Burton Grammar School » Text Books

Elementary Calculations in Chemistry

admin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:00:41 +0000

I can certainly remember ‘Elementary Calculations in CHEMISTRY’ by J.C. Mathews and was delighted to get hold of a copy.

Chapters were:

I – Molecular Weight and Percentage Composition
II – Formulae from Composition
III – Reacting weights
IV – Boyle’s and Charles’ Laws
V – Gram Molecular Volume
VI – Reacting Volumes of Gases
VII – Vapour Density and Molecular Weights
VIII – Diffusion of Gases
IX – Equivalent Weights of Elements
X – Atomic Weights
XI – The Law of Multiple Proportions
XII – Equivalent Weights of Acids and Bases
XIII – Volumetriv Analysis
XIV – Electrolysis
XV – Solubility
XVI – Revision Exercises 1,2,3

Obligingly, this being well before the introduction of the electronic calculator, at the back of the book were Logarithm and Anti-Logarithm tables!

The following page extracts provide a tantilizing glimpse into the past; somehow, they don’t seem to be anything like as fearsome as they seemed at the time…

Practical Physics

admin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:15:47 +0000

Practical Physics has a double significance with Burton Grammar School. Firstly because it was used by those who took ‘A’ Level Practical Physics in the Sixth Form during the 1960s, and secondly, because the author was Ezra Somekh who taught Physics at the school from 1956 to 1967.

The book contained a number of novel experiments that Ezra himself had designed and it became a widely used text book. Mr Somekh, partly due to the success of the book, eventually, became a chief A-Level examiner.

Bond Street 1900 Textbooks

admin — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:50:58 +0000

The following text books were in use in 1900. Tantilizingly, some of these books are still obtainable from book collector websites.

Maths
A Treatise on Arithmetic – James Hamblin Smith
Exercises in Algebra – James Hamblin Smith (Later re-published by Hall and Knight).
Euclid – Isaac Todhunter (Euclid was still fashionable to be eventually replaced by general geometry).
Elementary Trigonometry – Hall and Knight
Differential and Integral Calculus - J. Edwards

Science
The Elements of Statics and Dynamics I & II (Mechanics) – S.L. Loney
Heat for Advanced Students – Edwin Edser
Modern Chemistry (!) – Henry Roscoe

Other
French – Chardenal for Grammar and Sentences. Set books for Cambridge Local.
Latin – Kennedy’s Latin Primer, Caesar to Division III. Gepp’s Latin Prose. Vergil, Ovid and Cicero for Divisions I and II.
English – West’s Grammar. Verity’s Texts for Shakespeare.
History – Ransome.
Geography – Longman’s series for political and physical geography.