465
NEW BOOKS
hydrogen atom is omitted from the structural formula for pentose on page 65. The printing and make-up of the book are excellent. The author is to be commended for the clarity and conciseness of his final chapter on the micellar structure of cellulose. This difficult subject is excellently presented in the light of modern colloidal theory. Here is a book which should be in the library of all those interested in this important industrial raw material. RALPHE. MOKTONNA. Abridged Scientzfic Publications from the Kodak Research Laboratories, Volume XXIII. 64 x 9! in.; 290 pp. Rochester, Yew York: Eastman Kodak Company, 1942. Abridged accounts of thirty-five publications (Nos. 754 to 820 not continuous) are presented in this volume, which includes many papers of unusual scientific interest. S. C. LIND.
+
276 pp.; Mass-Spectra and Isotopes. By F. W. ASTON. Second edition. 54 x 9 in.; xii 12 plates; 20 tables; 48 figures. London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1942. Price: $7.00. The first edition under this title appeared in 1933, replacing the two earlier editions of Isotopes. The present is not greatly changed from the first edition. A few sections have been added, three in the chapter on “Measurements of Abundance,” including descriptions of the Smythe and Mattauch and of the Nier mass spectrometers and a section on chemical analysis by the mass spectrometer. Part 111, on “The Elements and their Isotopes,” has been extended to embrace all the elements in their natural order. It presents the whole of the evidence on which the first International Table of Stable Isotopes was drawn up in 1936 and the later work. Rarely does one have the opportunity of having a complete survey of a field so fundamental to both chemistry and physics by the investigator most responsible for its initiation and completion. The work remains classic and indispensable. Unfortunately, the influence of the War is reflected in the quality of paper and the price of the present edition. S. C. LIND.
Elementary Physical Chemistry. BYMERLE RANDALL AND LEONA ESTHERYOUNG. 6 x 9 in.; xiv 455 pp,; 279 illustrations. Berkeley, California: Randall and Sons, 1942. Price $4.50. This survey of classical physical chemistry is intended primarily as a text for secondor third-year college students, especially in preparation for the study of thermodynamics. It is also recommended to graduate students who wish to review the field of physical chemist r y and a8 a reference text. The book is a photolithic reproduction from the Stanford University Press. It is replete with tables and figures well reproduced. It treats the usual topics covered in elementary texts in a very refreshing and vivid manner, and with the inclusion of an unusually large amount of thermodynamics. S. C. LIND.
+
Manual of Explosives, Milztary Pyrotechnics and Chemical Warfare Agents. By JULES BEBIE. 6 x 9 in.; xiii 171 pp. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1943. Price $2.50. This handy little volume will fill a long-felt need for all those people who deal with explosives or with the literature of explosives. The use of trade names and unscientific nomenclature in explosives literature and advertising, and the fact that most commercial and military explosives as used are mixtures of several different chemical species have resulted in a good deal of confusion which this book will do much to clarify. It will also serve as a handy manual for quickly finding the principal properties of given explosives. The work is fairly complete and up-to-date with the exception of a very few of the newer explosive mixtures used in World War I1 which have not yet appeared in the literature. It
+