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Excerpt from Chemistry
While we do not undervalue the usefulness of a correct language to express the facts and theories of a Science, we have the strongest objection to frequent and capricious changes, in which the good is uncertain and prospective, while the evil is certain and immediate. Chemistry is not the Science of one nation, of one profession, or of one section of chemists. Among civilized nations it has now a com munity of language, and by this language, it is more closely linked to Arts, Manufactures, and Medicine, than any other branch of knowledge; hence, changes, to be useful, should be such as are re quired by urgent necessity, and are likely to command general acceptance by their reasonableness and expediency. After all, it must be remembered that these changes are not in the facts, but in a supposed improvement in the mode of expressing them; and if only partially adopted, they necessarily lead to confusion. Reasoning from the past to the present, it is not too much to infer that a student of Chemistry must be prepared for a new crop of systematic names, and a new classification of elements and compounds, every ten years.
Our intention in the preparation of this volume has been, not to furnish a Treatise on the Science, but to provide the student, and general reader, with a plain introduction to the subject. With ample materials at our disposal to produce two volumes in place of one, we have studiously endeavored to compress within these pages, a selection of the more important facts and doctrines of Modern Chemistry. We have adopted for the explanation of these facts, that simple chemical language which has found acceptance in the Schools and Colleges of Great Britain, France, and Germany, as well as in the best treatises on the Science.
In addition to the general properties of bodies, we have attached to the description of each substance, a summary of its most important characters, with an account of the special tests required for its detec tion. The student will thus have in this book a Manual of practical chemistry. As an adjunct to this branch of the Science, the subject of practical toxicology has been introduced in reference to the most important poisons, and the processes for their detection. We have also treated, as fully as our space would permit. The chemical principles on which photography is based, and have given some practical rules for the guidance of those who wish to apply their chemical knowledge to this interesting art.
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