1148
ISDUSTRIAL d S D EAYGISEERISGCHEMISTRY
Vol. 21, No. 11
AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Felix Lengfeld
T
HERE were ten of us in Felix Lengfeld’s first (and only) I t is not given to every man to accomplish great things, nor class in organic chemistry a t Rerkeley in the fall of 1891. even to do justice to his own abikities. Luck plays a part, and He still says that, with the exception of one cantankerous many handicaps are imposed. In Lengfeld’s case greatly imindividual (whose name is here modestly omitted), it was the paired vision put an end to a promising career as scholar and best class he ever taught. XVe may have scientist. His greatest discovery was Julius been bright young lads in the lecture hall Stieglitz. When that now distinguished and laboratory, but we were darn poor chemist joined Lengfeld a t Chicago in 1892. judges of human qualities. For Lengfeld fresh from Berlin, he didn’t know the difwas quite unanimously unpopular among ference between an ion and an eye-opener, us, and we couldn’t understand what Eddie and it was Lengfeld who first awakened i n O’Neill liked about him. him an appreciation of the new trend in Lengfeld was cold and distant; he stalked the science. The first papers in the series around the work benches with a painfully of brilliant studies in molecular rearrangestiff vertebral column; he sniffed audibly. ments which has made Stieglitz famous were a t some of our best theories; and occajoint publications with Lengfeld as senior sionally he so far forgot himself as to wax author. eloquently sarcastic. Of course we felt we Lengfeld will probably be the last speciwere in the hands of a man who knew his men of a fast-vanishing species, the allstuff; but nobody among us wept when we round chemist (ckemicus rotundus). Most learned that he was leaving a t the end of species disappear from lack of fodder; the that year to go t o the newly opened Uniall-round chemist is being choked off by versity of Chicago. too much abundance. Our friend has a I n o w k n o w that the beggar actually w i d e k n o w 1e d g e of inorganic, organic, liked us, and that his frigid aloofness was physical, analytical, and biochemistry; and merely a pose, a self-defense reaction to he is an expert pharmacologist. They don’t maintain his dignity as our mentor. He grow them that way any more. probably had to pinch himself at times to Scientific achievement is largely luck, Felix Lengfeld keep from kissing us. From that, a t least, and scholarship is largely hard work. The we were saved by his stern conception of real measure of a man is -given bv the roster of his friends. How many of our great and nearly great his duty. There were no co-eds in the class. Lengfeld remained a t Chicago for about ten years. He must can match such a list as this: Stieglitz, E. C. Franklin, Moissan, have softened his heart while in that mellow atmosphere. Some Spring, Baekeland, Herty, Jacques Loeb, G. N. Lewis, Alonzo of his students from that period still speak affectionately of him Taylor, R . 1x7. Wood, Remsen, Slosson. I am just a little bit proud to find myself in such company. And he kicked R. W. Wood out of the chemistry department, telling him that he would never amount to anything in euperimental science. ARTHPK LACHMAS
BOOK REVIEWS Exact Colour Matching and Specifying. I,. BLIN DESBLEDS. zones of the solar spectrum. Light rays from the standard and 116 pages. 32 illustrations and diagrams. Technological and color under examination are directed upon the photo-electric cell, which is in circuit with a delicate galvanometer. From the Industrial Service, Paris. Price, $1.OO. tabulation of galvanometer readings the exact character of the There has always existed a wide gap between the fundamental color under examination may be determined and recorded. I n facts of color production as applied by the physicist and the addition to a detailed description of this apparatus, the book actual procedure of the textile colorist in the production of al- furnishes an extended discussion of its application and a rather most innumerable color effects upon cloth. One of the difficult condensed but readable discussion of color-matching and -recordproblems of the teacher of textile coloring has been to bridge ing. Like several other colorimetric devices, this apparatus this gap and remove some of the obstacles which immediately makes it possible to record with a high degree of accuracy the character of any particular color in terms of wave lengths, and confront the endeavors of the physicist t o devise a system of scientifically accurate measurements which will eliminate the in this respect it may prove of considerable value in studying and recording colors already produced. vagaries of the human eye in color-matching and -recording. The author definitely states that photo-colorimetric dyeing is In this volume the author has endeavored to present an efficient industrial method of accurate color measurement and expedited if the dyer has a t his disposal: (1) a large number of color-matching through the use of the Toussaint photo-electric dyestuffs, many of which should be very pure; ( 2 ) a well-comphoto-colorimeter. This instrument involves the use of a photo- piled set of reference curves, established once for all; (3) a stuff electric cell so designed that it permits of two specimens to be to be dyed nearly the same as that of the given standard. A t the placed in succession and within a fraction of a second behind close of the volume he states that exactness and ease of applicaeach of six monochromatic filters which correspond to six typical tion must lead to its widespread adoption and success. It is to
Sovember, 1929 be regretted that he has not gone into more detail as t o how the colorist may use the instrument as an aid in actual color-matching. Anything that will lead t o a solution of this problem will be welcomed by every textile colorist who is scientifically inclined and by the textile manufacturer, who is so frequently confronted with the problem of accurately specifying and reproducing colors.-LouIs A. OLXEY Petroleum Development and Technology, 1928- 9. Transactions of the Petroleum Division of the American Institute of &lining and Metallurgical Engineers. Papers presented before the Division a t Tulsa, Okla., October 18 and 19, 1928, and a t New York, K. Y., February 20 and 21, 1929. 625 pages. The American Institute of Mining and XIetallurgical Et]gineers, 29 Wcst 39th St., New York, N. Y~ Price, $5.00. Consistent with the past Transactions of this organization, the current publication presents a well-balanced and practically useful series of papers dealing with production engineering, petroleum production research, pre.sent and potential production data for the various parts of the United States and the various foreign producing countries, petroleum economics, petroleum engineering education, petroleum refining, aod gas transportation. One is impressed with the successful effort throughout the papers t o present data and thoughts useful in a commercial way t o its members as well as t o the industry as a whole. This is particularly apparent in Chapter V, dealing with petroleum economics, where the general subject is approached from the angles of crude oil supply; overproduction; gasoline economics; fuel oil economics; and market price of oil securities. T o one who reads the publications of the various engineering societies, it is rather apparent that the Mining and Metallurgical Engineers have succeeded in presenting their findings in a way valuable to the manager and owner as well as t o the technical engineer. There are as many, if not more, dollar signs as integral signs. The chapter devoted to petroleum engineering education is particularly interesting and should be read by educators as well as hy those having sons contemplating entering the oil production field. I n a brief two pages the chairman of the Petroleum Division outlines the plans of the division, which are “first, subjects of live interest t o the industry, and second, subjects not already handled by other organizations.” I n further detail, he then explains that these will deal primarily with conservation and the rational production of crude petroleum when and as needed. I n this connection “it is expected that the research committee will be particularly active during this year and will work in close cooperation with a similar committee of the American Petroleum Institute and with representatives of the U. S.Bureau of Mines.” -\V. F. RITTMAN
1149 temperature used today. I n discussing the Claude plant the author commends it for the production of small amounts of ammonia of the order of 5 tons per day. The reviewer believes the true situation is better stated to be that Claude plants are only good for the production of small tonnages of ammonia, while there are plants of other processes so well designed that at economical pressures a unit having a capacity of 20 tons of ammonia per day will run a t the rate of 4 tons per day autothermally without any modification except in operating technic On page 132 sodium nitrite should be mentioned as well a< sodium nitrate. The chapter on sulfuric acid is especially complete except that a more extensive treatment of the vanadium catalyst is desirable, and recently commercial developments have indicated that it is not certain that the chamber process has advantage over the contact process for the production of ordinary commercial oil of vitriol. I n certain cases the reverse is true. The chapter on chlorine manufacture adds to the completeness of the book, but is now of academic interest only. A chapter on the wet nickel process could be added to the text to advantage. The general make-up of the book is very pleasing and there i.; a very good index of names and subjects.-c~.4~tEs0. BROWN
The History of a Crime against the Food Law. The Amazing Story of the National Food and Drugs Law, Intended to Protect the Health of the People, Perverted t o Protect Adulteration of Foods and Drugs. BY HARVEY W.WILEY. 413 pages. Puhlished by Harvey W. Wiley, 506 Mills Bldg., Washington, D. C., 1929. Price, $2.00. This book is a recital of what the author, the father of pure food, calls “the amazing story of the national food and drugs law, intended t o protect the health of the people, perverted to protect adulteration of foods and drugs.” I t is more than that, for in it Harvey W. Wiley-out of his intimate knowledge of thc long fight for pure food which started when he became the chemist of the Department of Agriculture in the eighties, reached its height during the hearings which rallied in opposition and defense of the measure in the winter of 1906, and ended with the passage of the act in June of that year-has again vitalized the leading actors in the drama and led them out one by one to reenact the parts they played in the “What Is Whisky?” controversy, “The Poison Squad” studies, and in the organization of a board to direct the operation of the Bureau of Chemistry in ways contrary t o those of its chief and destined t o circumvent the law. The first six months after the passage of the pure food law were spent in drafting rules and regulations for its enforcement. On January 1, 1907, the law became effective; and shortly thereafter the trouble began, when the sardine packers, wishing to continue their long-time practice of packing sprats and herring under sardine labels, carried their protest, over the ruling of the Catalytic Processes in Applied Chemistry. BY T. P. HILDITCH. Bureau of Chemistry that sardines were sardines, to the Bureau i’olume I1 of a series of Monographs on rlpplied Chemistry, of Fisheries, which ruled that sardines were any small canned TRIPP. 360 pages. D. 17an Sostrand clupeoid fish. And from that time on Doctor Wiley, as chief of edited by E. HOWARD the Bureau of Chemistry charged with the enforcement of the Company, New York, 1929. Price, $6.00. pure food law, until his resignation in 1912, battled with the This is a commendable and timely work. The book is divided forces within and without the Department of Agriculture which into four sections. Section I treats of the general principles of sought t o tie his hands, impair the effectiveness of the bureau’s catalytic action; Section I1 deals with catalysis a t surface of solid chemists and inspectors, and set aside the protections provided inorganic materials; Section I11 covers fermentation processes; against the use of preservatives and false labels. while Section IV covers homogeneous catalysis in liquid systems. “The History of a Crime against the Food Law” is a story of The chapters in these sections contain many unusual subjects plots and intrigue which lifts the recital of day-by-day routine in not treated in recent books on catalysis, making this volume a government bureau into a dramatic history in which Presidents, complete. boards of scientific research, high courts, cabinet officers, congressEach chapter and subject are treated from the catalytic stand- men, and chemists pass in continuous review. point, accompanied by a description of the commercial process Doctor Wiley left the Bureau of Chemistry many years ago, steps as used. The scientific matter in the book is very good. but he has followed its work with all the loving interest of a The commercial data suffer, as is usually the case, by the swift father in a promising son-well born, destined for great service pace with which commercial developments change during thc but, under the buffets of opposition and bad influences, grown time necessary for preparation of the book. As an example, on to manhood stripped of power and irresolute of purpose. page 100 there is a table showing the fixed nitrogen produced per I n summing up the story of more than twenty years of effort to annum by various processes, in which the figures are in some enforce the pure food law, Doctor Wiley, while deploring what he cases too low and in other cases too high, while the Sitrogen describes as the “passing of the Bureau of Chemistry,” outlines Engineering process, which should stand second on the list at the steps by which it can become the servant of the people through 130,000 tons of nitrogen per year, is not mentioned a t all. the repeal of many “illegal decisions of the Board of Food and Owing t o the excellent warning the author has given in regard Drug Inspection,” the revocation of the permission given by the to the fickleness of certain existing patents on catalytic proc- Remsen Board to add “alum, benzoate of soda, saccharin, and esses, one may assume that the book is well written with a sulfur dioxide to our foods,” a “recognition of the action of the broad understanding of real patent values. On the other hand, courts in convicting the manufacturers of bleached flour and some statements throughout the book are open to discussion. Coca-Cola,” and in enforcing the “punitive sections of the law.” For instance, the life of the platinum catalyst used in the oxidaDoctor Wiley’s friends will read i t with reverence; the public tion of ammonia t o nitric acid is not practically indefinite, and with surprise and amazement; and those who later find it on on page 103 the temperature of 600” C . for the ammonia reaction the shelves of libraries or desks of chemists, with the conviction is high enough t o be misleading, as 525’ C. is about the highest that it is a keen and intimate portrayal of the most interesting
1150
IXDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERIh’G CHEMISTRY
phase of the development of food control. Neither the chemist nor the layman, and least of all the housewife, can afford to miss “The History of a Crime,” written by this intrepid champion and guardian of the purity and honesty of the nation’s food supply. -H. E. BARNARD Popular Research Narratives. Tales of Discovery, Invention and Research-Volume 111. Collected by the Engineering Foundation, Inc. 174 pages. Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore, 1929. Price, $1.00. A few years ago the Engineering Foundation began to issue from time to time a series of leaflets called “Popiilar Research Narratives,” which were brief stories of rescarch, invention, or discovery, prepared either by the men responsible for the work or From data from the same source. The purpose of these narratives was to bring t o the attention of people generally the importance of scientific discovery, and ultimately to direct toward the support of the research responsible for such discovery the material aid so necessary for its conduct. Later these stories were brought together in bound volumes. The first volume is now out of print. Volume I1 was published in 1926 and reprinted in 1928 and, like the third, contained fifty research narratives. The narratives in book form touch so wide a variety of subjects that to discuss them here would be equivalent to repeating the table of contents. It is really a book of short scientific stories written to appeal to any reader, They are authoritative and appeal to so wide a variety of interests that we unhesitatingly recommend them, particularly t o those interested in humanizing science. Photographic Emulsions. Their Preparation and Coating on Glass, Celluloid and Paper, Experimentally and on the Large Scale. BY E. J. WALL. 265 pages. American Photographic Publishing Company, Boston, 1929. Price, $5.00. I n the preface the author states that there are “a few misguided enthusiasts who hope that they can make as good sensitive materials as are obtainable commercially, and a t much lower cost. To such this little treatise may appeal.” He then warns the reader that the first object cannot be attained by the mere reading of a few printed pages. and as to the second-‘‘as a means of spending money it is only equaled by dabbling in stocks.” The book consists of thirteen chapters, as follows: I-The Workroom; Fittings and Routine; 11-The Materials Used; 111-Mixing the Emulsion; IV-Negative Emulsions ; VSpecial Types of Emulsions; VI-Printing Paper Emulsions ; VII-Mixing Different Emulsions; VIII-Shredding and Washing the Emulsion; IX-Filtering and Preparing for Coating; Matt Emulsions; X-Coating Plates; XI-Coating Cut Sheet and Roll Film; XII-Drying ; XIII-Appendix. As a practical guide to emulsion making this text is quite the best that has been published. The author is, by virtue of his long experience in photographic chemistry, thoroughly competent to write authoritatively. To those who are willing to spend considerable time and money on a fascinating pastime this book will be of the utmost value.-J. H. MATHEWS An Introduction to the Chemistry of Plant Products. Volume IIMetabolic Processes. BY P. HAASAND T. G. HILL. 2nd edition. 220 pages. Longmans, Green and Company, London, New York, and Toronto, 1929. Price, $3.75. This book consists chiefly of such citations from the literature as will give the reader a basis for further study. In that respect it is quite likely to be successful. The introductory chapter is a philosophical discussion of the living plant and is very suggestive and prolific in ideas. The synthesis of carbohydrates is exhaustively treated, numerous references being given to the literature relating to the various factors which influence the formation of these bodies-e. g., the external raw materials, the internal factors such as chlorophyll, and the various hypotheses concerning the synthesis of carbohydrates. Likewise the chapters on the synthesis of fats and proteins are all well supported by references to the more important recorded researches. There have been and are so many contradictory theories in explanation of plant growth, that the reader is quite bewildered after reading the mass of evidence here presented, in spite of the fact that the authors claim to have incorporated only those hypotheses which seem more or less reasonable and to have discarded those which have no experimental evidence to support them. Of course it is not the authors’ fault that so little is actually
Vol. 21, No. 11
known regarding the synthesis of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and that so few provable facts relating to this field of research are available. The authors have done well a very difficult job. A reading of this book will obviate the necessity of wading through a maze of original contributions. The material in the chapters on respiration and growth are well presented and, while apparently many more original papers might have been reviewed, it is not believed that many works of outstanding importance have been omitted. The book contains interesting discussion of the mechanism of oxidation and of the enzyme systems involved-dehydrase, glutathione, oxidases, catalase, etc.; fermentation and the factors influencing it; the mechanism of respiration; the conditions affecting the growth-e. g., light, electro-culture, water, auximones, hormones. As in the case of most books, a few minor typographical errors have escaped the scrutiny of the authors. The book contains an index and is attractive in size and print.-J. A. LECLERC The Story of Water Supply. BY HOPE HOLWAY.134 pages. Harper & Brothers, New York and London, 1929. Price, $1.25. This account of water supply from its beginning in the clouds to its delivery from the faucet is so logical, so clear, and so well written that the technical reader is likely to get pretty well into the book before it dawns on him that here is probably the best summary of present-day knowledge of the subject that has been put together. The non-technical readers can never know how good it is. They will be pleased by the illustrations, the large type and easy style, and very few of them will realize they have been fed something that is good for them. Those who manage and operate waterworks plants and those who are concerned for the health of communities will find this book exceedingly helpful in their work if i t is placed where children and grown-up readers may have a chance to see it. The book will do the rest. One page is devoted to acknowledgment “to the following for their generous help and criticism and for material furnished: J. Waldo Smith, C. L. Bogert, Edward E. Wall, Dabney H. Maury, Theodore Reed Kendall, and W. R. Holway.” This list helps to explain how there can be a little book so full of facts and so free from errors, but the building of the book had to be done by the author. A list of twenty wellknown texts and reference books serves as a guide for readers who may wish more detailed and technical information.-\Vi. D. COLLINS Das Buch der grossen Chemiker. BY GUNTHER BUGGE. In two volumes. Volume I. From Zosimos to Schoenbein. 496 pages. 62 illustrations. Verlag Chemie, Berlin, 1929. Price, bound, 24 marks; unbound, 21 marks. The purpose of the author is to give an introduction to the history of chemistry, which requires of the reader “no especial historical bent and no effort to orientate himself in a new field of thought.” For this purpose the form of the biographical essay has been chosen as more nearly satisfying the “psychological interests” of today. Chemists are too often narrow in their training and immersed in their own limited field. They need the broader background which is afforded by this volume. The book, which is written in an interesting style, aims not only to be a record of achievement, but also t o point out in a humanistic way the “spirit” that actuated these masters and to show their vital contributions to the civilization that focused about chemistry. The thirty-eight names chosen for Volume I cover in an adequate manner a period of fifteen hundred years from Zosimos of Alexandria (350 to 420) to Schoenbein early in the 19th century. What makes the book noteworthy is that Doctor Bugge is not only an author but an editor who has chosen to collaborate with him authorities especially competent to deal with the men and periods involved, as the following list shows: J. Ruska in his treatment of Zosimos, Dschaber and the pseudoGeber point out the early Greek and Arabic contributions, while F. Struntz, the authority on Paracelsus, follows with Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Rajmundus Lullus, Paracelsus, and Van Helmont. Felix Fritz discusses the enigma of the fabulous Basil Valentine, interesting in the light of Stillman’s essay. The beginnings of technical chemistry are illustrated by the Italian Biringuccio (the author, Otto Johannsen, recently published a translation of the “Pirotechnia” of 1540), and by E. Darmstaedter’s account of Libavius and Agricola, whose textbook on mining a President translated, and by the Glauber of many interests by P. Walden. Other names and authors are: Stahl, by Rich. Koch; Boyle, Berthollet, Proust, and Schoenbein, by Edward Farber; Boer-
November, 1929
INDUSTRIAL AA’D ENGINEERIiVG CHEXISTRY
1151
haave, Geoffrey, Marggra, Black, and Lavoisier, by Max Speter; Cavendish, Priestley, Scheele, by Georg Lockemann; a French group, N. Le Blanc, Fourcroy, Vauquelin, Gay-Lussac, and Thenard, by M. Bloch; the Berlin chemists Klaproth and Mitscherlich, by G. Bugge: the great master Berzelius, by H. G. Soderbaum; while Wm. Ostwald has treated, in his inimitable way, J. B. Richter, Dalton, Davy, and Faraday. The list is comprehensive both from a national and a chemical standpoint. Finally, it would be difficult to find compassed in five hundred pages a more humanly interesting and complete account of chemistry up to the 19th century.-F. B. DAINS
ported by diagrams, tables, and equations of immense value t o the student as well as the technical engineer. The chapter on the commercial development of the corporation shows periods of depression as well as of high prosperity, and as an interesting side light it may be mentioned that the corporation was able t o pay during the years 1924 t o 1927 dividends of 14, 12, 10, and 12 per cent, respectively. The closing chapter, by R. Plank, of the new German Cryogenic Laboratory in Karlsruhe, discusses the future problems of the refrigerating industry. The book is a valuable contribution t o the literature of industrial activity, t o the sterling quality of the leaders in the Linde organization, and t o the truly greatness of its founder.Einfiihrung in die theoretische Wirtschaftschemie. BY RUDOLF J. C. G O O S X 4 N KOETSCHAU.155 pages. Theodor Steinkopff, Dresden and Anleitung zur organischen qualitativen Analyse. BY H. STAUDLeipzig, 1929. INGER AND W.FROST.144 xvi pages. Julius Springer, Berlin, 1929. Price, 6.6 marks. This little volume was written with enthusiasm and great industry. There is a great abundance of quotations and referThis is the second and revised edition of the book first published ences, making it all the more valuable. It is not a handbook of by Staudinger in 1923. The aim of the book is to present t o the facts, but a formulation and coordination of underlying sociologi- student methods of separating simple mixtures of organic comcal and chemical theories, and therefore rather abstruse in places. pounds and of identifying the individual constituents. It is representative of present German scientific attitude and The first part of the book is devoted t o an excellent general manner in chemical industry and for that reason it is perhaps of discussion of the physical properties of various types of organic greater interest t o the American chemist. It presents the molecules and the general system which has been devised for the substratum of thought, the theoretical foundations that underlie separation of mixtures and the identification of pure products. the economics of the manufacturing chemist and industrialist The second and larger part of the book gives detailed directions generally. for the laboratory procedures which are t o be used. The prinA book on a subject like this which is intended to lay the new feature in this edition is a group of tables a t the end of foundation for a new science, bridging over the gap between social cipalbook, which show in outline how mixtures of organic comeconomics and chemical industry, is without question a new and the may be separated into groups containing the members of noteworthy undertaking. The author states in his foreword pounds that the object of the book is t o present definitions, concepts, and different homologous series. The system of analysis is based on the separation of compounds terminology, which are essential in laying the foundation for a large groups-those easily volatile or compounds boiling new branch of science. He attempts t o show how the funda- into twollOo, and those slightly volatile or compounds boiling below mental laws of physics, chemistry, sociology, and economics above 140”. These two main groups are further divided into can be applied together in this new science.-H. A . CARLTON five subgroups depending on the solubilities in water and ether. The subgroups are further separated by the use of other solvents, 50 Jahre Kaltetechnik. 192 pages. Published by Gesellschaft especially acids and bases. The authors mention in their preface that the system of anfur Linde’s Eismaschinen A. G., Wiesbaden, Germany. alysis is necessarily limited in its application t o fairly simple This unusually handsome volume commemorating the fifty mixtures and that in teaching only such mixtures should be used. years’ history of the Linde corporation is printed on a fine grade Their main object is t o acquaint the student with the types of of ivory coated paper in large bold-face type and is strongly problems which are met in technical separations rather than t o case-bound in black cloth cover with gold lettering. However, give the impression that every mixture can be separated by much more than its make-up do the contents of this book some simple procedure. They point out that the knowledge appeal and lend prestige t o the occasion. The entire history of the properties and reactions of organic compounds that is of this corporation is one of achievement. gained by a study of qualitative organic analysis equals or exA short introductory chapter from Doctor von Linde’s own ceeds that obtained by a study of synthetic reactions alone. pen offers a t once the realization that here is a man of profound This book will be especially valuable in stimulating further humility who attributes much of the success of this corporation interest in teaching this very important phase of organic chemt o the competence, loyalty, and friendship of his co-workers. istry.-C. S. MARVEL The Gesellschaft fur Linde’s Eismaschinen was organized entirely upon the basis of patents without actual capital, de- Die Riechstoffe und Ihre Derivate. Edited by ALFREDWAGNER, pending exclusively upon the strength, knowledge, and compewith the collaboration of experts. Aldehyde. Erste Abteiltence of the few men who had previously designed, built, and ung: Aldehyde der aliphatischen Reihe. Elaborated by installed about a dozen refrigerating and ice-making plants ALFRED\V:aGXER, ALFONS M. BURGER,and F. ELZE. 404 which a t that time were all in successful operation. The material success of the company came in a few years and established pages. A . Hartleben, Vienna and Leipzig, 1929. Price, 25 the necessary financial foundation upon which it grew and exmarks. panded year after year. Semmler’s work, “Die Aetherischen Oele,” has been invaluable The milestones of outstanding achievements of Doctor von Linde and the Liude Corporation consist in the successful development t o all interested in the chemistry of essential oils. Since it was published twenty-three years have elapsed, during which time of the Linde compression method of refrigeration, of which the first practical machines were built and installed from 1 8 i 5 to important and numerous contributions have been made to the 1877. I n 1893 a simple equipment was perfected which success- literature of the subject. “Die Riechstoffe und Ihre Derivate,” fully produced liquid air economically and in quantity. judging from the title and the section on aliphatic aldehydes, will These experiments also pointed t o a simple method for recti- cover a broader field, treating not only the constituents of essential oils, but synthetic odoriferous substances as well. fication and the separation of oxygen in partial evaporation The tables of structural formulas showing the inter-relations and after six or seven years of research resulted in the wellof aldehydes and their derivatives are similar t o those employed known Linde process of rectification whereby pure oxygen became availahle for the many purposes for which it is now in in Sernmler’s work. The treatment of the chemistry of the aliphatic aldehydes is daily use. Further improvements in the rectifier columns solved very thorough. Searly fifteen hundred references to the literathe problem of supplying nitrogen for the manufacture of synthetic ammonia as well as other purposes, dissolved acetylene and ture are given and, where the importance of the subject warrants water gas. The demand for the more rare gases brought new it, full abstracts of the journal articles are included. The scope of the material can best be shown by a concrete problems, all of which proved extremely valuable during the war period, when the demand for nitrogen in particular reached example. Under “citral” we find the following subheadings : unheard-of proportions. At the present writing the various historical, constitution, occurrence, isolation, formation and factories built for the production of coke-oven gas and its prod- preparation, physical properties, chemical behavior, detection, ucts alone have reached a daily capacity of approximately 212 quantitative determination, microchemical detection, reactions million cubic feet, while the equipment required in the manu- and derivatives, with separate headings for citral a, citral b, and facture of synthetic ammonia amounts t o over 1000 tons daily. isocitral. One of the most valuable chapters is devoted to the basic This work should prove very valuable t o those interested in physical laws of liquefaction as well as the succeeding recti- essential oils and perfumes, and the appearance of the complete fication of gases. It is replete with a fund of information sup- work will be awaited-with great interest.-E. K. NELSON
+
