ABSTRACT
Prompted by the need to calculate molecular weights for many of his organic compounds, Victor Meyer developed new techniques for determining molecular weight by means of vapor densities at high temperatures. Meyer noted that according to his theory, the heat of combustion for cyclohexane would be exactly half that of cyclopropane, and all rings larger than three carbon atoms would have approximately equal strain energy. Meyer's most extended foray into 'chemistry in space' would derive from the study of the reactivity of hydroxylamine with compounds containing carbonyl groups. In Meyer's hands, hydroxylamine became a definitive test of chemical structure that indicated unequivocally the existence of a ketone group in a compound's structure. In this theoretical paper 'On Carbon's Valence and its Bonding Ability', Meyer attempted to form a vague idea of the nature of valence by studying the limitations on the carbon atom's bonding ability.
