Excerpt from Introduction to the Study of Organic Chemistry: The Chemistry of Carbon and Its Compounds Chemistry being defined as the study of the nature and properties of the various elements; of the laws according to which these elements enter into combination with each other and of the nature and properties of the compounds formed by their union 3 organic chemistry may be generally defined as the chemistry of carbon and its compounds, since carbon is the one essential element in all organic com pounds. The separation of chemical science into the two branches of inorganic and organic chemistry is in reality arbitrary, but it is convenient, simply on account of the enormous number, and special importance, of the compounds in cluded in the latter division 5 not that they are in any way subject to different laws from those which govern inorganic compounds. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.