Abstract
PROF, VAN ’T HOFF says, in his preface, that he had experienced, in his lectures to medical students, the want of a text-book dealing with the general laws of chemistry in an elementary way, a want which was supplied by Dr. van Deventer's book. The book begins with definitions of terms, and then goes on to the laws of chemical combination, the laws regulating the behaviour of gases, Avogadro's hypothesis, atomic and molecular weights. The fourth chapter deals with the specific heats of elements and compounds, and contains an excellent résumé of the more important results of thermo-chemistry, concluding with the laws of mass action and some pages on distillation. The last three chapters deal briefly with the theory of solutions, spectro-scopy and photo-chemical action, and the periodic law. Although it might be objected that the discussion of the asymmetric carbon atom on p. 40 is somewhat beyond first-year students, that too much space is devoted to the erroneous principle of maximum work, and too little to the hypothesis of electrolytic dissociation, which is of such great interest in connection with the qualitative analytical work which forms a considerable portion of the laboratory practice of elementary students, yet these are matters on which different teachers would entertain different opinions, and on the whole it must be said that the work - is thoroughly well done and suited to the purpose for which it is intended.
Physikalische Chemie für Anfänger.
By Dr. C. M. van Deventer; with a preface by Prof. J. H. van ’t Hoff. Pp. 167. (Amsterdam: S. L. van Looy. Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1897.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Physikalische Chemie für Anfänger. Nature 56, 612 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/056612b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/056612b0