BOOK REVIEWS gineers) in fields other than chemistry or chemical engineering. The author feels that these people need to know some ohemistry in order to use intelligently the materials with which they deal, but they usually are not able to take a complete course. Elementary industrial chemistry is thus the main topic of the book. Three short chapters on organic chemistry are first given since so many engineering materials are of this type. Next, the uses and manufacture of solid, liquid, and gaseous oarhonaceaus fuels are discussed as well as nuclear fuel for power. Other materials such as lubricants, antifreeze, plastics, protective coatings, and explosives each have chapten !overing them. Electrochemistry, corrosion, ss well as air and water pollution and purification are also discussed. The hook is very qualitative and descriptive in nature. A wide collection of miscellaneous information is given, but because of the breadth of coverage it is necessarily very shallow. References for further reading are listed for most chapters, but some chapters have very few or none at dl. This is a serious omission since additional i~formationwould usually be needed in order to understand a topic in any detail. Lighter reading is provided throughout the text by the author's fondness for poetry; as an example: Johnny, finding life a bore, Drank some H d 0 4 . Jobnnv's father. an M.D.. Fed hl'm C ~ C O ~ ' . John is neutralized, it's true, But he's full of COz! In summary, the book provides descriptive information on a. wide vaziety of engineering materials. I t would not be very helpful (and was not intended) for a chemist or chemioal engineer's personal reading, but could be useful for teaching elementary industrial chemistry to other engineers. KENNETH B. BISCHOFF Univevsity of Tezas Austin
A History of Chemistry
Charles-Albert Reichen. Translated by Robert N . Milligan. Hawthorn Books, Inc., New York, 1963. 110 pp. Figs. and tables. 17 X 26.5 cm. 55.95. This is the tenth in a 12-volume series. The New Illustrated Library of Science and Invention, each volume being devoted to a particular branch of science or technology. These are not text books hut are intended for the general reader, including of course students and their teachers. The author has covered the entire span of chemical history in the farm of a continuous narrative; the appended chronological table extends from 3500 B.C. to 1962. The long list of credits and sources reveals to some degree the amount of preparation that preceded the miting of the text. The style is clear and fluid,
A240 / Journal o f Chemical Educofion
sometimes bordering on journalese, but the author never under- or overestimates the chemical knowledge of the circle^ for whom the book is intended. He hits skillfully compressed a vast amount of material into a comparatively small volume though this process of compression has necessit~ted certain omissions that may offend some readers. The facts are accurately stated and the hook can he recommended for private, public, and school libraries. There is now a pronounced trend among publishers to put out brilliantly designed science hooks that serve to counteract the flood of cheap pocket books. This reviewer has never seen a. more attractive volume on the history of chemistry. There are more than fifty pages of photographs, paintings, diagrams, and drawings, about half of them in full color. The art work is superb and combined with the excellent text the result is a beautiful picture-essay. This is truly a book for eujoyahle reading and examination. I t would serve admirably for holiday and anniversary giving and furthermore the price is moderate. RALPHE. OESPER University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio
Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours
Robert Boyle. A Facsimile of the 1664 sdition with a new introduction by Dr. Marie Boas Hill, Imperial College of Science and Technology. The Sources of Science. Johnson Reprint 423 Corp., New York, 1964. xxvi pp. 11.5 X 18.5 em. 512.50.
+
This colleetian of essays o n culor was an important book and went through a number of editions in English and Latin. I t is based largely on experiments devised by Boyle and his comments on the findings. Obviously much of the text deals with physical matters. From the chemical standpoint its chief interest is the discussion of plant juices as acid-base indicators, a use (though not original with him) that had never before been sa widely applied or developed to such an extent. Throueh this means he not only showed that tl%e color reactions could be employed to distinguish between acids and bases, or between acidic and alkaline compounds, hut he also proved that same substances were neither acid nor alkali, an important step since it was widely believed "that all mbstrtnces were either acid or alkaline and that all chemical reactions were acid-alkaline neutralizations!' Bayle also differentbted between "vegetable" and "animal" alkalis (earbanates and ammoniacal compounds, respectively) through the color of the precipitate obtained by reaction with a solution of mercuric chloride. The Introduction by Marie Boas Hall adds much to the pleasure and value of the reprinted 1664 text. The latter is reproduced in facsimile and hence the reader may be bothered at first by the (Continued on page AB48)
