AbstractsChemistry

Polarographic chemical analysis, although invented only twenty-five years ago, has already become a standard method ror the research worker and industrial analyst alike. The variety or topics in pure, bio- and commercial chemistry which may be investigated easily with the polarograph, as well as its application to microchenistry, has found it a place in laboratories throughout the world. The invention offthe method, and much or the pioneer development are due to Jaroslav Heyrovsky and his colleagues at Charles University, Prague, (Phil. Mag., 1923, 45, 303; Trans. Faraday Soc., 1923, 19, 692 et seq.) Kucera, also of Charles University, noticed peculiar inflections in the electrocapillary curve of mercury under certain conditions, and devised the "dropping mercury electrode", now commonly used; to investigate these, (Ann. Physik., 1903,11, 529). Further work on this subject by Heyrovsky led ultimately to the development of polarography, (Ohemo Listy, 1922, 12, 256.)