The Chemistry Of Petroleum And Its Substitutes; A Practical Handbook

Having regard to the large amount of British capital invested in petroleum enterprises, it is regrettable that it should be found necessary to seek abroad for men qualified for such positions. The University of Birmingham was the first educational establishment to provide facilities for the systematic study of the technology of petroleum, and it is appropriate that the first treatise on the chemistry of petroleum in its theoretical and practical aspects should have been written by the lecturers in chemistry at that university. The authors have aimed primarily at providing a textbook for students who desire to become proficient in the chemical technology of petroleum, and they have adrnirably achieved their object by a skilful association of theory and practice. They properly consider that no man can become a successful technologist until he has fully mastered the underlying scientific principles of the subject. Hence a large but not disproportionate part of the present work is devoted to the pure chemistry of petroleum, and it is not until he has become fully acquainted with the fundamental principles, and has familiarized himself with the chemical and physical characters of the individual members of the various groups of hydrocarbons of which petroleum is composed, that the student is invited to study the practical applications of this knowledge. It will thus be seen that the book is much more than a mere aggregation of facts, for it is a highly commendable and successful attempt to bridge over the gap between the academic and the practical treatment of the subject with which it deals, and it should do much to pave the way to a better understanding of the intimate relation between pure and applied science, as well as of the extent to which the latter depends upon the former...