Familiar Letters on Chemistry

Justus von Liebig (1803-1873) was a German chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry and is known for his discovery of nitrogen as an essential plant nutrient. These letters “were written for the especial purpose of exciting the attention of governments, and an enlightened public, to the necessity of establishing Schools of Chemistry, and of promoting by every means, the study of a science so intimately connected with the arts, pursuits, and social well-being of modern civilised nations.” (Summary by Wikipedia and J.M. Smallheer) (4 hr 12 min)

Chapters

Preface/TOC	7:38	Read by J. M. Smallheer
Letter I - The Subject Proposed	13:40	Read by ML Cohen
Letter II - Changes of Form which every kind of Matter undergoes.	13:39	Read by ML Cohen
Letter III - The Manufacture of Soda from Culinary Salt...	17:26	Read by Peter Yearsley
Letter IV - Connection of Theory with Practice	17:44	Read by Peter Yearsley
Letter V - ISOMERISM	13:46	Read by Peter Yearsley
Letter VI - ALLIANCE OF CHEMISTRY WITH PHYSIOLOGY	10:35	Read by J. M. Smallheer
Letter VII - ANIMAL HEAT, its laws and influence on the Animal Functions	20:24	Read by Gary Gilberd
Letter VIII - ALIMENTS	15:44	Read by J. M. Smallheer
Letter IX - Growth of Animals	12:29	Read by ML Cohen
Letter X - Application of the preceding facts to Man	10:51	Read by ML Cohen
Letter XI - CIRCULATION OF MATTER IN THE ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE KINGDOMS	16:21	Read by Larysa Jaworski
Letter XII - SCIENCE AND ART OF AGRICULTURE. NECESSITY OF CHEMISTRY.	10:32	Read by Larysa Jaworski
Letter XIII - ILLUSTRATION OF THE NECESSITY OF CHEMISTRY TO ADVANCE AND PERFECT…	12:42	Read by Larysa Jaworski
Letter XIV - NATURE AND EFFECTS OF MANURES	15:28	Read by Esther
Letter XV - SOURCE OF THE CARBON AND NITROGEN OF PLANTS	33:17	Read by Gary Gilberd
Letter XVI - RESULTS OF THE AUTHOR'S LATEST INQUIRIES	10:12	Read by Peter Yearsley

Reviews

(5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

Full of fun facts! Although I'm not sure of it's accuracy.

Terribly dated

(5 stars)

Bill Cosby

The author, a white male, steeped in the prevailing heteronormative implicit raycysm of his day probably did not realize how backward and reactionary his thought patterns were. He actually believes chemistry was about chemicals. Hahaha. Today we are more enlightened and realize chemistry is about including diverse people and genders into a cohesive tribe to fight fascism. Geez how backwards these old time white folks were

(4 stars)

GuillaumeC

this is a good introduction to agronomy, a bit dated and neglecting the microbial influence, but very good for home gardeners, or farmers wanting to find the roots of their "science and art"