GRAHAM, THOMAS. - "SO MUCH HAS SELDOM BEEN ACCOMPLISHED BY A SINGLE INVESTIGATION"

Researches on the Arseniates, Phosphates, and Modifications of Phosphoric Acid. Received January 29. Read June 19, 1833.

(London, Richard Taylor, 1833). 4to. No wrappers as extracted from "Philosophical Transactions" 1833 - Part II. Pp. 253-284. Clean and fine.

First appearance of a main paper in the history of chemistry. "Graham's major contribution to inorganic chemistry is presented in a paper entitled "Researcheson thee Arseniates, Phosphates....." 1833 (the paper offered)...his elucidation of the differences between the three phosphoric acids and his discovery of their polybasicity provided Liebig with the clue to the modern concept of polybasic acids..."(A Source Book in Chemistry p. 333).

Graham’s major contribution to inorganic chemistry is his paper !Researches on the Arseniates, Phosphates, and Modifications of Phosphoric Acid," in which he elucidated the differences between the three phosphoric acids. This research and the style of the paper are reminiscent of Joseph Black’s work on magnesia and the alkalies carried out in Glasgow eighty years earlier. Graham’s discovery of the polybasicity of these acids provided Justus Liebig with the clue to the modern concept of polybasic acids. Of this classic work the eminent German chemist and historian of chemistry Albert Ladenburg has said, "so much has seldom been accomplished by a single investigation."(DSB)

"In the Preface to...Graham's papers...Dr. Angus Smith has indicated in precise...language Graham's position in that chain of thinkers which includes Leucippus, Lucretius, Newton and Dalton (Thorpe)"

Thomas Graham, the Scottish Chemist, first president of the Chemical Society of London, and one of the chief founders of physical chemistry. He formulated Graham's Law of diffusion relating the rate of diffusion of gases to their densities, discovered and named the process of dialysis used for separating colloids from crystalloids, studied the three forms of phosphoric and arsenics acids that led to the developpement of the concept of polybasic acids, a major contribution to inorganic chemistry (the paper offered).

Order-nr.: 46362