Distant inference

This book has three interconnected strands. First, 1 wish to show how nineteenth-century chemists created a version of "transdiction" or distant inference to the microworld, one that was more powerful than any hitherto deployed. A second objective is to explore some of the mental and material techniques that enabled them to do this. It is obvious that one cannot convincingly achieve either of these historical goals without putting a good deal of scientific flesh on the skeleton, following many of the details in the story of how these chains of inference were gradually constructed and tested. So the present work... 

Comparison of Figs 13-6a and 13-6b clearly demonstrates the degree to which human activity has modified the cycle of sulfur, largely via an atmospheric pathway. The influence of this perturbation can be inferred, and in some cases measured, in reservoirs that are very distant from industrial activity. Ivanov (1983) estimates that the flux of sulfur down the Earth s rivers to the ocean has roughly doubled due to human activity. Included in Table 13-2 and Fig. 13-6 are fluxes to the hydrosphere and lithosphere, which leads us to these other important parts of the sulfur cycle. 

In summary, improper e-waste recycling operations are the major contributors of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds to the terrestrial environment in China [7]. The lower concentrations of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds at reference sites than at e-waste recycling sites suggest the likelihood for these chemicals to transport atmospherically from where they are generated to distant areas. We can also infer that dioxin and dioxin-like compounds initially derived from burning of e-waste can enter ambient air and dust and finally deposit into soil. This notion is supported by the significant positive correlation between the levels of PCDD/Fs in dust and soil samples from Taizhou. 

Distantly related plants, such as rose, jasmin, and lavender have quite independently gone down this road of complexity, based on different groups of chemical constituents. We may conclude, therefore, that complexity of odor has evolved as being the most effective way of evoking a desired response from an animal with the ability to smell and the ability to memorize odor. What is remarkable is that the particular combinations of materials that individual flowers produce to make up their fragrance have, to our own sense of smell, an identity far greater than a random mixture of as many ill-assorted chemicals. Perhaps we may infer from this, in view of the similarity of our receptor cells, that the balance of materials is as important to the olfactory mechanism of the bee as it is to our own in producing a sense of identity and aesthetic pleasure. 

Quaternization leads to two interesting reactions of C-alkyl-1,2,4-triazoles. The diagnostic value of condensations undergone by a C—Me group situated between two substituted N centres has been mentioned (see Section 4.12.3.2) another example is the determination of the reactive site of (127) that could yield (128) or (129) on tritylation (Scheme 44). Quaternization at the N most distant from the tritylated N-1 or N-2 occurs at N-4 to afford (130) or (131). As the compound obtained does not form a Schiff base, its correct structure is (130) from which (128) is inferred as structure of the trityltriazole (62jcs575). 

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