Today a certain obscurity of reputation stems from the conspiracy of silence surrounding Frankland's origins: he was the illegitimate son of a distinguished lawyer. Frankland never gave interviews and posterity has had to guess about many of his activities. Recently, however, Professor Russell has gained access to a vast collection of his private papers, and has discovered several other major deposits, making the Frankland archive one of the largest collections of scientific papers to come to light in Britain this century. These have been fully examined in this new study which discloses, amongst much else, webs of conspiracy in the scientific community that demand a radical revision of the social history of Victorian science. Russell's authoritative and lively account of Frankland's achievements will be of great interest not only to professional chemists and historians of science, but also to general readers concerned with the social fabric of Victorian England.