Historical Introduction to Chemistry

Abstract

THE history of a physical science like chemistry 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, irregular and spasmodic. Although there are no periods of actual retrogression, except possibly the one that followed the burning of the Alexandrine libraries, there are periods of comparative stagnation interrupted by sudden breaks, so to say, in the curve of its continuity. These breaks mark epochs of new departure, arising from discoveries, 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.

Historical Introduction to Chemistry.

By Prof. T. M. Lowry. Pp. xv + 581. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1915.) Price 8s. 6d. net.