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[Transcriber's notes: In the chemical equations, superscripts areindicated with a ^ and subscripts are indicated with a . The affecteditem is enclosed in curly brackets {}. Examples are H^{+} for hydrogenion and H{2}O for water. Since the underscore is already being usedin this project, italics are designated by an exclamation pointbefore and after the italicized word or phrase.]
This Introductory Course of Quantitative Analysis has been preparedto meet the needs of students who are just entering upon the subject,after a course of qualitative analysis. It is primarily intended toenable the student to work successfully and intelligently without thenecessity for a larger measure of personal assistance and supervisionthan can reasonably be given to each member of a large class. To thisend the directions are given in such detail that there is very littleopportunity for the student to go astray; but the manual is not, theauthor believes, on this account less adapted for use with smallclasses, where the instructor, by greater personal influence, canstimulate independent thought on the part of the pupil.
The method of presentation of the subject is that suggested byProfessor A.A. Noyes' excellent manual of Qualitative Analysis. Foreach analysis the procedure is given in considerable detail, andthis is accompanied by explanatory notes, which are believed to besufficiently expanded to enable the student to understand fully theunderlying reason for each step prescribed. The use of the bookshould, nevertheless, be supplemented by classroom instruction, mainlyof the character of recitations, and the student should be taught toconsult larger works. The general directions are intended to emphasizethose matters upon which the beginner in quantitative analysis mustbestow special care, and to offer helpful suggestions. The studentcan hardly be expected to appreciate the force of all the statementscontained in these directions, or, indeed, to retain them all inthe memory after a single reading; but the instructor, by frequentreference to special paragraphs, as suitable occasion presents itself,can soon render them familiar to the student.
The analyses selected for practice are those comprised in the firstcourse of quantitative analysis at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, and have been chosen, after an experience of years,as affording the best preparation for more advanced work, and assatisfactory types of gravimetric and volumetric methods. From thelatter point of view, they also seem to furnish the best insight intoquantitative analysis for those students who can devote but a limitedtime to the subject, and who may never extend their study beyond thefield covered by this manual. The author has had opportunity to testthe efficiency of the course for use with such students, and has foundthe results satisfactory.
In place of the usual custom of selecting simple salts as material forpreliminary practice, it has been found advantageous to substitute, inmost instances,