MENDELEEV (MENDELEJEFF), Dmitri. "Remarks on the Discovery of Gallium" in The London, Edinburgh, and
Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, London, 1876. Supplement to vol I, fifth series, 1876,
pp 542-546. Offered in the original unbound parts, pp (497)-576, in the five original quires, plus a sixth being the table of contents
for the entire 576pp volume. Very unusual to my experience. Unopened and uncut. Fine condition. $450 This is the first appearance in English of this work, translated from the French by Pattison Muir from “Remarques
a propos de la devouverte du gallium; par M.D. Mendeleeff” and published in the Comptes Rendus. de l'Academie
des Sciences, 22 Novembre 1875.
“The discovery of gallium has great significance to Mendeleev’s development of the periodic table as it was the first new element discovered since Mendeleev’s 1869 table. In 1871 Mendeleyev had prepared a table of known elements leaving gaps for those “elements yet to be discovered”, one of these being eka-aluminium. Four years later, a Frenchman Paul Emile François Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered this element spectroscopically (two violet lines) during an examination of a zinc blende from the Pyrenees. Lecoq’s newly discovered element was found to have an atomic weight of 69 and appeared to have the properties that Mendeleev had predicted for eka-aluminium...gallium’s most important modern day use is in electronic devices. Semiconductor use is now almost the entire world market for gallium. However, new uses in alloys and fuel cells continue to be discovered...”--Luke McGuiness, Royal Australian Chemical Institute, “Gallium”.
Mendeleev writes on the prediction of “gallium” and the verification of the periodic table: “In 1869 I announced the following periodic law: "The properties of the simple bodies, as also the properties and
constitution of their combinations, are periodic functions of the atomic weights of the elements....Among the
different applications of that law I shall cite only the following : “1. This law constitutes the basis of a complete systematic classification of the elements...It ought to be remarked
that, previous to the discovery of the periodic law, it was not possible to predict the existence or to foretell the
properties of undiscovered elements...” “M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran has discovered, by means of spectral analysis, the existence of a new element in the
blende of Pierrefitte (Pyrenees) ; to this element he has given the name of gallium. The manner of its discovery,
the process for its separation (precipitation by sulphuretted hydrogen before zinc), and certain of its properties
(precipitation by barium carbonate, solubility of the hydrate in ammonia, degree of volatility, &c), make it
probable that the new metal is no other than eka alu-minium...If subsequent researches confirm the identity
of the pro- perties of gallium with those which I have pointed out as belonging to eka aluminium, the discovery
of this element will furnish an interesting example of the utility of the periodic law. Let us hope that the
discovery of eka silicium, Es = 72, Es0 2 , the probable properties of which I have detailed in Liebig's
Annalen, vol. viii. (Suppl.) p. 171, will not be long delayed.”--from this paper.
“The discovery of gallium has great significance to Mendeleev’s development of the periodic table as it was the first new element discovered since Mendeleev’s 1869 table. In 1871 Mendeleyev had prepared a table of known elements leaving gaps for those “elements yet to be discovered”, one of these being eka-aluminium. Four years later, a Frenchman Paul Emile François Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered this element spectroscopically (two violet lines) during an examination of a zinc blende from the Pyrenees. Lecoq’s newly discovered element was found to have an atomic weight of 69 and appeared to have the properties that Mendeleev had predicted for eka-aluminium...gallium’s most important modern day use is in electronic devices. Semiconductor use is now almost the entire world market for gallium. However, new uses in alloys and fuel cells continue to be discovered...”--Luke McGuiness, Royal Australian Chemical Institute, “Gallium”.
See also: Early Responses to the Periodic System, edited by Masanori Kaji, Helge Kragh, Gabor Pallo.
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