RECENT BOOKS T s x ~ ~ l OF o oCHEMISTKY. ~ A . L. Eldcr. Professor of Chernistry. Syracuse University. First Edition. Harper and Rrothers, Publishers. S e w York Citv and London. 19.Il. viii 751 . DV. . 270figs. i 5 x 23.5 cm. 3 . 7 5 . This text is written far students who expect t o make some branch of science their life work. Interest in science and a fundamentally sound but not extensive background in mathematics are presupposed, but previous courses in chemistry are not necessary. The text is divided into thirty-nine chapters which vary in length from three t o sixty-seven pages. The first eightythree pages contain, seven chapters, with the titles: State of Matter: The Composition of Matter; Methods Used in the Discovery of the Elements; Composition of Crystals, Molecules, and Atoms; Arrangement of the Fundamental Units of Matter in the Atoms; The Nucleus of the Atom; Crystal Structure; and the Arrangement of Atoms in Molecules. This part of the text includes: Periodic Table, isotopes, valence, the determination of molecular and atomic weights, radioactivity, and transmutation of the elements. Pages 84 t o 335 are devoted to general principles of chemistry under such headings as: Types of Chemical Reaction: Nomenclature: Prouerties of Gases. of Liquids, of Solids, and of Ions; Solutions; Electricity as a Tool; Chemical Equilibrium; Colloids; The Atmosphere; and Water. Three chapters entitled: IiydroRen. Oxygen. and Water arc the only ones up t o page 336 whose names suggest particular chemical substances. The last four hundred pages of the book are devoted t o the sources, preparations, properties, and uses of the elements and their compounds. The discussions include considerable history, and a list of references is found a t the close of each chapter, followed by a set of questions which will indicate t o a student, if he uses them, the extent of his mastery of the chapter. The presentation of theory first permits theoretical discussions of all of the preparations and uses of substances. While many obsolete methods are described themodern processesare also presented and the distinction between old methods which illustrate chemical principles and modern methods which are commercially feasible is clearly made. AU of the ideas usuallv nresented in elementaw texts are included. The grouping is not that of the classical text, but the nutltor prepare5 for each idco before it is introdurcd. The discussion of the arrangement of electrons in "energy levels" within the atom, and its bearing upon valence and oxidation number, leaves something t o be desired. But on the whole, the author has accomplished his purpose. Qualified students will receive a systematic, integrated view of the structure of matter. its characteristic ~raoerties and reactions. and how these . structures and reactions producc intrrrstinl: phenomena and commercial products. Thosc desiring a n en*y, cop,.rficial collrsc should not attempt to use this text. F. E. BROWN IOWA STATBCOLLBDB Ares. low*
planning for the development of new gases and protective measures against new and old gases. He sets up, in detailed outline, the subdivisions of an organization, both in research and in manufacture, which would be necessary for an eficient functioning of the chemical warfare service, offensively and defensively. I n the later chapters of the b w k he discusses in detail the physiological and chemical properties of every war gas that has been used or proposed. The tactical use, the effects, detection, and the treatment are described for each gas. No mention is made of the methods of manufacture. The author is deeply interested in the philosophy and economics of gas warfare. He waxes eloquent, a t times, in his admiration for his former chief, Professor Fritz Haber, who seems t o have been the guiding hand of German chemical warfare. The viewpoints of the author are essentially German, though the author is now @erssona non grata in Germany. Occasional Teutonic complexities of sentence structure make reading a little dificult. The best portion of the book is the strictly scientific description of war gases. Because of the completeness of this inf-ation, the book will pro= valuable both to the scientist and to the layman. W. A. FELSINO
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UNNB~SITY Or T B x I S AUSTIN,TBX*S
PR~CTICE oa ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.H . Adkim, S. M. McElvain. and M. W. Klein, University of Wisconsin. Third Edition. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York City. 1940. ix 294pp. 22 figs. 13.5 X 20.5cm. $2.50. This third edition of the well-known laboratory textbook of Adkins and McElvain has been revised with the aid of Professor Klein. I n some respects, the arrangement of subject matter differs from the majority of similar books now on the market. An introductory chapter (10 pages) includes general directions for workine in the laboratow: a second section of 99 owes. en. " .~~ titled ' Certain Important Erprrimcnti." rantaim dircctiotxr fur qualitarivr nnalysi-, the drtcrminariun of phyiiral properties, the ptlrifi~.ntiun01 sutrstanvcr, and the prcparatiun of about 50 typical organic compounds. A few experiments are devoted to class reactions, and the section terminates with a paragraph on library work ("Literature Preparation"). Other chapters in the book are entitled: Purification of Organic Compounds, Routine Laboratory Operations, Oxidation, Reduction. Halogenation, Alkylation, Arylation and Esterification, Dehydration. Hydration, Hydrolysis. Alcoholysis and Ammanolysis, Nitration and Sulfonation, The Diazo Reaction, The Friedel-Crafts Reaction, Intramolecular Rearrangements, and a miscellaneous chapter entitled, Other Important Reactions. It seems to the reviewer that the section on general organic reactions is an especially desirable feature, since this information is otherwise available to the student only through such reference works as "Houbens Methoden." The directions are clearlv , and wi.
