Abstract
THE editor of a dictionary of applied science, such as the volume before me, has in these days no enviable task to perform: much is required of him, and the difficulties with which he has to contend are great. Prof.Thorpe has acquitted himself well, for though there may be, indeed there are, many points with which the expert can find fault, yet these are generally matters of detail, and on the whole the work has been satisfactorily done, so that the second volume will be found to be quite up to the high level of the first. The industries which owe their foundation to the science of chemistry now progress with such giant strides, that processes which last year were the newest and best may this year be so improved as to be rendered obsolete, so that an article printed at the commencement of a volume may become antiquated before the last article is in type, whilst data unattainable when the article was written are superseded by some more recently published. As an example of this, I may take that upon “gas coal”, written by a most competent authority, Mr. Lewis Wright. On p. 177 will be found a table giving the weight of coal carbonized by all the authorized gas undertakings in the kingdom, exclusive of those of local authorities, for the year ending March 25, 1886. Since these tables were printed, a Board of Trade return for 1890 has been published. In 1886, 8,378,904 tons of coal were carbonized; in 1890 the figure rose to 9,663,011. In r886 the mileage of mains was 18,967; in 1890 it had increased to 21,584. These numbers point out the enormous extent of the coal-gas industry in this country, and show clearly that it is not suffering from the competition of electric lighting; indeed, this competition is favourable to the sale of gas, for we see that our streets are now better lighted than formerly, and the consumption of gas in many shops is increased, in order to vie with the splendour of their neighbours' electric light.
Dictionary of Applied Chemistry.
Vol. II. (Eau–Nux). (London: Longmans, 1891.)
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ROSCOE, H. Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. Nature 44, 268–269 (1891). https://doi.org/10.1038/044268a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/044268a0
