A Systematic Handbook of Volumetric Analysis [antikvár]

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION (Extracts from) The rapid strides in all branches of industrial science and art during the last ten or fifteen years have, in a great measure, been aided, if not instigated, by chemical knowledge; and not the least important part of this knowledge relates to chemical analysis, or the determination of the nature, constitution, or economic value of various agents and products used in, or resulting from, manufacturing processes. The same remark applies, also, to certain branches of the fine arts, together with medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, and general commerce, so that practical chemistry has become a thing of general need in technology. Under these circumstances, therefore, it is not surprising that the energies of scientific men have been taxed to devise new and rapid methods of chemical analysis to meet the wants of these high-pressure times; and such a branch has been developed in volumetric analysis, by which a large amount of time, labour, and therefore cost has been saved, as compared with the older methods of research. Some idea of the extent to which this system has grown may be obtained by a glance at the following pages, which are devoted, not to a history of all the processes that have been devised and advocated, but exclusively to those which have been well tried and found worthy of confidence, for, like all new branches of science, volumetric analysis has had an abundant crop of weeds and rubbish, together with, here and there, sound fruit. H: * * * * Up to the present time, with the exception of a small and somewhat exclusive book, written by Mr. Scott, of the Trinity Ofl&ce, Dublin, there has been no English text-book on the subject; the want of this has been felt, and often expressed. I trust I shall not be thought presumptuous in hoping that this treatise will supply that want. The experiments, made in connection with the various processes for the purpose of testing their accuracy, have extended over several years, and amounted in number to many thousands; the book is, therefore, based on the right foundation, granting only (and this is of the utmost importance) that the foundation be rightly laid. H: * * * * The student and the uninitiated must not, however, imagine that the possession of this or any other book of its class will put him into the royal road to chemical analysis. The only real method of progress