A deputation of your Association has told me that many school teachers find it a little difficult to get any considerable discussion of valency or the electronic formulae of compounds in the ordinary textbooks of chemistry. This applies to books like those of Newth, Alexander Smith, and Partington, which have been recommended from time to time for the Leaving Certificate course. There are, however, other books dealing more in detail with valency which can be recommended, such as Sidgwick : " The Electronic Conception of Valency " (Oxford University Press) and Butler: "The Chemical Elements and Their Compounds" (Macmillan). Besides these books there has been a great deal done in recent years to advance the subject of Valency. Sugden's book "The Parachor and Valency" (Routledge) would appeal to most teachers . Also the "Discussion on the Structure of Simple Molecules " at the British Association in 1931 is published with some other interesting discussions in a volume entitled " Chemistry at the Centenary" (1931) Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science " (Heffcr & Sons, Cambridge, 1932). In this latter volume there is a paper by Professor R. H. Fowler which shows what a change has taken place in the idea of valency as held by physicists.
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