses, he is able to throw light on many obscure reactions 

 by the systematic researches which he initiates, and of 

 which the results, so far as they relate to sulphuric acid or 

 collateral matters, are set forth in this book. It has been 

 frequently observed that, although iron and oil of vitriol 

 are among the most important of our staple products, we 

 know comparatively little of the many chemical reactions 

 which are concerned in their formation. The remark has, 

 however, lost much of its force within recent years, and 

 more especially in the case of sulphuric acid. During 

 the last few years the various changes occurring within 

 NO. I 154. VOL. 45] 



the leaden chamber have been more carefully traced, and 

 much definite information has been gained as to the natur 

 of the interactions which result in the production of oil of 

 vitriol. For not a little of this information we are indebted 

 to Prof. Lunge and his pupils. 



The present edition of this work differs in many 

 respects from its predecessor. The ten years which 

 have elapsed since the appearance of the first edition 

 have seen many important changes in the manufacture 

 of acid and alkali ; and hence, with a view of bringing his 

 treatise within reasonable compass, Prof. Lunge has been 

 obliged to curtail much of the historical or merely re- 

 trospective portion of the work, and to omit matter which 

 deals with views and theories which may now be con- 

 sidered obsolete. In spite of all this, the book has greatly 

 increased in size, and nearly half the illustrations are 

 new. A comparison of the two editions shows that every 

 page has been carefully overhauled, and much fresh in- 

 formation is given, even on points which appeared to be 

 settled and accepted. The present edition is remarkably 

 free from press errors. J We have only detected two : on 

 p. 108, calcium " bisulphate," should read " bisulphite " ; 

 and on p. 899 we read that SO3 is formed when limestone 

 is burnt in oxygen, especially at increased pressures ; of 

 course " limestone " is a lapsus calami for " brimstone." 



" The Alkali-maker's Hand-book," as it is now called,^ 

 has an accepted position in the laboratory literature of 

 the chemical works of this country. The book owes its 

 origin to a suggestion, made by Mr. Stroof, manager of 

 the Griesheim Alkali Works, to the German Society of 

 Alkali-makers, that a standard manual should be pub- 

 lished, with a view of securing uniformity in analytical 

 methods, tables of specific gravity, &c., to be employed 

 by buyers and sellers for the valuation of chemicals, and 

 by manufacturers for controlling and superintending their 

 various processes, in order to avoid disagreements, and 

 to secure exact comparison of results. A small com- 

 mittee of the Society was appointed, and Prof. Lunge 

 was commissioned to collect and sift the materials for 

 such a manual. The present work is the outcome of 

 this action. The great danger of a book of this kind is 

 that it is apt to get stereotyped, in the extended and 

 figurative sense of that word ; and that, owing to the 

 natural conservatism of manufacturers, who are loth to 

 disturb arrangements which are found to satisfy com- 

 mercial necessities, there is the possibility that it may fail 

 to reflect the state of quantitative analysis of the time. 

 So long, however, as the work remains under the direc- 

 tion of Dr. Lunge and Dr. Hurter, there is very little 

 chance of such a fate overtaking it. The present 

 edition gives abundant evidence that care is being taken 

 to make the book a faithful record of the condition of 

 contemporary quantitative analysis. The work is con- 

 veniently arranged and well printed. We would take 

 exception, however, to the character of the illustrations : 

 these compare most unfavourably with those in Dr. 

 Lunge's larger work. Simple outhne drawings, like that 

 of the nitrometer on p. 113, would be far preferable to the 

 ill-drawn, ill-cut, and ill-printed designs which disfigure the 

 book. Much of the value of the book depends, of course, 

 on the care and accuracy with which the tables of 

 chemical contents are compiled. We do not regard, 



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