Conversations on Chemistry
In which the Elements of that Science are Familiarly Explained and Illustrated by Experiments

Bright, humorous and engaging, Marcet's best-selling 1805 book was designed to introduce women to scientific ideas.

Jane Haldimand Marcet (Author)

9781108016841, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2010

394 pages, 3 b/w illus.
21.6 x 2.2 x 14 cm, 0.5 kg

Jane Haldimand Marcet (1769–1858) was a pioneer in the field of education who wrote accessible introductory books on science and economics. Noting that women's education 'is seldom calculated to prepare their minds for abstract ideas', she resolved to write books that would inform, entertain and improve a generation of female readers. First published anonymously in 1805, her two-volume Conversations on Chemistry swiftly became a standard primer going through sixteen editions in England alone, and is credited with having influenced the young Michael Faraday. Presented as a series of discussions between a fictional tutor, Mrs. Bryan, and her two female students, the flighty Caroline and earnest Emily, Conversations combines entertaining banter with a clear and concise explanation of scientific theories of the day. Volume 2 contains spirited exchanges on topics including 'shells and chalk', borax, decomposing vegetables and 'animal economy', which will interest historians of both science and education.

13. On the attraction of composition
14. On alkalies
15. On earths
16. On acids
17. Of the sulphuric and phosphoric acids
18. Of the nitric and carbonic acids
19. Of the boracic, fluoric, muriatic, and oxygenated muriatic acids
20. On the nature and composition of vegetables
21. On the decomposition of vegetables
22. History of vegetation
23. On the composition of animals
24. On the animal economy
25. On animalisations, nutrition, and respiration
26. On animal heat, and of various animal products
Index.

Subject Areas: Physical chemistry [PNR]