BEYOND THE FLYLEAF Principles and Practice. PD.hotography. C. B. Neblette. 3rd ed. 590 pages. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 250 Fourth
Ave., New York, N. Y., 1938. Price, $6.50. NEBLETTE'S work on photography is well known through the previous editions of a similar book. There are over a million active photographers in the United States, many of whom make snapshots nights and Sundays, take their films to a corner drugstore, and the same afternoon obtain prints. There are, however, many thousand amateur photographers who are gradually growing conscious of the fact that it is important for them to know something of the science and its application, and this book gives them everything they should know. It is clearly written, and covers the field most completely. Space does not permit this reviewer to go into the various chapters at great length, but with the exception of the mathematical formulas on photographic objectives, the best disquisition thus far on all lenses has been given in Mr. Neblette's book. Very few photographers are physicists, and the rank and file would not be interested in any complex mathematical equations. The same may be said of the formulas of the organic chemicals involved, but what is of paramount importance is the chapter that describes the various developers, and the suitability of some for the production of fine grain. There are a vast number of camera clubs throughout the United States, where only a few existed 10 years ago, and this book should be in the hands of every advanced worker, so that he may get a clear idea of what he is doing. To those interested in color photography this reviewer can recommend the various chapters on the subject. MAXIMILIAN TOCH
tandard Methods for Testing Tar and Spages. Its Products. 2nd ed. xiii + 434 Standardization of Tar Products Test Committee, 166 Piccadilly, London, W. 1, England, 1938. Price, 21s. net; 21s. 6d., post free. THIS book is of very limited interest to chemists in general because it covers such a specialized subject. It will, however, be of real significance to laboratories which have occasion to test the primary products obtained from tar and which exist as such in the tar as distinguished from those made by chemical transformation of the tar products. It will be of especial use to those engaged in the import or export of such products as benzene, creosote oil, briquet pitch, and cresylic acid. The book serves British tar producers and the users of their products in a similar way to that presented by the methods of the American Society for Testing Materials in this country. I t adds the convenience of having all pertinent matter in a single bound volume, but is not so convenient when revisions are necessary,
since it is published only every 9 or 10 years. The sections on definitions and sampling are very complete, and this latter subject is rightly given great emphasis, since many of the products considered may be heterogeneous and no accuracy in testing can compensate for a poorly selected sample. This is followed by a section devoted to density and specific gravity, the subject being presented very clearly so as to avoid the confusion which often exists in connection with these terms. The text contains many valuable tables giving temperature correction factors applicable to the products considered. The sections on crude tars, road tars, and the benzene products contain methods quite similar to those used in the United States. An elaborate method is also included for the commercial evaluation of tar which has no published counterpart in the United States. Attention should be called to the sections dealing with phenols and cresols. These contain a method for the determination of orthocresol by the use of solidifying points of mixtures of the unknown and of cineole with which orthocresol forms a high-melting complex. This method has been worked out so as to give results of a high degree of accuracy. Also United States testing methods have been included throughout on products such as cresylic acid and creosote oil which are exported to the United States. Specifications for all special glass equipment and drawings thereof are collected in an appendix for convenient reference, in this way avoiding duplications in the text of the methods themselves. This is followed by reference tables of frequently used data and a number of blank pages which can be utilized for notes and additions by the individual laboratory using the book. The format of the book is good, the quality of paper excellent, and it is remarkably free from typographical errors. I t has a well-secured outer paper cover which is strong and replaceable, as is often desirable in a book used around a tar products laboratory. JOHN M. WEISS
anuel du savonnier. A. Matagrin. XVII + 268 pages. GauthierM Villars, 55 Quai des Grands-Augustins,
Paris, 1938. Price, 20 francs. FRENCH literature has been rather deficient in recent works on the manufacture of soap. Even the book of Lorml, revised by Rosary and published as late as 1934, although a rather large volume, is, at present, quite inadequate as far as newer processes are concerned, if indeed it was not at the time of its publication. Matagrin's book is not a comprehensive treatise including all the ramifications of soap manufacture, and any judgment of it must keep this fact in mind. For example, it contains very little concerning the recovery and refining of glycerol or of the raw materials used in making soap: there are no details of the Twitcheil process or of the hydrogenation of fat; the refining of oils is treated in a very 33
general way and only a little space is given to the testing of raw materials or the finished product. This is not a matter of negligence on the part of the author, for these subjects are adequately discussed in other works which should be readily available to anyone who is interested in them. The book is just what it claims to be—a soapmaker's manual. It is a comparatively small volume, but considering that it is devoted almost entirely to soapmaking, the subject is handled in ample detail. The author appears to be thoroughly familiar with modern practice, both in his own country and abroad. He is evidently conversant with recent developments in the use of sulfated products. Formulas are given for all varieties of soap. These should serve as a satisfactory guide to the soapmaker, who in practice must be governed somewhat by the materials he has at hand, and other controlling factors. It is disappointing in a book so generally satisfactory as this to find that it has no alphabetical index. L. W.
BOSART
ewertung chemisch gefallter Kreiden BA.Merz. each neuzeitlichen Gesichtspunkten. 48pagesillustrated. Theodor Steinkopff, Dresden and Leipzig, Germany, 1938. Price, 5 marks.
Panorama of Lubrication
T
HIS is No. 50, Volume 1, in an educational series published by the Shell Petroleum Corp. and dedicated to executives, engineers, salesmen, and students seriously interested in the subject of lubrication. In many respects this is a unique publication. The illustrations in color command attention, the clever use of marginal notes adds much to the interest of reading the text, and there are many devices employed in the diagrams and text which drive home the points made in a manner which should make them well remembered, but as the quotation from Briton Hadden printed on the inside back cover says, "It is not how much is put between the covers but how much gets off the pages into the reader's mind." These pages are the kind which many will keep at hand for repeated reference and use.
Cupferron and Neo-Cupferron 48-page booklet on "Cupferron and Neo-Cupferron" by G. Frederick A Smith has been issued by the G. Frederick
Smith Chemical Co., P . O. Box 1611, Columbus, Ohio, and copies are available upon request as long as the supply lasts. The purpose has been to gather together under one cover all of the important applications in the use of these reagents and to further their more extensive use in analytical separations and determinations. Heretofore articles on the subject have been widely scattered throughout the chemical literature. In addition to the text as indicated, there is a bibliography of some 74 items.
