Vopreki slozhivsheysya traditsii izlagat' istoriyu nauki kak istoriyu idey i teoriy avtor iz GDR V. Shtrube dayet original'nuyu traktovku razvitiya nauki: on stremitsya pokazat', kak otkrytiya, izobreteniya, nakopleniye novykh znaniy i stanovleniye nauchnoy khimii sposobstvovali razvitiyu obshchestva. V dannom tome rassmatrivayetsya razvitiye khimii v period ot promyshlennoy revolyutsii do nachala XX v. Dlya shirokogo kruga chitateley. V etoy knige, po sushchestvu, vpervyye v mirovoy istoriko-khimicheskoy literature khod razvitiya khimicheskikh teoriy rassmatrivayetsya v tesnoy svyazi s raznoobraznym primeneniyem ikh v laboratornoy, remeslennoy i promyshlennoy praktike.