PREFACE 



Tins book provides a partial course of reading in Chem- 

 ist ry for college men and general readers, and indicates 

 further matter of an interesting and instructive nature. 

 It is the first volume of a series of Readers which will con- 

 tain reprints of modern papers and addresses, gathered 

 from many sources and edited to suit the purposes herein 

 explained. 



It is our experience with college men that parallel read- 

 ing, more than any other influence, conduces to interest in 

 text-book matter, especially in first-year courses in science. 

 It broadens the student's views, enlivens the subject and 

 shows its bearing upon the work and problems of life. We 

 believe that some reading of good scientific literature in 

 each distinct branch of Natural Science should be required 

 of every undergraduate; this volume attempts to supply 

 suitable matter for Chemistry. \Ve seek to help teachers 

 to introduce such literature and its authors to college stu- 

 dents, and to acquaint students with the more easily avail- 

 able sources of reliable articles of a popular nature. It is 

 hoped that these readers will be of special service to teach- 

 ers of large classes, where the inspiration of personal con- 

 tact is necessarily small; and also that they will help to 

 awaken interest in science among those who think they 

 have no aptitude for such branches of knowledge. 



We have had in mind, also, persons who are seeking 

 knowledge without the aid of a teacher. Definite infor- 

 mation for reading and home study is given, such as the 

 editor now wishes he had known how to obtain while in 

 business, before going to college or expecting ever to have 

 the time to do so. We wish to increase the service of 

 popular science by aiding readers of such to find good 

 matter. We do this because we believe that the widespread 



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