26 



NATURE 



\Nov. 13, 1873 



THORPE'S "QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS" 

 Quantitative Chemical Analysis. By T. E. Thorpe, 

 Ph.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of Chemistry, Andersonian 

 University, Glasgow. (Longmans.) 



WE welcome with pleasure a work which in the pre- 

 sent state of our literature on Quantitative Che- 

 mical Analysis, may well be looked upon as a boon to 

 the advanced chemical student. Fresenius's Quantitative 

 Analysis has been so generally accepted by chemists as 

 the standard book in this branch of Science, that we 

 greatly regretted the unwarrantable liberties taken by the 

 English editor in the late edition of our trusty author's 

 work. The publishers, who did not, in justice to the 

 accomplished author, recall that edition, may yet learn 

 that the chemical public, at all events, know how to 

 appreciate a good work on Quantitative Analysis. We 

 confess to a feeling of relief, speaking as a teacher of 

 chemical analysis, as we perused Mr. Thorpe's book ; for 

 although we have to differ from the author on some minor 

 matters, we believe that this new work will speedily 

 be found in the hands of every chemical student. 



Our author has evidently felt what others have experi- 

 enced before him, that Fresenius's Quantitative Analysis 

 became with every new edition more and more unwieldy 

 (we are speaking of the German editions), and that, at 

 the commencement at least, a simpler guide to quanti- 

 tative analysis might with advantage be placed in the 

 hands of the student. As methods of analysis — especially 

 volumetric methods — multiplied year after year, the 

 teacher and the student looked to the master for some 

 indications which methods should, under given circum- 

 stances, be adopted in preference to others. Mr. Thorpe 

 has evidently been bent upon supplying this want. In th'j 

 treatment of his subject he has followed the example set 

 by Woehler in his " Practische Ucbungen in der Chemi- 

 schen Analyse," rather than that of Fresenius. It appears 

 to us, however, that he has somewhat fallen into the other 

 extreme, for, in the place of a series of carefully elaborated 

 methods for the determination of each base and acid, he 

 has contented himself with giving a few examples only of 

 individual determinations, and has preferred to teach 

 quantitative separations almost exclusively by describing, 

 in language both terse and concise, a number of complex 

 quantitative analyses, such as are likely to occur in prac- 

 tice. There is much to be said for this plan of teaching 

 analysis, so to speak, en bloc. It involves, however, much 

 repetition, or, at the very best, reference from one ex- 

 ample to another, and leaves the student in considerable 

 uncertainty whenever he has to break new ground. The 

 aim of all quantitative teaching should be to enable the 

 analyst to adopt or devise for himself correct methods of 

 separation. The foundation for quantitative methods 

 should, in fact, be laid by careful and accurate quahtative 

 work. A good workable method may often be preferable to 

 a more elaborate although more strictly accurate method. 

 In the endeavour to write as compactly as possible, 

 the author has frequently over-estimated the mental 

 powers and the chemical knowledge, say of second years' 

 students, for whose use the work is apparently written, 

 and has thus sacrificed clearness for briefness. We refer, 

 for instance, to the methods given for the separation of iron, 

 manganese, &c. in Spiegeleisen, condensed as it appears. 



from Fresenius, where the ammonium carbonate method 

 occurs, but where it would be difficult for a student, 

 without the teacher's assistance, to trace the chemical 

 changes. There is too much of the how to do a thing, 

 and too little of the why to do it throughout the work, to 

 make it as useful to the beginner as it would otherwise be. 

 Although the several methods for the separation of man- 

 ganese from iron, &c.,are to be found in different parts of 

 the book, there are scarcely sufficient hints, why and 

 under what circumstances and conditions the one method 

 is to be used in preference of the other. The same 

 applies to various other methods of separation. Well 

 known and familiar chemical methods, again, are aban- 

 doned, occasionally, for new methods of at least question- 

 able utility. We may mention, among such, the use of 

 hydrochloric acid, as the starting-point in alkalimetry. 



The same remark applies to the apparatus described 

 and illustrated. The woodcut on p. 142 ex. g>:, illustra- 

 tive of the method for taking the specific gravity of 

 ammonia, looks startlingly elaborate. Much credit is 

 due, however, to the author and his coadjutor, Mr. 

 Dugald Clerk, for the care bestowed upon the preparation 

 of the woodcuts. We consider them, for the most part, 

 well selected and well executed. There is that pleasing 

 evidence to the chemical eye, that the illustrations have 

 originated in the laboratory, and that they depict appa- 

 ratus which can be practically used, and are not merely 

 put in to please and catch the eye. In fact, when we 

 compare some high-priced books of the class, which it 

 would not be difficult to enumerate, with the elegantly got- 

 up and cheap volume of Mr. Thorpe, we can only con- 

 gratulate him on the book he has produced. 



If we may be allowed to tender advice, we should 

 say : — Condense the part on the operations of weighing ; 

 enlarge the number of examples of simple gravimetric 

 analysis, so as to include the more important acids and 

 bases ; draw a line between determinations usually 

 required in analyses for practical or commercial purposes, 

 and the more elaborate complete analysis of the same 

 bodies ; and last, but not least, explain more fully, why 

 and when one method answers better than another — if 

 only in compassion for the weaker analyst. 



We cordially recommend the book, and hope to see 

 these suggestions adopted in the next edition, for which 

 in all likelihood we shall not have to wait long. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[ The Editor docs not hold himself responsible for opinions extresscd 

 by his correspondents. No notice is iahen of anonymous 

 communications. ] 



The Management of the British Museum 



1 BEG to protest against the remarks upon the management of 

 the British Mnseum contained in your article of November 6. 

 The general question whether a public institution of the sort is 

 best governed by a public official or by a body of Trustees, may 

 very likely admit of much discussion, but the decision should 

 not be prejudiced by totally ignoring the noble work which 

 has been and is being done by the Museum. No scientific man 

 surely can be ignorant that the British Museum exists not so 

 much for the momentary amusement of gaping crowds of country 

 people, who do not understand a smgle object on which they 

 gaze, as for the promotion of scientific discovery, and the ad- 

 vancement of literary and historical inquiry. We are told about 

 the indifference of the Museum Trustees to the best interests of 

 science, but we arc not reminded frequently enough that it is 



