Recent Books
At Home among the Atoms. (A First Volume of Candid Chemistry.) JAMES KBNDALL,A.M., Sc.D., F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the Graduate School, New York University; Professor-Elect of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh. The Cen318 pp. 21 tury Co., 1929. xvi illustrations. 13 X 20 cm. $3.00.
reader of this book, "At Home among the Atoms," will promptly agree that the author has achieved his difficult aim in phenomenal measure. The book constitutes a romantic journey through the scenic wonders of chemical science. One by one, the writer introduces his reader to the entire gamut of classic milestones in the history of atomic weights, valence, Coincident with the coming of the so- chemistry: called "Chemical Age" in our present chemical equations, energy in relation to industrial and economic life, there has matter, radioactivity, isotopes, atomic a delightfully arisen a desire on the part of the non- and molecular theory-in entertaining conversational style, vivid scientific reading public t o know mare in description, and sparkling with rich of the facts of science, and particularly those of chemistry. As a result of this humor. There are twenty-two chapters, the thirteenth being omitted t o avoid demand numerous attempts have been made and are being made to popularize "injuring the feelings (of the elements) by herding them together under the our science. Syndicate writers and others of limited knowledge of science have handicap of a so-called lucky number!" unfortunately been prone t o exaggerate The periodic system of the elements the facts in order t o create a sensation. is likened to an eight-story apartment Several splendid popular treatises on house, called MendelCeff Court, the chemistry have, however, been published elements of the successive vertical groups in America, especially those of Slosson in Mendel&ff's Classification being repand Howe, and they have done much resented as the occupants of the reto advance popular interest in chemistry. spective floors of the court. The imThese writers have, however, confined portant relationships and properties of themselves chiefly to descriptive books the common elements are here brought out, togethcr with their numerous camon the chemistry and manufacture of The work of materials in every-day use. Comes now mercial applications. Professor Kendall with an attempt to Moseley, Aston, Bragg, Ruthrrford, Lewis, set forth the fundamental principles upon Harkins, Curie, Bohr, Schriidinger, and which the science of chemistry rests, others, difficult as much of it is t o state and the reasoning by which the chemist in simple terms, is set forth with remarkable clarity and sequence. The has been able t o make his remarkable discoveries. l k w writers are gifted t o concept of atomic number and its relation divest the stern. abstruse facts and to the structure of the atom is shown to lead t o a new classification of the principles of science of their technical terminology, and put them into language el~ments, which the author chooses which the layman can understand. This facetiously t o call "Bohrville," a city appears t o he especially true of scien- of seven avenues corresponding t o the tific men who think and speak in tech- successive short and long periods of elements, and named "in honor of the nical terms, and whose lanmape . . is foreign and nnint&gihle t o the layman. he man who has done much t o promote
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its settlement?' Throughout the entire presentation one is impressed with the assiduity displayed by the author in sticking t o the facts as established by experiment. I n order t o gain and hold the attention of his reader, the author freely personifies the electrons, atoms, and molecules under discussion and employs some of the common human relationships to draw his analogies and drive home the idea he wishes t o convey. "The desire of the sodium atom to lase an electron" (p. 179); "copper would be happier with mercury than with gold (p. 258); "each atom of zinc has donated t o each copper ion two electrons as heartbalm for the alienation of sulfate ion's affections" (p. 183); "companionate or group marriage between Na+ and CL-," and "a feeling of resentment rankling in the breast of hydrogen," are some of the striking examples. Whether we approve of such procedure ar not, the author certainly appears justified in employing it in an instance such as this where the processes under discussion are invisible to the eye and can he made intelligible only through the medium of commonplace illustration. The book is illustrated with a number of well-chosen figures and with photographs of some of the world's greatest scientists. Tables of data often bewilder the layman, and only two or three are used in the entire book. I t is well printed and strikingly free from typographical errors. The book should be on the shelve.. of every library in this country. It will inspire many a student to enter chemistry as a profession. Highschool teachers, advanced college students, and even university professors can well read the book, not only for the splendid manner in which the historical background of chemistry is delineated, but also for the numerous suggestions for elucidating intricate points. The author is to be commended upon this excellent pieceof work. T. F. BUEHRSR UNIVBRSITY OP ARIZONA
Tucsor, AR,ZON*
NOVEMBER. 1929
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Concise Summary of Elementary HURN Orcanic Chemistcv. FREDERICK CONSTABLE.M.A., D.Sc. (London), Ph.D. (Cambridge), F.I.C., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. First edition. E. P. Dutton and Co., 146 pp. Inc., New York, 1929. xii 13 X 20 cm. 82.00. The purpose of the book, as stated in the preface, is t o provide a quick method for surveying the elements of the subject. I t is offered morespecifically by the author t o students who wish to prepare themselves for certain examinations a t the English universities. I t is, then, a glorified syllabus for a first-year course in organic chemistry and i t seems t o have been done very completely and efficiently. The reactions, properties, preparation methods, etc., of the commoner and more important dasses of compounds are listed briefly under the proper headings. To quote the author: "The general plan has been followed, whenever possible, of first giving a list of reactions common t o a class of compounds, and then studying some particular examples, a plan which shows clearly such relations between members of a homologous series as are characteristic of the subject." Used in conjunction with a good text, or hetter, a t the end of a course of lectures and reading, the book should be an aid to the student in organizing his knowledge and getting it into more systematic form than usually results from reliance on memory or a lecture notebook. There is, however, a certain danger of placing such a summary in the hands of a group of students. I t is the danger attendant on the improper use of any syllabus or outline: a supelficial knowledge hastily acquired for the purpose of securing a pass mark in an examination and then immediately GREW DOUORERTY forgotten.
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PRINCBION UNWSRSITY PRINCHTON. N. J.
An Introduction to the Chemistry of Plant Products. PAUL HAAS, D.Sc.,
