The Chemical Synthesis of Vital Products and the Inter-Relations Between Organic Compounds - Hydrocarbons, Alcohols and Phenols, Aldehydes, Ketones, Carbohydrates and Glucosides, Sulphur and Cyanogen Compounds, Camphor and Terpenes, Co... #231539

The present work, the aim and objects of which are set forth in the introductory chapter, originated in the year 1895, when, in the course of preparing an address as President of the Chemical Section of the British Association at Ipswich, I had occasion to take stock of the present State of knowledge of synthetical chemistry'. I have been encouraged from time to time by various Chemical and bio logical friends, among whom I would especially mention Dr. Horace Brown, Mr. Francis Darwin, Professors J. R. Green, W. D. Halliburton, Marshall Ward and W. P. Wynne, to proceed with a compilation which, in the midst of many other occupations and with very little leisure time, has necessarily been a somewhat arduous task. AS it stands, this contribution to chemical literature represents the result of fragmentary labour carried on at odd intervals during the last nine years. From the nature of the conditions under which I have been compelled to carry on the work, and in View of the wide domain which it covers, it will, I am afraid, be found imperfect in many respects, both with regard to omissions and inclusions. Encouraged, however, by the belief that no similar work has hitherto been under taken, and that the time has arrived when a complete presentation of the synthetical achievements of modern Organic Chemistry would be of service to investigators here and abroad, I have decided to offer the book in its present form for whatever value may be attached to it as a work of reference. I am not without hope that it may be found of service as a step towards the foundation of a more exact science of Biochemistry.