THE arrangement and classification followed in
previous edi-
tions have been retained.
The rules of
orthography adopted by the Chemical Section of
the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, and
by the
National Bureau of Education
(see Appendix A), have
been followed.
That
portion
of the work
treating
of the
chemistry
of the
carbon compounds has been much extended and in
great part
rewritten. The
organic
substances have
been,
as in
previous
editions,
classified
according
to their constitution so far as
known, and those alkaloids whose molecular structure has been
completely or partially determined have
been removed from the
miscellaneous
position among "alkaloids" to their proper places
in the classification.
The
prominence given
to this branch of
the subject the author believes to be
justified, notwithstanding
Its
intricacy and the consequent difficulty of teaching
it satisfac-
torily to medical students, by reason of the intimate connection
of
organic chemistry Avith physiology and
with modern phar-
macy, and the rapidly increasing use
of complex organic pro-
ducts, natural and synthetic, as medicines.