LECOQ de BOISBAUDRAN, PAUL ÈMILE. - THE ELEMENT GALLIUM.

Sur un nouveau Métal, le Gallium.

Paris, G. Masson, 1877. 8vo. Contemp. hcalf, raised bands, gilt spine. Light wear along edges. Small stamps on verso of titlepage. In: "Annales de Chimie et de Physique", 5e Series - Tome 10. 576 pp. a. 2 folded engraved plates. (The entire volume offered). Lecoq de Boisbaudran's paper: pp. 100-141 a. 1 handcoloured engraved plate (showing the two spectral lines of gallium).

First appearance of a milestone paper in chemistry and physics in which the author describes how he found the new element Gallium by analyzing spectral lines which he observed on a Pyrenea blende sample, the emission lines corresponding to the eka-aluminum that was predicted by Mendeleev in 1871 and he subsequently isolated the element by electrolysis. This was the first element discovered by use of the spark spectrum. In his discovery of the new element Boisbaudran was not guided by the predictions of Mendeleev, but only by his own law of spectra.
"Boisbaudran ranks with Bunsen, Kirchhoff, and Crookes as one of the founders of the science of spectroscopy."(Weeks).

"Lecoq de Boisbaudran announced his discovery (by spectroscopic analysis) of the new element gallium. Mendeleev had first predicted its existence and had named it eka-aluminium. The discovery was made in the author's private laboratory, in a specimen of zinc blende from the Pierrefitte mine in the Angelès Valley in the Hautes Pyrénées. He describes how on the evening of 27 August 1875 he detected the existence of this new element, which he named "gallium" in honor of France (Gallia). The plate shows the two spectral lines of gallium, which are distinct from those of other elements (indium and potassium) in the same region of the spectrum. A month later he "performed in Wurtz's laboratory in Paris....a series of experiments to prove that gallium...is a true element"(Weeks). he discusses how he eventually isloated small amounts of pure metallic gallium and determined its physical and chemical properties. The paper (the paper offered) first describes gallium compounds (e.g., ammonium gallium alum,, chloride, oxide, and sulphate)."(Roy G. Neville II, p. 29).

Partington IV,897. - Weeks p. 215 ff.

The volume contains other nptable papers EDMUND BECQUEREL "Sur l'Observation de la partie infra-rouge du spectre solaire, au moyen des effets de phosphorescence", pp. 5-12, 8 papers by MARCELLIN BERTHELOT.

Order-nr.: 44235