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Chemistry for beginners

Chapter 28: THE NEWER CHEMISTRY
By Hereward Carrington
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Science - Chemistry/Biochemistry

About This Book

A concise introduction traces chemistry's development from ancient Greek and alchemical ideas through medieval practice to modern atomic theory and the periodic law. It explains elements, atomic weights, valency, analysis and synthesis, and differentiates organic and inorganic chemistry, including catalysis, enzymes, and hormones. Practical topics include spectroscopic methods, industrial chemistry, instruments, and ocean salinity. Later chapters address radioactivity, intra-atomic energy, electrons, astrophysical applications, and discussions on the origin of life and the philosophical implications connecting chemical theory with metaphysical questions.

THE NEWER CHEMISTRY

It will be seen, therefore, that chemistry has not only proved of the utmost practical value to mankind, but that it has been instrumental in solving some of the greatest enigmas confronting the mind of man, and in settling some philosophical and even theological questions. (The age of the earth, the composition and habitability of distant stars, etc.) Attempts have been made to account for life itself along purely physico-chemical lines. And all this was attempted—and in part even rendered possible—before the ultimate constitution of matter was known! During the present generation, an entirely new light has been thrown upon this central problem, and the ideas of centuries have been discarded. Let us trace the final steps of research in this direction, and see how the latest findings of modern science have thrown light upon the world-old problem of the ultimate constitution of matter.