RESEARCHES ON CELLULOSE
1895-1900
BY
CROSS & BEVAN
(C. F. CROSS AND E. J. BEVAN)
SECOND EDITION
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
1907
All rights reserved
Transcriber's note: The sections in the Table of Contents are not used in the actual text.They have been added for clarity. Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes moved to the end of thesections
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
This edition is a reprint of the first in response to a continuousdemand for the book. The matter, consisting as it does largely ofrecords, does not call for any revision, and, as a contribution to thedevelopment of theory, any particular interest which it has isassociated with the date at which it was written.
The volume which has since appeared is the sequel, and aims at anexposition of the subject "to date".
PREFACE
This volume, which is intended as a supplement to the work which wepublished in 1895, gives a brief account of researches which have beensubsequently published, as well as of certain of our own investigations,the results of which are now for the first time recorded.
We have not attempted to give the subject-matter the form of a connectedrecord. The contributions to the study of 'Cellulose' which are noticedare spread over a large area, are mostly 'sectional' in their aim, andthe only cohesion which we can give them is that of classifying themaccording to the plan of our original work. Their subject-matter isreproduced in the form of a précis, as much condensed as possible; ofthe more important papers the original title is given. In all cases wehave endeavoured to reproduce the Author's main conclusions, and in mostcases without comment or criticism.
Specialists will note that the basis of investigation is still in agreat measure empirical; and of this the most obvious criterion is theconfusion attaching to the use of the very word 'Cellulose.' This is dueto various causes, one of which is the curious specialisation of theterm in Germany as the equivalent of 'wood cellulose.' The restrictionof this general or group term has had an influence even in scientificcircles. Another influence preventing the recognition of the obviousand, as we think, inevitable basis of classification of the 'celluloses'is the empiricism of the methods of agricultural chemistry, which asregards cellulose are so far chiefly concerned with its negativecharacteristics and the analytical determination of the indigestibleresidue of fodder plants. Physiologists, again, have their own views andmethods in dealing with cellulose, and have hitherto had but littleregard to the work of the chemist in differentiating and classifying thecelluloses on a systematic basis. There are many sides to the subject,and it is only by a sustained effort towards centralisation that thegeneral recognition of a systematic basis can be secured.
We may, we hope usefully, direct attention to the conspicuous neglect ofthe subject in this country. To the matter of the present volume,excluding our own investigations, there are but two contributions fromEnglish laboratories. We invite the younger generation of students ofchemistry to measure the probability of finding a working career inconnection with the cellulose industries. They will not find thisinvitation in the treatment accorded to the subject in text-books andlectures. It is probable, indeed, that the impression produced by theirstudies is that the industries in coal-tar products largely exceed inimportance those of which the carbohydrates are the basis; whereas theformer are quite insignificant by comparison.