THE CHEMISTRY OF COMMON LIFE BY THE LATE JAMES F. W. JOHNSTON M.A., F.R.S.S., L. & E., &c. PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM A NEW EDITION REVISED, AND BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME BY ARTHUR HERBERT CHURCH M.A. OXON. Author of Food, its Sources, Constituents, and Usee, UNIVERSITY NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 72 FIFTH AVENUE. 1901. FÖHET DIE CHEMIE IN DIESEM AUGENBLICK IHR SCEPTER ÜBER ALLE ANDERE NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN.-Moleschott. TILL BY EXPERIENCE TAUGHT THE MIND SHALL LEARN THAT, NOT TO KNOW AT LARGE OF THINGS REMOTE FROM USE, OBSCURE AND SUBTLE, BUT TO KNOW THAT WHICH BEFORE US LIES IN DAILY LIFE, IS THE PRIME WISDOM.-Milton. ALL THE FORMS ARE FUGITIVE, BUT THE SUBSTANCES SURVIVE.-Emerson. EDITOR'S PREFACE. TWENTY-FIVE years ago, when 'The Chemistry of Common Life' first appeared, an acquaintance with the advancing science of the day was the almost exclusive possession of a select class of professional persons. The English chemical literature of that time was exceedingly meagre; while, save in London and a few great cities, instruction, by means of lectures and laboratory work, was wellnigh unknown. Even educated persons had no notion of the real scope and functions of chemistry, beyond a hazy impression that medical practitioners had mastered its theory, and druggists its practice. Professor Johnston's popular exposition of the main conclusions touching the daily life of man first revealed to the public a new world of interest. His book was most attractive in style, most interesting and comprehensive as to subject-matter, and most exact. His simple and familiar method of introducing the facts and reasonings of chemistry to the general reader was itself a novel and charming experiment, which at once attracted a crowd of admirers, and which in the lapse of time has lost none 200911 |