Abstract
THIS book is written by an American journalist with some knowledge of chemistry. It is intended for lay readers who wish to make themselves acquainted with some of the recent developments of applied chemistry, including nitrogen fixation, fertilisers, dyes, sugar, rubber, poison gas, and other subjects likely to be of interest to the average reader. The facts, which appear to be accurate and selected with care and discretion, are presented clearly and forcibly, with a certain native humour. Gerhardt should not (p. 6) be described as a German chemist, while the account of the origin of Kekulé's theory of the benzene nucleus (p. 66) differs somewhat from that usually accepted. It is also interesting to know (p. 33) that “we might have expected that the fixation of nitrogen by passing an electrical spark through hot air would have been an American invention [it was discovered by ihe English chemist Cavendish], since it was Franklin who snatched the lightning from the heavens as well as our sceptre from the tyrant, and since our output of hot air is unequalled by any other nation.”
Creative Chemistry: Descriptive of Recent Achievements in the Chemical Industries.
Dr.
Edwin E.
Slosson
By. (The Century Books of Useful Science.) Pp. xvi + 311. (London: University of London Press, Ltd., 1921.) 12s. 6d. net.
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Creative Chemistry: Descriptive of Recent Achievements in the Chemical Industries . Nature 107, 618 (1921). https://doi.org/10.1038/107618a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/107618a0