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WATER BACTERIOLOGY: WITH SPECIALREPERMCE TO SANITARY WATER ANALYSIS
S. C. Prescott, Professor Emeritus and formerly Head of the Department of Biology and Dean of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; C. E. A. Winslow, Professor Emeritus, Yale University, and M a c H. McCradv. Chief, Division of Laboratories, Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Sixth Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1946. xiv 368 pp. 121 tables. 14 X 20 cm. $4.50.
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E~cn EDITION of this work, since the m i t d "Elements of Water Bacteriology" in 1904, has presented an outstanding, critical summary of research and practice in sanitary water analysis. It has been 15 years since the last, the fifth edition, appeared. Water purification and sewage disposal methods have improved greatly in this interval, but new conditions have appeared everywhere that make necessary more exacting standards of water quality control. The sixth edition of "Water Bacteriology" is greatly needed. Within the limits of the published literature and aecessihle reports it is a complete book and a most useful one for ohemists, sanitary engineers, bacteriologists, and public health officers concerned with Problems of m.ater supply, especially to the relatively large group of technical men who will take up this work in the next few years. There is no other current single source book in this speoialiaed field. A feature that American sanitary chemists and bacteriologists will 6nd of special value is the very comprehensive review of English methods and research. Much of this was inacc6ssible during the war. There is an obvious lag in American reports, due in large part to the restrictions placed upon publicrttions from various state and municipal health departments in this country. I t is evident, however, that the authors did not have access to the fine work on water disinfection that has been carried on in American universities under Committee of Medical Research contracts or to the Army and Navy investigations in the same fields. Nothing is said of the recent works on amebic dysentery and on infectious hepatitis as waterho,rne diseases, though these promise to influence the future design of water treatment. Sections that active sanitary bacteriologists will find most useful are the discussions of new media, developments in most prohable number theory, the background for the new standards for drinking water, the improved methods for examination of shellfish, and indices of swimming pool sanitation. There is also an excellent critical treatment of the relations between chemical analyses of polluted waters and bacteriological findings that should he read by praotical worken with conservative views of the coliform index. Normally, technical books of this degree of specialization are used in fragments. Like previous editions, this one will undoubtedly take a commanding plaee on the reference shelf. There is, however, a uniquely coherent quality to "Water Bacteriology" that makes i t represent a working viewpoint of the subject. This grows largely from the authors' long experience in the field, and their willingness to explain fully the historical background of each development. To do this excellent feature justice, the book should be read through before it goes up on the shelf. CHARLES E. RENN
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THE CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF LIGHT
E. I. Brown, F.R.S., Fellow of University College, Oxford. Second Edition. CLerendon Press, Oxford, 1946. 3M) pp. 59 figs. 13.5 X 22 cm. $5.00. THETITLE of this book implies that the subject matter is photochemistry, but i t is stated in the preface that the aim is "to present modern ideas of matter and light as far as possible in a nonmathematical form." Chapter headings are: Light as Waves, Light and Light Sources, The Absorption and Emission of Light, Spectra, The Transformation of Absorbed Radiation. Fluorescence, The Luminescence of Solids, Photochemiertl Reactions, Photosynthesis in Plants, The Photographic Process, The Reactions of the Eye to Light, Phota-cells, Chemiluminescence. I n fairness to the author i t should also be said that he states in the prefeoe that the book is "intended t o supplement rather than to replace existing textbooks and articles!' I t is rather ss an introduction to the field of photochemistry that the book serves very well. The phenomena which are discussed are covered in an interesting though not very detailed manner; only a few references be given a t the end of the hook. Ten pages of very useful data are included a t the end of the text, together with several pages of experiments which demoustrate some ~hemiealactions of light. Students majoring ih chemistry and teaohen wishing an introduction to photochemistry should find the book of interest. ARTHUR A. VERNON NonramaTenN Ux~v~nar.rr Bosrorr, MAssAoaossma
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COLLOIDS: THEIRPROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS
A. G. Ward, M.A. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1946. viii 133 pp. 28 figs. 6 plates. 12 X 19 cm. $1.73.
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INWRITING this review I s m well aware of the following,words spoken by Benjamin Disraeli, E d of Beaconsfield, on January 24, 1860: "It is much easier t o he critical than t o be correct." The logical deduction therefrom is that a reviewer can very easily be critical if he can prove that he is correct. If the booklet under review had been written 25 years ago, it might have been considered a contribution worthy of consideretion, but this is not the case in 1946. I n the introduction we find the statement that the ultramicroscope reveals little concerning shape and size of colloidal particles. This is not surprising if one reads Chapter V, dealing with the experimental study of colloidd particles, The author is seemingly unaware of the development of ultramicroscopy since 1903, the use of the aeimuth stop, eto. I t would have been of far greater value to the colloid chemist t o elaborate on this chapter instead of writing a eulogy for the electron microscope. The discussion and illustrstion of electric charges is incomplete and outdated. The statement on p. 33, that the binding between mica sheets is weak. is wrong. I n the chapter on surfaee tension no reference can befonnd t o i h e drop weight, number, and pendant drop methods of determination. Although thixotropy and dilabnoy are discussed, a reference t o rheopexy is missing. has been outdated for ten The explanation offered for thixotropy yearn. What the author describes is not the production of crepe rub~
THEJOHN# EOPKKNB UNIYSB~ITY SOHOOLOP ENOIN~ERINB B ~ ~ m r oM n ~ n. r r . m o
JANUARY, 1947
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ber, hut smoked sheet. In discussing methods of latex concentration, no reference ir made to rvapumtion (Revertex proress) which h hased on thc additim of pn,t~etivecolloids and therefore is entitled at least to he listed in a text suooosedlv devoted to .. colloids. The discussion of the nature of rubber-like elasticity (pp. 86-8) needs revision. Racking of rubber resulting in loss of elasticity is not even mentioned. In montmorillonite (p. 111) it is not the silicon which is reolaced hv aluminum, but the latter by an ion of lower valency, e. g., magnesium. Finally. .. I should like to comment on the bibliography. The boob recommended by the author for those who wish to make a fuller study cannot he strictly classified as colloid chemical texb books. Those listed as elementary are either outdated or not specific colloid ohemieal texts, and the book written by the reviewer is certainly not zn advanced, but an elementary, text used in many first term courses in colleges in the United States.
MEN AT WORK Stuart Chase, in collaboration with Marion Tyler Chose. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1945. 146 pp. $2.00.
OP Stuart Chase, from acquaintance with his "TragREADERS edy of Waste,'' "Your Money's Worth," "Men and Machines," "Economy of Abundance," and other titles, expect his books to relate economics to human welfare. The volume under review is not a disappointment to that expectation. The reviewer first read "Men at Work" seeking an 'answer to the question, "Why do men work?" He found it in chapter two and that answer was, "not primarily for money." him with the A further oerusal of the book, however.. imoressed . pertinence of parts of it to the work of the teacher or supervisor in our public schools. Even the college he thought. - orofessor, . might read those parts with profit. The chapters on "Educating the Boss," "Show How," and ERNST A. HAUSER It ~ & i e rand Better" illitrate in a splendid way the basic "Do MASSACBDBETTS INBTITUT. O I TBCBNOLOB~. psychology of good teaching unencumbered by the vocabulary of C * ~ e n m o s .M n s s h c a a s a ~ ~ s the professional pedagogue. All persons concerned with teacher training should be required to read and reread the chapter on METHODS OF ANALYSIS (OFFIC~AL AND TENTA- "Educating the Boss." Every teacher in service would profit W E ) OF THE ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL AGRI- by a trial of some of the pithy suggestions in regard to "job inCULTURAL CHEMISTS struction" in the ohapter on " S h o ~How," and many directors of Edited by Henry A. Lepper, Chairman of the Editorial Board. instructional laboratories with their aver-population of G. 1,'s and revised by the following Committee on Editing Methods oi will find the chapter on "To DO It Easier and Better" pregnant Analysis: H.I. Fisher (Chairman), L. E. Warren, I. W. Sale, with suggestions of way8 of eliminating waste time, supplies, and W.H. Ross, W. F. Reindollar, and Marion Lapp Otis. Sixth human energy. Two other chapters, while not so speoifically pointed to the edition. Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, Washor laboratory, are, however, helpful to a fuller appreclassroom ington, D. C., 1945. xii 932 pp. 76 figs. 15.5 X 23 cm. ciation of the more general background of our school job. They $6.25. are entitled: "Why Men Work" and "Teams, Groups and INACCORDANCE with its custom of revising the "Official and Gangs." Tentative Methods of Analysis" every five years, the Revision The chapters on "Bigger Pie" (labor-management committees), Committee has now published this sixth edition which incorpo- "Same Bureaucrats Are Human," and "What TVA Means" rates the ohmges in methods and the additions adopted by the should have high priority for reading by all voting citiaens. Association at the 59th annual meetine: held in October. 1944. It is unorthodox to turn to an economic journ%list for help for This text has long been recognized as-the "Book of ~ e t h o d s " the teaching profession, but there are times when the "outsider" is actually more objective and therefore more helpful than the for those actively. enpa~ed - . in the analysis and examination of agricultural or related products and of many other commodities, "within-th-fold" educator. B. CLIFFORD HENDRICKS some of which are only slightly related to agricultural pursuits. Umvenamr or Naan*sa* In the 43 chapters devoted to analytical procedures we find in LINCOLN. N~BRASKI addition to such expected subjects as soils, fertilizers, insecticides, leathers, beverages, eereds, d,airy products, meat products, PHYSICAL METHODS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY waters, drugs, and the like, suoh unexpected subjects included as oosmetics, enzymes, dessert preparations, baking powders and Volume I. Arnold Weissberger, Eastman KodaL Company. chemicals, 6sh and marine products, vitamins, radioactivity, and Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1945. vii 736 pp. others. The chapters on "Extraneous Materidls in Foods and I$ X 23 om. $8.50. Drugs," "Gelatin, Dessert Preparations, and Mixes," and "CosUNDERTHE editorship of Arnold Weissberger, this volume is a metics" are new. The chaoter on vitamins has been meatlv - . exscientists from the United .. pmded and now includes in addition to biologioal asmy methods, collaboration of 27 other physical I t is a treatise on physical methods freStates and Canada. spectrophotometric, fluorometric, and chromatographic methods. quently used by the orkrtnic chemist on the graduate research In this revision changes have been introduced into nearly all of It is desirable to have such a volume because there is no level. the chapters and the number of pmes increased by ahout 175. secondary source for this type of information. Most chemists ~ s e k w i lwelcome l the chtLngefr& Roman numerals to Arabic previously have been forced to search periodicals for much of the numbers for chapter identification, and a decimal system of numbering the sections of each chapter. Each cross reference to information necessary to attack an organic chemical problem by an unfamiliar physical method. It was the specific object of the other parts of the book is now identified by a complete chaptereditor "to relieve the chemist of much of the burden of such a section decimal number. The book is well printed and appears adequately hound. This search." In this the editor has been successful, to say the least. revised text will be wanted far laboratory use and reference by Graduate students are likely to welcome this book enthusiall those engaged in the field of agricultural chemistry and its re- astically. The following chnpter headings will suggest the scope of the lated fields. first volume: Determination of ,Melting and Freezing TemperaW. W. RUSEELL tures, Boiling Temperatures, Density, Solubility, Viscosity, SurBmvm U ~ ~ v r ; n m r fnco Tension. Pxrachor. Properties of Monolayers and Duplex P a o v ~ o m o Raoon ~, ISLAN~ ~
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