Researches on Cellulose II (1900-1905) (Classic Reprint)

Chemists of previous generations have paid relatively little attention to the amorphous or colloidal state of matter; and the appearance of uncrystallisable products of reaction, in investigations of carbon compounds, usually evoked the epithet of Schmiere, applied rather as an epitaph. This procedure was perhaps the expression of a constitutional preference for bodies of certain typical physical characteristics, but actually fe we think it implied the recognition, partly reasoned, partly JJ instinctive, that in the colloidal state we lose touch of the organic relationships which obtain in the great groups of carbon compounds defined and represented by constitutional formulae. OI fcellulose had been thus met with as an amorphous pro duct of reaction that is, in its alternative structureless forms it y: might very well have been included in the heterogeneous class of Schmier compounds; it certainly would not have attracted the attention of investigators to the degree of devotion of which it has been the object. It might be held that the attractiveness of cellulose as a subject of investigation lies in considerations of utility, and that only its disproportionate technical importance could have supplied the motive for researches which lack the clear direction and control of the leading antecedent generalisations of the science.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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