MEYER, LOTHAR. - THE PERIODIC TABLE & "THE ATOMIC VOLUME CURVE".

Die Natur der chemischen Elemente als Function ihrer Atomgewichte. (Hierzu Tafel III).

Leipzig und Heidelberg, C.F. Winter'sche Verlagshandlung, 1870. No wrappers. In "Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie. Hrsg. und Redigiert von Friedrich Wöhler, Justus Liebig und Hermann Kopp", VII. Supplementband. Pp. 354-364 a. 1 folded plate (The atomic volume curve). The entire volume offered "VII. Supplementband." (4),380 pp. and 3 folded plates. Small stamp on titlepage and verso of.

First appearance of this groundbreaking, classic paper in which Lothar Meyer first fully expressed his ideas of the relationsships between the atomic weight of the elements and their properties. In his "Curve" he plots the atomic volumes of the chemical elements against their weights and connects the points to obtain a curve with proonounced peaks and valleys. The periodicity in atomic volume and electrochemical behaviour revealed by this curve is matched by periodicities in other properties, such as fusibility and volatility etc.
The "Periodic Law" may be stated in the words: The properties of the Elements are a periodic function of (or vary in a periodic manner with) the atomic weight. (Findlay).

Lothar Meyer and Dimitri Mendeleev independently discovered the periodic system, but "Meyer did not publish this work until after the appearance of Mendeleev's first paper on the subject in 1869. His table was very similar to that of Mendeleev, but it contained some improvements and was, perhaps, influential in causing some of the revisions made by Mendeleev in the second version of his table, published in 1870. In general, Meyer was more impressed by the periodicity of the physical properties of the elements, while Medeleev saw more clearly the chemical consequences of the periodic law."(Source Book in Chemistry, p. 434). - Weeks p. 207 ff.

Order-nr.: 43852