Natural and Synthetic Waxes A compilation of all relevant information for the production and use of waxes in technical applications Waxes are among the oldest organic substances used by mankind. Before all others, beeswax is known to have played a role in human history for thousands of years. But over time, many other wax species have been detected and exploited, and prepared for different utilizations. Today, we possess knowledge of a great variety of different types of waxes. Unfortunately, there still is no broadly accepted definition of a wax: for the relatively few wax chemists, waxes are usually defined by their physico-chemical properties more than by their chemical constitution. Waxes are not uniform but oligomeric and polymeric substances, not simply describable with a chemical formula. The realm of waxes encompasses fully or partly natural, refined, partly or fully synthetic products, which can be extended by “wax-like” products which do not fulfil all definition criteria. Waxes are offered in different forms like pellets, granules, powders, or micropowders. Their number of technical applications runs into thousands. However, waxes in most cases are just adjuvants or additives, and with few exceptions like candles not known to a broader public. Only few publications over the last decades tried to present a more comprehensive overview of heir chemistry, chemical composition, their physical and analytical properties, their applications, and their sometimes astonishing history. Based on personal experience and expertise, the authors intend to present an overview on the main classes of waxes, their origin, history, future, and potential fate. Economical aspects like market size and development, ecological impacts and challenges, and regulatory issues are also addressed. Waxes are indispensable products in everyday life and in industry and technology, though mostly not even visible or distinguishable to experts. They deserve more than the role of a “poor cousin” in chemistry and technology.
The papers in this volume of Ernst Cassirer's unpublished works give insight into the major issues that engaged Cassirer's interest between 1935 and 1945. The book begins with his inaugural address at the University of Göteborg, Sweden, in the first years of his exile from Hitler's Germany, and ends with a talk to the Columbia Philosophy Club. The note that introduces this piece was written on the day of his death. In his long and productive career, Ernst Cassirer always tried to integrate his works of original philosophy and studies in intellectual history into a general understanding of the nature of myth, culture, and symbol. These essays show that his interest persisted to the end. His piece on Judaism and political myths is perhaps the most dramatic in this collection, as it blends philosophical coolness with his deeply felt outrage at fascism. Best known in this country for The Myth of the State, The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, and An Essay on Man, Ernst Cassirer has been read and studied by generations of students. In this book they will find illuminations, in a more informal voice, of the major themes in Cassirer's work. New readers will be introduced to the great issues that occupied the interest of one of the twentieth century's most widely read philosophers. "A genuine contribution to the history of modern philosophy - and of special value to the informed general reader, since it includes a number of valid attempts by Cassirer to translate his radical, sometimes difficult, concepts of culture into non-technical terms." -- The Booklist
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