(1) Die chemische Literatur und die Organisation der Wissenschaft (2) The Foundations of Chemical Theory (3) Inorganic Chemistry

Abstract

(i) DROP. OSTWALD'S book constitutes vol. i. of the “Handbuch der allgemeinen Chemie” which he is editing in conjunction with a number of eminent collaborators—Kuenen, Drucker, Marc, Bruni, Dutoit, Cohen, Halban, Bredig, and others—all recognised authorities on the several sections of physical chemistry to which they contribute. This introductory volume is, in effect, a long and discursive essay on the methods of propaganda of science and on the gradual development of the means of disseminating scientific truth. It traces the spread of scientific knowledge through the agency of societies, general and specialised, by means of discussion and publication, by scientific journals, and lastly by treatises, monographs, and text-books. It contains nothing but what is generally known to those familiar with the history of science, but the story is put together with considerable skill, and constitutes an eminently philosophical disquisition on an aspect of that history which has hitherto had few expositors.

(1) Die chemische Literatur und die Organisation der Wissenschaft.

By W. Ostwald. (Handbuch der allgemeinen Chemie. Band 1.) Pp. iv + 120. (Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H.: Gustav Fock, 1919.)

(2) The Foundations of Chemical Theory.

By Prof. R. M. Caven. Pp. viii + 266. (London: Blackie and Son, Ltd., 1920.) 12s. 6d. net.

(3) Inorganic Chemistry.

By E. I. Lewis. Third (revised and enlarged) edition. Pp. xv + 443. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1920.) 9s. net.