Blowpipe Analysis

by John Landauer

Book Overview

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0917914198
• ISBN13: 9780917914195
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: Lindsay Publications
• Length: 173 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Best available book for the Mineral Blowpipe technician.

The first edition was described by the editors of Chemical News in 1879 (v.40, p.287) as "dsitinctly the clearest, most systematic, and most useful students' laboratory book on the employment of the blowpipe in chemical and mineralogical analysis... A good many novelties in the way of apparatus and reagents are included... only after repeated trials have proved their utility." The review in 1892 (v.65, p.237-238) of the second edition includes, "This little work deserves the highest recommendation for its clearness, comprehensiveness, and portability..." [However, I prefer my own reviews, which continues:] Includes a brief historical sketch of blowpipe analysis, Ross' aluminum plate support (more available now than a century ago!), and a great diagram of an easily homemade self-acting blower. Chapters include Apparatus and Reagents; Operations of Blowpipe Analysis (includes open tube tests, closed tube tests, tests on charcoal, on aluminum, bead tests, by soda and other fluxes, flame colors, etc.), including a subchapter on Bunsen's flame reactions; Special Examination for Certain Elements, these arranged alphabetically; Systematic Examination; and Tables of Reactions of Elements, the first arranged by tests, the other by the elements. Also well-organized index. Even today these methods retain a use for the amateur willing to try a few tests upon extra material before sending specimens off to be identified by overburdened professionals. Often the common species may be identified by these classical methods; if more used such, then unusual species could be saved for professionals who may then study those with modern instruments. Even so, a few simple tests on a sample have indicated the presence of unusual material, bringing this to the attention of professionals. In any case, the conserving of these methods and art is the historical preservation of part of our mineralogical heritage, and such guides as Landauer not only help the amateur in practical determinative mineralogy, but also preserve the history of such. This is one of the best treatises on the subject and may be the only extensive one still in print. Its reputation for its Clearness is well deserved. It will prove fascinating to any lover of historical chemical mineralogy. Both for this, and as a useful reference, it deserves a rating of 10.