A. STRENG AND K. HAUSHOFER

A few years prior to the 1867 publication of Wormley's full-length book on the microchemistry of poisons, there had been several individual articles on microscopical reaction products with poisons, and several test reagents, as we know from Wormley's Preface. It may be added that after the death of Boricky, subsequent microchemical methods were devised by Behrens, Streng, Haushofer, Rénard and Klément, and others.

Professor A. Streng of Giessen published several journal and yearbook articles in the years 1883 through 1886 on the subject of microchemical analysis of the more common minerals occurring in crystalline rocks, just as Boricky had done, but Streng applied microchemical investigations to compounds of some elements that had not previously been investigated in this way, and he added several valuable reactions.  Moreover, he perfected the accessories and manipulations of microchemical work.  For Streng, microchemical reactions were a valuable auxiliary method to microscopical observations of ground and polished rock sections, and to blowpipe analysis.  In addition to his journal/yearbook articles of 1883-1886, Streng incorporated microchemical analysis in his book, Anleitung zum Bestimmung der Mineralien (Giessen, 1890).

K. Haushofer went a step farther when, in 1885, he published his now “very rare” Mikroskopische Reactionen [Haushofer, K. (1885)], which was a manual (Figure 10) for distinguishing the majority of the elements, but he regarded the microscopical reactions (Figure 11) as supplementary to ordinary qualitative analysis.  The importance of his work was the attempt to bring all elements, even the rare ones, within the range of microscopical analysis.

click image to enlarge (111K) Figure 10. Title page of Haushofer’s very rare Mikroskopische Reactionen (1885).

click image to enlarge (177K) Figure 11. A page from Haushofer’s Mikroskopische Reactionen (1885), illustrating microchemical tests for mercury.

KLÉMENT AND RÉNARD

The treatise of Klément and Rénard, Reactions Microchimiques; A Cristaux et Leur Application en Analyse Qualitative [Klément, C. and A. Rénard (1886)], published in 1886, is on a level with Haushofer's manual.  This work (Figure 12) abstracts all of the microchemical tests known at that time.  It is also accompanied by numerous literary references, and a table of 54 elements, with references to the text pages.  There are eight engraved plates, each with twelve microchemical reactions illustrated.  The illustrations are delicately engraved and each chemical reaction product is shown in a full range of crystal habits and distortions (Figure 13).

Unfortunately, the expectations suggested by the second part of the text title are not quite satisfied.  As with Haushofer's manual, the foundation of a microscopical analysis is here, but when it comes to discriminating between closely allied elements, such as cobalt and nickel, or zinc and cadmium, the tests leave much to be desired.  Still, both works are closer to a complete microscopical analysis.

click image to enlarge (175K) Figure 12. Title page of Klément and Rénard's Reactions Microchimiques; A Cristaux et Leur Application en Analyse Qualitative (1886).

click image to enlarge (308K) Figure 13. One of eight engraved plates illustrating microchemical reactions in Klément and Rénard's Reactions Microchimiques; A Cristaux et Leur Application en Analyse Qualitative (1886).