1
BOOK REVIEWS familiar, such as Mercurochrome and Merthiolate, and will read of the origins of chemotherapy in Ehrlioh's development of arsenieala. Other interesting applications of organometallic compounds diecueaed here include the use of tridkyltin compounds for permanent antisepsis of hoapital mattreaees, blankets, and pillows; the use of silicone stopcock grease, silicone oil for heating hatha, silicone protective oream for the hands, tetramethylsilane as an NMR standard, silicone elastomers in gaskets for high-altitude sircraft, and silicone polymers as waterrepellent 6hns and "abhesive" agents; and the use of tetraethyllead and tetramethylled as antiknock agents. The 6nal chapter is devoted to Literature Sonrcea. The author is to be commended for conceivinr that one of the ~m o s ~useful t h i n e he could du in a book of thia kind is tu head the reader toward the library. This little book written by an authority on the subject is another Reinhold paperback, intended to serve as a mpplement to any standard text in a general ohemistry course. After teachers have read it and have hsd their students read it, they may decide that parts of it could well supplant some of the material now found in textbooks. The textbook revolution has certainly not yet run its full course, and there can be little doubt that new texts and new editions will reflect the influence
..
A68
/
~~
~~
Journol of Chernicol Educotion
of the paperback supplements provided by thia and other series. LAWRENCE P. EBLIN Ohio Uniuwsity
Athens Advancer in Organorneiallic Chamisfry. Volume 1
Edited by F. G. A. St-, University of Bristol, England, and Robert Wmt, University of Wisconsin, Madison. xi 334 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 om. $11.
+
This hook is the first volume of a new annual series that adds to the growing collected literature of orgrtnometallic chemistry. Prior to this date review articles dealing with this area of chemistry were scattered throughout the journal and hard-cover review litersture. Reviews dealing with organometallic chemistry were found in bath inorganic and organic review series and in even more speoialiaed review volumes. An attempt to collect a t least most of them in one place is a service to those active in the field. One may, however, question whether the present series is the best way of accomplishing this purpose. A hard cover multi-author volume of this type has two major drawbacks: first of all, it is rather expensive (the price of volume 2 is already up to $15!); secondly, one is forced to buy a t least several articles which are of no or of littleinterest to him along with the one or two which he really wants in his files.
The many review series which the various publishers, with their eyes on the continually growing captive market of technical libraries, have seen fit to launch have resulted already in much wasteful duplication of effort. This new series, even in its first volume, has examples of this. Thus, the excellent article by H. C. Clark on Perfluoroalkyl Derivatives of the ElemenLq in "Advances in Fluorine Chemistry, Volume 3" (1963) is duplicated by fully one half of "Fluorocsrbon Derive tives of the Metals" (which also is an excellent summary), by P. M. Treichel and F. G. A. Stone in this volume. This is especially to be deplored since Aoademic Press, which is especially notorious for its " series, "Advances in publishes both the Organometallic and Fluorine Chemistry series. Less serious but still apparent is the overlap between Infrared and Raman Spectral Studies of r Complexes Formed between Met& and Rings by H. P. Fritz (this volume) and Use of Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy in the Study of Organometallic Compounds by H. D. Kaesz in "Progress in Solid State Chemistry, Volume 1." The present volume also contains an excellent article on Diene-Iron Carbonyl Complexes and Related Species (R. Pettit and G. F. Emerson), a useful summary of Reactions of Organotiu Hydrides (H. G. Kuivila), and &o summaries of the more or less personal researches in rather narrow fields by H. Gilman (Organic Substituted Cyclosilrtnes, with G. L. Schwebke) and R. Fuson (Conjugate (Catinued a page A70)
BOOK REVIEWS Addition of Grignard Reagents). The latter is pure organic chemistry and would have made a greater contribution if it had been published in an organic chemistry review series.
the positive ion, analytical methods, dloys, and compounds of bismuth with special emphasis on the selenides and tellurides. This volume, together with the one being prepared on phosphorus, completes the treatment of elementa of the fifth period.
J. V. D.
Massachusetls Institute of Technology Cambridge
Quantitative Analysis Gmelins Handbuch der Anorganischen Chemie. 8. Auflage, System Nummer 19, Wismut
Edited by E. H. E. Pielsch and the Gnelin Institute. Verlag Chemie, GMBH, Weinheim, Bergstrasse, 1964. lviii 806 pp. Figs.and tables. 17.5 X 25.5 cm. $163.
+
This supplement volume on bismuth features a detailed discussion of the ocrmrrenoe of the element and includes sections on geochemistry, economic geogand toxicity. These raphy, mine& aspects were wvered only briefly in the bismuth volume which appeared in 1927. Other major sections, which survey the literature through 1960, deal with the preparation and manufacture of the element, isotopes, properties of the atom and ions of bismuth, phyaical properties, electmchemical behavior, chemical reaotions of the metal, chemical reactions of
A70
/
Journal of Chemical Education
Paul E. Mem'lt, State University College at Potsdam, New York. D. C. Heath and Co., Boston, 1964. viii 343 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 24 cm. $5.95.
+
This text consists of four major parts: a general introduction and technique section, volumetric analysis, gravimetric analysis, and an introduction to inatmmental methods. It contains more than thirty experiments, fully representing these sections. The chapters on principles are clearly and briefly written, and many numerical problems have been provided. The three chapters on spectropbotometry are outetandii in the section on instmmental methods of analysis. The work ea a whole presents its subject in an uncomplicated, unsophieticated lieht. I t convevs the main ideas of auantsative ohemistw without anv of thk deto tbee!T&ive w of tail which $e&tid the auhject. Perbape for a certain type of student the brevity of diacuaaion and
simplicity can be justi6ed. However, for the prospective scientist, in particular the chemietry major, this approach may he criticized for two m o m . First, it doea not give an adequate background in quantitative technique to which a student can refer at a future t h e of need. Ae examples, the following questions are not touched upon in this text: How does the normality of a solution change with temperature? How does one calibrate a pipet? What is a vacuum weight and how is it determined? What precision or accuracy can be expected of a given procedure? The discussions of the experiments are usually undocumented and too brief to serve as references. Secondly, this text offers little challenge to the student. I t does not au5ciently encourage the development of laboratory technique, the compreheasian of the detailed chemistry of the various experiments, or the me of the scientific literature. The preface to this text does not tell us to what kind of student it is directed or what is the objective of the wurse i t outlines. Theae two points are especially important in the present case, because, in the reviewer's opinion, this book is not equally well suited for all the atudents a t various levela of development who now take courses in qwntittttive adysis. It can he rewmmended only for a short course or for students with very limited objectives.
J. W. COLUT Ohw State University Colurnbvs
