Includes bibliographical references (p. 314-326) and index.

Part 1. Chemical futures. The case of the poisonous socks ; Taste, smell and flavour ; Tales of Hofmann ; Liebig on toast ; The future of research at the Royal Institution (London) and the Smithsonian Institution (Washington) ; The future of chemistry in 1901 ; The Alchemical Society, 1912-1915 -- Part 2. Organizing chemistry. Putting the "S" in the "Three R's" ; The London Chemical Society, 1824 ; The state of chemistry in Britain in 1846 ; The laboratory before and after Liebig ; The chemical origins of practical physics ; Chemical algebra ; The B-Club ; Chemistry by discovery in a phrase --

Part 3. A cluster of chemists. Amedeo Avogadro ; Liebig and Wohler : creating a path through the dark province of organic nature ; August Kekule (1829-1896) : theoretical chemist ; The Don Quixote of chemistry : Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie (1817-1880) ; The epistle of Henry the chemist ; He knew he was right : Fritz Haber ; J.R. Partington (1886-1965) : physical chemistry in deed and word ; Henry Crookes, founder of Crookes Laboratories ; A life of magic chemistry -- Part 4. Women chemists. Women in alchemy and chemistry ; Teaching chemistry to women ; Musical affinities ; Edith Hilda Usherwood (1898-1988) and the Ingold Partnership --

Part 5. Chemical books and journals. The fate of eponymous chemical journals ; The lamp of learning : Richard Taylor and the textbook ; "The greatest work which England has ever produced" : Henry Watts and the Dictionary of Chemistry ; Chemistry in the aquarium ; Insurance chemistry ; Math for chemists ; The chemistry of pottery ; Baker's dozens -- Part 6. Lost to chemistry. They also ran ; Who was Crookes's musician-chemist? ; The chemist from Hanwell Asylum ; George Du Maurier (1834-1896) ; Sir Stafford Cripps ; The chemist as novelist : the case of C.P. Snow.

A collection of essays containing 42 tales of chemists and their discoveries from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

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