A manuel of the chemistry of the carbon compounds : or, Organic chemistry / [Carl Schorlemmer].

  • Schorlemmer, Carl, 1834-1892
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manuel of the chemistry of the carbon compounds : or, Organic chemistry / [Carl Schorlemmer]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE CHEMISTRY OF THE CARBON COMPOUNDS. INTKODUCTION. Carbon is one of the most widely distributed elements occurring on our planet. In the free state it is found in two allotropic modifications, as Graphite and as Diamond. In combination with oxygen, it occurs as Carbon Dioxide, forming a small but normal and important con- stituent of our atmosphere, whilst Carbonates are met with in all geological formations, often in immense layers, sometimes forming whole mountain chains. Far more numerous and varying, however, are the carbon compounds existing in the bodies of plants and animals, carbon being the most characteristic and important constituent of all organisms. When any organized structure is heated out of contact with air, carbon is left behind in the form of porous, amorphous charcoal. Animal and vegetable substances are the chief sources from which other carbon compounds are prepared, and the number of these is so great as to far exceed the compounds of the other elements taken together: more- over, new ones are being daily brought to light. By far the largest proportion of the carbon compounds, and chiefly those occurring ready formed, contain only a few elements; most of them being formed by the union of carbon with hydrogen and oxygen ; many also contain nitrogen; some only carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, whilst others consist only of carbon and hydrogen. The substances of which the bodies of plants and animals are built up, as well as most of the compounds that can be obtained from these by chemical changes, exhibit certain peculiarities, enabling us to distinguish them easily from mineral bodies. Formerly chemists believed that the cause of this difference was, that life was necessary to their formation, and that there existed an essential difference between organic and inorganic bodies. Hence chemistry has been divided into organic and inorganic chemistry. At that time it was understood C B