Public-domain ebook
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In: Chemistry·Science - Chemistry/Biochemistry
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #17149.
This volume is a nonfiction survey of early‑twentieth‑century industrial chemistry, assembled from a series of articles Edwin E. Slosson wrote for The Independent in 1917‑18. The opening pages explain that the work was intended both to pique the curiosity of the general reader and to serve as supplementary material for college and high‑school chemistry students. Slosson acknowledges the assistance of numerous government officials, university professors, and corporate chemists, and the book is illustrated with photographs of wartime factories, laboratory apparatus, and the products of chemical processes, from steel and explosives to dyes, fertilizers, and synthetic rubber. The introductory essay by Professor Julius Stieglitz frames the subject as a vital national resource, arguing that an informed public is essential for maintaining chemical independence after the war.
The prose reflects the didactic yet enthusiastic tone of a post‑World‑War‑I popular science writer. Slosson blends technical description with vivid analogies, avoiding dense formulae while still conveying the scope of modern chemical achievement. Readers with an interest in the history of technology, the development of the chemical industry, or early twentieth‑century science communication will find the book engaging, as it offers a snapshot of how chemistry was portrayed as a cornerstone of national progress and everyday life.
The opening · free to read
This book originated in a series of articles prepared for The Independent in 1917-18 for the purpose of interesting the general reader in the recent achievements of industrial chemistry and providing supplementary reading for students of chemistry in colleges and high schools. I am indebted to Hamilton Holt, editor of The Independent, and to Karl V.S. Howland, its publisher, for stimulus and opportunity to undertake the writing of these pages and for the privilege of reprinting them in this form.
In gathering the material for this volume I have received the kindly aid of so many companies and individuals that it is impossible to thank them all but I must at least mention as those to whom I am especially grateful for information, advice and criticism: Thomas H. Norton of the Department of Commerce; Dr. Bernhard C. Hesse; H.S. Bailey of the Department of Agriculture; Professor Julius Stieglitz of the University of Chicago; L.E. Edgar of the Du Pont de Nemours Company; Milton Whitney of the U.S. Bureau of Soils; Dr. H.N. McCoy; K.F. Kellerman of the Bureau of Plant Industry.
E.E.S.
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