NA TURE 



29 



THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1916. 



HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY. 

 Historical Introduction to Chemistry. By Prof. 

 T. M. Lowry. Pp. xv + 581. (London: Mac- 

 millan and Co., Ltd., 1915.) Price 85. 6d. net. 



THE history of a physical science like chem- 

 istry differs fundamentally from general 

 history inasmuch as in the former, speaking 

 broadly, men create the epochs, whereas in the 

 latter epochs make the men. When we take a 

 retrospective view of the progress of chemistry 

 we see that its development is, in the main, irre- 

 gular and spasmodic. Although there are no 

 periods of actual retrogression, except possibly 

 the one that followed the burning of the Alexan- 

 drine libraries, there are periods of comparative 

 stagnation interrupted by sudden breaks, so to 

 say, in the curv'e of its continuity. These breaks 

 mark epochs of new departure, arising from dis- 

 coveries, frequently wholly unexpected and often 

 revolutionary in character, and nearly always due 

 to individuals working independently of their 

 fellows, and not consciously influenced by any 

 Zeitgeist. 



On the other hand, in political, economic, or 

 sociological historj', we are usually able to trace a 

 general movement in communities, or of powerful 

 groups of societ\', or 'of definite interests, and the 

 more or less gradual and progressive working of a 

 popular sentiment which is ultimately given prac- 

 tical effect to by the leader or statesman of suffi- 

 cient perspicacity to read aright the signs of the 

 times. 



Hence, on account of this essential difference, 

 the history of chemistry is necessarily to a large 

 extent the history of its leading men — that is, of 

 the pioneers whose work constitutes those new 

 departures which make up the successive epochs 

 in its progrecs. 



This difference between the leaders in science 

 and in politics, it may be noted in passing, is not 

 sufficiently recognised by the community. The 

 successful political leader in these democratic days 

 in reality seldom leads : he follows, and is directed 

 by the popular will ; and his success as a practi- 

 cal politician depends upon his astuteness in divin- 

 ing the psychological moment in which to give 

 effect to that will. The leaders in science — the 

 Boyles, Newtons, Davys, Faradays, Daltons — are 

 in no wise controlled or influenced by any analo- 

 gous movement on the part of a community-. They 

 pursue their investigations and make their dis- 

 coveries independently of any prescribed demand. 

 ^1 this sense they are real leaders, and by their 

 NO. 2419, VOL. 97] 



own independent action impose such natural laws 

 as they may be able to promulgate. 



It is, of course, possible to teach the historical 

 development of chemistry impersonally, and doubt- 

 less this is the more rational method. But it offers 

 far more difficulties than the other, and from the 

 point of view of the ordinary student is probably 

 less instructive, as it is certainly far less interest- 

 ing. In the book before us something in the 

 nature of a compromise has been attempted be- 

 tween the impersonal and the purely biographical 

 methods, but, as frequently happens in com- 

 promises, the result is not wholly successful. The 

 author states that he has made no attempt to write 

 a formal history of chemistry either of its 

 various periods, or of the biographical stories of 

 its pioneers. His method is to take certain sub- 

 stances, or groups of substances, such as the 

 Acids; Chalk, Lime, and the Alkalis; Muriatic 

 Acid and Chlorine; Inflammable Gases, etc., dis- 

 tributed over about a dozen chapters, and in the 

 remaining eight chapters of the twenty chapters 

 constituting the book to deal with certain theo- 

 retical conceptions of the science, e.g. the Atomic 

 and Molecular Theories; Molecular Architecture; 

 Classification ; Balanced Actions, etc. As regards 

 the first section it is not obvious why the parti- 

 cular selection or its particular sequence was 

 adopted. It may be that the merit of any parti- 

 cular selection is largely a matter of opinion; or 

 possibly the author may think that selection is the 

 best which in his judgment enables him to group 

 the largest number of historical facts in some- 

 thing approaching to chronological order. 



Each chapter is split up into sections, desig- 

 nated as A, B, C, D, etc., with corresponding 

 sub-headings, and it concludes with a summary 

 and supplement. The object of the supplement, 

 apparently, is to deal with statements that had 

 been omitted from the main body of the chapter, 

 or which for some reason or other could not be 

 conveniently treated in their proper place. In 

 many cases the supplements consist almost wholly 

 of elementary chemical equations in explanation 

 of chemical changes referred to in the text. As 

 these are expressed by up-to-date conventions it 

 may have occurred to the author that their very 

 modernity would be as incongruous as the absurd 

 anachronisms which he rightly condemns, such 

 as the substitution of the bunsen burner for the 

 big spirit lamp in illustrations of Dumas 's appara- 

 tus for determining the gravimetric composition of 

 water; or in the picture of Lavoisier's red-hot 

 gun-barrel, in which rubber corks take the place 

 of clay-joints. 



But whatever may be the reasons which in- 



C 



