Author: Wilhelm Ostwald

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2017-12-18

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 9780484039031

Excerpt from Outlines of General Chemistry This book has been written mainly to supply a want felt in my own teaching experience. It is designed to meet the requirements of the student who, while not intending to devote himself to the detailed study of General Chemistry, still wishes to follow intelligently the progress recently made in this important branch of science. Numerous assurances of my colleagues have convinced me that there is an actual demand for such a work. In conformity with this design, I have abstained as far as possible from the use of mathematical formulae, and have always striven after clearness of exposition. The task has been all the more dificult that the course of study still pursued by the average chemist has laid upon me the necessity of avoiding the employment of higher mathematics. When possible, I have applied graphic methods: when a clear proof could not be given in an elementary way, I have contented myself with simply stating the result. Of course one can with the help of more or less cumbrous mathematical apparatus give an elementary proof of almost anything; but experience has shown that such diffuse page-long calculations are of no real aid to the comprehension of the subject. Another reason that has led me to adopt the above mode of treatment is that the reader who has only an acquaintance with elementary mathematics may be brought to see the necessity of acquiring at least the rudiments of the higher analysis. Without such knowledge it is possible (as I have endeavoured to show in the following pages) to understand both the methods and the results of General Chemistry; but for successful work in this field such know ledge is indispensable. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.