Case of the Poisonous Socks

William H. Brock is a retired Professor of the History of Science. He read Chemistry at UCL before studying the History of Science at the University of Leicester where he later became a lecturer then a professor. He has published many papers and books including The Fontana History of Chemistry.

• Preface;Part 1: Chemical Futures;1. The Case of the Poisonous Socks;2. Taste, Smell and Flavour;3. Tales of Hofmann;4. Liebig on Toast;5. The Future of Research at the Royal Institution (London) and the Smithsonian Institution (Washington);6. The Future of Chemistry in 1901;7. The Alchemical Society 1912-1915;Part 2: Organizing Chemistry;8. Putting the "S" into the "Three R's";9. The London Chemical Society;10. The State of Chemistry in Britain in 1846;11. The Laboratory Before and After Liebig;12. The Chemical Origins of Practical Physics;13. Chemical Algebra;14. The B Club;15. Chemistry By Discovery in a Phrase;Part 3: A Cluster of Chemists;16. Amedeo Avogadro;17. Creating a Path through the Dark Forest of Organic Chemistry;18. August Kekulé (1829-96): Theoretical Chemist;19. The Don Quixote of Chemistry: Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie (1817-1880);20. The Epistle of Henry the Chemist;21. He Knew He Was Right - Fritz Haber;22. J. R. Partington (1886-1965): Physical Chemistry in Deed and Word;23. Henry Crookes, Founder of Crookes Laboratories;24. A Life of Magic Chemistry;Part 4: Women in Alchemy and Chemistry;25. Women in Alchemy;26. Teaching Chemistry to Women;27. Musical Affinities;28. Edith Hilda Usherwood (1898-1988) and the Ingold Partnership;Part 5: Chemical Books and Journal;29. The Fate of Eponymous Chemical Journals;30. The Lamp of Learning;31. "The Greatest Work which England has ever Produced": Henry Watts and the Dictionary of Chemistry;32. Chemistry in the Aquarium;33. Insurance Chemistry;34. Math for Chemists;35. The Chemistry of Pottery;36. Baker's Dozen;Part 6: Lost to Chemistry;37. They Also Ran;38. Who Was Crookes's Musician-Chemist?;39. The Chemist from Hanwell Asylum;40. George Du Maurier (1834-96);41. Sir Stafford Cripps;42. C. P. Snow as a Physical Chemist;Sources, Acknowledgements and Further Reading;Index

'the author displays his considerable scholarship in every line''the book might well serve as a xource of short readings for students to prompt discussion on a variety kof general topics of historical or sociological nature.''these essays are concerned with chemists as individuals, but also with their activities and interactions as a community'