328 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE early twentieth century. Yet I wonder why the subject is treated in more detail than Arrhenius’s work in physical chemistry, which, after all, is generally recognized as his most important contribution to science. It is not quite clear what criteria Crawford has used to assign priority to the many fields of research cultivated by Arrhenius. How ever, for the greenhouse effect (whose basic theory Arrhenius devel oped in 1895) the reason is clear enough, namely, the great political and scientific interest that this effect has attracted during the last decades. The renewed interest in Arrhenius’s old work may be seen as a case of presentism, but Crawford’s account is no less valuable for that. Crawford’s biography, largely based on the rich archival sources located in Sweden, is skillfully researched and documented. Arrheni us’s scientific work is competently discussed, if in words only (there are places where a few simple equations might have helped). In spite of its scholarly merits and wealth of detail, the book makes no heavy reading but can be read almost as a novel, full of life and drama. Crawford is a specialist in fin-de-siecle social history of science and a pioneer in the use of the Nobel archives. I found particularly inter esting her insightful account of Arrhenius’s deep engagement in science policy, his tireless work as a missionary for his own ideas, and, not least, his political activity within the complex world of the Nobel system. The qualities of Crawford’s book are undeniable, and it deserves a wide readership. Because of Arrhenius’s wide-ranging interests, the book is equally valuable for historians of the physical, biological, and ecological sciences, and it is as well an important document in the history of science policy in the early part of the century. Still, with a text of less than 250 pages it is relatively brief and falls short of a complete biography. One wonders why Crawford did not extend her study and produce a fuller biography of Arrhe nius. What we have is clearly the best account of the Swedish scien tist’s life and work so far, but it is not quite the biography of Svante Arrhenius that it could have been. Helge Kragh Dr. Kragh is professor in the History of Science Department, Aarhus University, Denmark. His current research is on the history of physics and cosmology in the twentieth century. Crusadingfor Chemistry: The Professional Career of Charles Holmes Herty. By Germaine M. Reed. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995. Pp. xiii+474; notes, bibliography, index. $45.00 (cloth). Driven, talented, and an extraordinary networker, Charles Holmes Herty (1867-1938) emerged as a leader in chemistry and the chemical industry in the early-twentieth-century United States. TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 329 Although Germaine Reed has not developed an explicit historio graphic argument, she notes that the story of Herty’s life is relevant to studies of the southern economy, national economic policy, and scientific education and research—all topics falling within the pur view of historians of technology (pp. 368-69). A native Georgian, Herty pursued several careers during his long and productive life. He trained as a chemist and received his Ph.D. in 1890 under the renowned Ira Remsen at the Johns Hopkins Uni versity. Earning a solid reputation as a professor at the University of Georgia and the University of North Carolina, Herty also held important university posts and gained administrative experience (no less significant for the university, perhaps, was his leading role in initiating organized football on the Georgia campus). In 1899-1900, Herty spent a postdoctoral year in Germany attending lectures, where he acquired the idea to focus attention on the damaging way the southern turpentine industry harvested its product from pine trees. After systematic experimention, Herty patented and then com mercialized a ceramic “cup and gutter” to collect the crude turpen tine without permanently harming the trees, which earned a substan tial supplement to his meager academic wages. Throughout his life, Herty continued to concentrate on practical applications of chemistry to industry—and not just through re search. The most pivotal...