meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Boring Books for Bedtime Readings to Help You Sleep

Principles of Chemistry, Reading 1

Boring Books for Bedtime Readings to Help You Sleep

Sharon Handy

Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.61.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2019

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tonight we read one of the great foundational works of science, Dmitry Mendeleev's "Principles of Chemistry." So groundbreaking. So informative. So perfectly, mind-numbingly dense in the way that only 19th century scientific tomes can be. It's the perfect formula for sleep.

All Boring Books readings are taken from works in the public domain. If you'd like to suggest a copyright-free reading, catch us on Twitter @boringbookspod or on our Patreon at www.patreon.com/boringbookspod, where you can also support us (and earn yourself a very calming shoutout on the show). Enjoy!

Music: "Exit Exit" by PCIII (freemusicarchive.org), licensed under CC BY

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Good evening and welcome to boring books for bedtime. I hope tonight's installment provides all the boredom your busy brain needs to quiet down and let you get some sleep for once.

0:17.0

So lie back, adjust your volume, take a nice deep breath, and off we go.

0:27.0

Tonight will be relaxing to one of the great works of science.

0:32.0

It's the principles of science. It's the Principles of Chemistry by Dimitri Mendelaeuf, translated from the Russian

0:40.5

by George Cominsky, ARS M, of the Imperial Mint, St. Petersburg,

0:48.0

member of the Russian Physico Chemical Society.

0:52.0

edited by T.A. Lawson. B.S.C.

0:57.0

P.D.

0:59.0

Examiner in Koltar Products to the City and Guild of London, Institute Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry.

1:09.0

Published by Longman's Green and Co, 39 Paternoster Row, London, New York, and Bombay, 1897,

1:21.6

in two volumes. Volume 1, preface to the English translation. The first English

1:30.8

edition of this work was published in 1891 and that a second edition is now called for is we think a sufficient proof that the enthusiasm of the author for his science and the philosophical method of his teaching have been duly appreciated by English chemists.

1:51.0

In the scientific work to which Professor Mendelayev's life has been devoted, his

1:57.3

continual endeavor has been to bring the scattered facts of chemistry within the domain of law. And accordingly in his teaching he

2:06.6

endeavors to impress upon the student the principles of the science, the

2:12.0

generalizations so far as they have been discovered, under which the facts naturally

2:17.7

group themselves.

2:20.7

Of those generalizations, the periodic law is perhaps the most important that has been put forward since the establishment of the atomic theory.

2:31.0

It is therefore interesting to note that Professor Mendelaeuf was led to its discovery in preparing

2:38.0

the first Russian edition of this book.

2:41.0

It is natural too that the further application and development of that generalization

2:46.8

should be the principal feature of this, the latest edition.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sharon Handy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Sharon Handy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.