Developing Concepts 79

an important first step to productive understanding . Al-

fred North Whitehead has aptly called it the :

'...
σε
halfway house between the immediate concrete-
ness of the individual thing and the abstraction of
mathematical notion ."3

Once observed facts have been described and classified ,

they are vulnerable to the attack of an inquiring and
imaginative mind which proposes concepts by postulation .
These , in turn , lead to hypotheses which can be explored

Table 6-1
THE CLASSICAL UNIT OPERATIONS

Absorption Filtration
Adsorption Flow of Fluids
Conveying Flow of Heat
Crushing and Grinding Humidification and
Crystallization Dehumidification
Distillation Mechanical Separation
Drying Mixing
Evaporation Size Separation
Extraction and Leaching

Table 6-2
TYPICAL UNIT ORGANIC PROCESSES

Alkylation Hydrolysis
Amination Isomerization
Combustion Nitration
Esterification Oxidation
Fermentation Polymerization
Halogenation Sulfonation
Hydrogenation

3
Alfred North Whitehead , Science and the Modern World ,
Lowell Lectures 1925 , The Macmillan Company , New York , p .
43 , 1941 .