J. DONAU (1877-1960)

Dr. Julius F. Donau's Die Arbeitsmethoden der Mikrochemie....[Donau, Julius (1913)] was published in 1913.  This book (Figure 19) constituted Volume IX of a more comprehensive Handbook der mikroskopischen Technik, published by the editors of Mikrokosmos.  The first part of this slim book is devoted to qualitative microchemistry, and the second part introduces quantitative methods.

click image to enlarge (153K) Figure 19. Front cover of Julius Donau's Die Arbeitsmethoden der Mikrochemie (1913).

FRIEDRICH EMICH (1860-1940)

In his rectoral address at the Technical University in Graz, Austria in 1899, Emich described his philosophy of working with milligram amounts of material.  He started with qualitative techniques for both inorganic and organic microanalysis.  He developed new micro­crystal tests conducted on microscope slides, developed fiber tests for nanogram amounts of acid, alkali, boron, and sulfide, and developed the techniques for working in glass capillaries, not only for identification, but for the preparation of organic compounds.

He improved techniques for working in capillary cones, elementary tests for organic compounds, fractional distillation, boiling point determination, and many other techniques which today go under the name of his co-workers only. Emich's main interest, however, was in quantitative microanalysis.  His gravimetric procedures with milligram amounts of material, using newly developed micro-balances, were shown to be as reliable as macro-procedures. He is today recognized as the founder of quantitative microanalysis—both inorganic and organic; however, the Nobel Prize would be awarded to F. Pregl, who adopted Emich's methods.

The first edition of Emich's Lehrbuch der Mikrochemie [Emich, F. (1911)], was published by Bergmann in Wiesbaden in 1911.  The second edition came out in 1926 [Emich, F. (1926)].  The first edition of Emich's Mikrochemisches Praktikum [Emich, F. (1924)], was published in 1924, with a second edition in 1931 [Emich, F. (1931)].

H. BEHRENS AND P.D.C. KLEY

1915 was a memorable year in microchemistry, because Behrens and Kley published their book on organic qualitative microanalysis, and Chamot published the first book version of his text on chemical microscopy.  Let us start by going back to before the turn of the century, when young Émile Chamot first went to Delft and met Behrens.  As it turned out, Behrens at the time was providing his new assistant, P.D.C. Kley (Figure 20), with detailed instruction in inorganic qualitative microscopical analysis, and Chamot was fortunate in being included in the instruction.  On leaving Behrens, Chamot asked how he might repay the valuable instruction, and was told by Behrens to start courses in this field in America. Kley stayed on as Behrens' assistant, and together they authored the Organische mikrochemische Analyse [Behrens, H. and P.D.C. Kley (1915)], which was published by Voss in Leipzig in 1915.  Several other editions followed, the fourth edition appearing in 1921/1922. This fourth edition was translated into English by Richard E. Stevens, and published in 1969 [Behrens, H. and P.D.C. Kley (1969)].

click image to enlarge (137K) Figure 20. P.D.C. Kley, Prof. Behren's assistant, at the microchemical bench in Delft. Cropped section of portrait in McCrone Research Institute Museum.

Also published in 1915 was Kley’s Part 2 of Behrens-Kley Mikrochemische Analyse (Figure 21 and Figure 22), a series of Tables for the systematic determination of minerals using microchemistry and physical constants [P.D.C. Kley (1915)].

click image to enlarge (230K) Figure 21. Cover of P.D.C. Kley’s Mikrochemische Analyse, Part 2 (1915).

click image to enlarge (77K) Figure 22. Title page of P.D.C. Kley’s Tabellen zum systematischen Bestimmung der Mineralien (1915), Part 2 of Behrens-Kley Mikrochemische Analyse.