AUTHORS' PREFACE.
THIS book outlines a course of laboratory work which is essen-
tially synthetic in nature and is designed to aid in acquiring a
more adequate knowledge of inorganic chemistry than is to be
obtained by practice in chemical analysis alone. The need of
supplementing the work of analytical chemistry in such a way
has indeed been recognized in most chemical laboratories of the
German technical schools and universities, in fact such instruction
still persists as a part of the classic method of teaching chemistry.
To-day a training according to these lines is considered de-
sirable even for those students with whom chemistry is a minor
subject. It has been the aim of the authors to enlarge the
choice of suitable experiments by publishing the procedures
which they have tested and found satisfactory in their own
laboratories in the course of a number of years' experience.
The experimental part of the book is given in relatively com-
plete detail, because in our opinion this does not materially
lessen the self-reliance of the student, who has, as a rule, but a
limited time at his disposal. The beginner obtains ample oppor-
tunity for acquiring manipulative skill and for exercising inge-
nuity, in the carrying out of the work and in modifying and
improving the directions to correspond to the facilities at hand;
others who need particular preparations as starting material for
further investigation can appreciate directions in which technical
difficulties are guarded against.
To aid in the study of the theoretical relations brief general
discussions are interspersed throughout the book as well as ref-
erences to the original literature and the text-books of inorganic
and theoretical chemistry which should be freely consulted.
As regards the arrangement of the material, we have departed
from the disposition which is common to-day of treating the
compounds in connection with the groups of elements. We have
chosen to base the classification upon the different types of
ui