Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899: Volume LIV, No. 5, March 1899Various
History
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899: Volume LIV, No. 5, March 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
The _Manual of Determinative Mineralogy_ of Professors _George J.
Brush_ and _Samuel L. Penfield_[48] is intended primarily to be used
in the identification of minerals, and that purpose has been kept
prominently in view. The present edition is a complete revision of
Professor Brush's original work, the value of which and the estimation
in which it is held by its constituency are attested by the fact that
fourteen editions of it have been issued since it first appeared in
1874. A revision of the parts devoted to blowpipe analysis and the
chemical reactions of the elements was published in 1896. To the
present edition a chapter is added on the physical properties of
minerals, devoted chiefly to crystallography, in which the endeavor
has been made to present the subject as simply as possible. Importance
has been attached to the description of those forms which are of most
frequent occurrence, and the examples chosen to illustrate the
different systems represent, as a rule, the simple forms that prevail
in specimens of common minerals, while rare and complex forms are
treated very briefly. The introduction of a large number of species
since 1874 has made a complete rearrangement necessary in the
analytical tables; and they have been so developed that tests for
characteristic chemical constituents furnish the chief means of
identification. Stress is laid upon the importance of determining the
chemical constituents as a factor in securing accuracy in
identification.
Demonstrator _G. S. Newth_ opens his _Manual of Chemical Analysis_[49]
with a protest against the thought of "doing" analysis without
learning more than the minimum amount of chemistry, and against
teaching and practicing it in such a manner as to degrade it to the
level "of a purely mechanical and often unintelligible series of
rule-of-thumb operations." He says he has done his best to make it "as
little of a cram book as possible," and has endeavored "to teach
analytical chemistry as well as analysis"--that is, the theoretical as
well as the practical side of the subject. He begins with emphasizing
the importance of the student making himself _practically_ familiar
with certain simple operations he will have to perform constantly, and
gives clear, concise definitions of such terms as filtration,
solution, evaporation, fusion, precipitation, ignition, etc., which
relate to those operations. He condemns slovenly formulas and
mechanical notes, but commends real notes of the student's own
observations. In his treatment he excludes merely descriptive details
that have no bearing on analysis; and in quantitative analysis,
prefers describing fully a few typical methods and processes to
covering much ground slightly.
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