GENERAL CHEMISTRY
A. W. Laubengayer, Professor of Chemistry, Cornell University. Rinehart and Co., Ino., New York, Revisededition. 1957 xii 602 pp. 207 figs. 95 tables. 16 X 24 cm. $6.50.
+
STUDENTS who master this text will be prepared to continue their studies further in chemistry or related fields. The first three introductory chapters are followed by an elementary physical chemistry treatment of the usual topics, sixteen chapters, two of which treat hydrogen and oxygen. The remaining chapters are largely descriptive, with two on organic chemistry, and frequently refer to the material studied earlier. Chapter 36, on radioactivity, concludes the text. Recent developments are included. Far example, the lubricity of graphite is a t trihuted to water absorbed on the surface of the flakes. Although this reviewer prefers the converse order, empirical facts are, wually, related ta principles previously stated thus showing the relationship between fact and theory. The discerning student will learn, in this study, that chemistry is challenging. This text is superior in its emphasis on three dimensional structural chemistry. The appropriate illustrations, much improved over the previous edition, help to teach this important concept. Guided, perhaps, by the comments of the reviewer of the previous edition (THIS JOURNAL, 26, 684-5 (1949)) more space has been given to industrial preparations, and several illustrations, not always placed near the textual discussion, have been added. Most of the illustrations teach. Those that were specially prepared for this text by Mr. Felix Cooper are very well done. Other illustrations, obtained from various sources, are uneven in style and would have been better suited to the text had they been redrawn by Mr. Cooper. The chapters in this text are brief, but not abbreviated; well suited to the amount of attention that can be expected of a beginner. The style is somewhat dry in the sections dealing with desoriptive chemistry but always readable and, in the other sections, occasionally enjoyable as well. Several of the examples are well-chosen. Many of the exercises and problem, increased in number over the previous edition, are good; some require a review of principles treated in preceding chapters. There is only one reliable test for clarity -Use of the text in the classroom. However, it seem to this reviewer that the discussions in the text may not all be clear to the beginning student. In some cases the argument is interrupted by an extraneous paragraph, in others a needed transitional statement is lacking. Occasionally the order of presentation is awkward, first things are placed second, or third. I n the hands of an experienced teacher this need not be a disadvantage, but the beginning instructor would be well-advised to examine other available texts before adopting this one. JAY A. YOUNG
KINO'SCOLLBGE Wmrra-BABRE.Pm~srnvama
A GUIDE TO QUALITATIVE ORGANIC CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
R. P. Linstead and B. C. L. Weedon, Department of Chemistry, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London. Academic Press Ino., New York, 1956. xi 169 pp. 28 tables. 15 X 22.5 cm.
+
$4.50.
THISmanual is the product of the efforts of the authors to secure a manual suited to a particular teaching situation. The manual was first written in 1930 for use in the Imperial College of Science and Technology and has been revised and enlarged to its present state. The manual is used a t the Imperial College in the instruction of honors graduates in chemistry. I t forms the hssis of an intensive, full-time, seven-week program in the seoand postintermediate year. It is recommended by the authors for inclusion in the experimental work of the freshman year, supplemented, of course, by lectures in the basic chemistry of the main groups in organic chemistry. U8efulness is claimed for the manud where postgraduate atndents seek a ready method for the characterization of organic compounds. If one recogniees the differences in the methods of teachina in the British universities and the ~mericanuniversities, it is difficult to he too critical of what would appear to be aerious omissions in this guide. Chief among these is the failure to discuss the relationship between the structures of molecules and their properties. Nothing is said to give the student a due to this relationship. In particular, one misses the expected studies on the relationship between solubility and structure as well as discussion of structural relationships to physical properties such as bailing points, index of refraction, specific gravity and the like. The descriptions of the methods used in the classification of oampounds according to the functional groups present as well as those used for the preparation of derivatives are generally concise and conform to standard methods. This manud will 6nd its greatest wefulness where an intensive short course is being given and as a general reference volume. JOHN B. GALLENT D~vlosonCOLLEGD D ~ v ~ o s o lNORTH r. CABO~INA
taxonomic grouping of viruses. The second paper hy A. D. Hershey, Bacteriaphages as Genetic and Biochemical Systems, is an elegant account of ourrent trends in bacteriophage research which also stresses the gaps where more knowledge is needed. The third paper by L. J. Tolmacb, Attachment and Penetration of Cells by Viruses, is concerned in the main with bacteriophages and ideas that are gained from kinetic considerations. The fourth paper by A. Isaacs, Particle Counts and Infectivity Titrations for Animal Viruses, brings together in a detailed account a variety of techniques used in assaying animal viruses. The fifth paper by N. W. Pirie, The Anatomy of Tobacco Mosaic Virus, presents forceful arguments against total acceptance of the notion that chemical homogeneity of tobacco mosaic virus has been established. The sixth paper by A. Klecekowski, Effects of Non-Ionizing Radiations on Viruses, complements s. previous article in this series on ionizing radiations, and provides a valuable account of the theory and interpretation of experimental results. The seventh paper by B. Ka8sanis, Effects of Changing Temperature on Plant Virus Diseases, assembles scattered information on the behavior of several plant viruses as they respond to changing environments. The eighth paper by C. E. Yarwood, Mechanical Transmission of Plant Viruses, compiles the results of many experiments which have been concerned with the initiation of the infective process by plant viruses. The ninth paper by K. E. Jensen, The Nature of Serological Relationships Among Influenza Viruses, analyaes the complex immunological relrutionships encountered in experimenting with flu viruses. The Advances in Virus Research series is a convenient and authoritative means of access to recent developments and current thinking in virology, and thus serves a useful purpose to the virologist as well as others whose interests impinge on the level of biological organiastion represented by viruses. 8. G. WILDMAN UNZVER~ITT or C A L I ~ R N I * Los A ~ o e m s C , ALI~RNI*
ESSENTIALS OF NUTRITION Henry C. Sherman, Late Mitchill Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, Columbia University, and Caroline Sherman Lanford. Fourth Edition. The MacmiUan SO5 pp. Co., New York, 1957. xii 36 figs. 21 X 14 cm. $4.90.
+
ADVANCES IN VIRUS RESEARCH, VOLUME 4 Edited by Kenneth M. Smith, Molteno Institute,Cambridge,England,and Max A. Lauffer, University of Pittsburgh. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1957. ix 339 pp. 16 X 23.5 om. $8.
+
Containing nine articles hy as many authors, the fourth volume in this annual series continues the policy of the editors to present a variety of reviews that will be representative of the general field of virology. The first paper by C. H. Andrew~, Factors in Virus Evolution, is a provocative essay on the evolution and
TEE fourth edition of "Essentials of Nutrition" has brought this excellent book up-to-date. Much of the material has been reworked and the bwk reset. This book attempts to bring the science of nutrition to the beginning student who has either a limited background in science or none a t all. Some practical dietetics is included, but it is written primarily from the standpoint of the why and wherefore of nutrients rather than in terms of food groups.
( C d i n d a page AS6) JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
