January, 1926
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERISG CHE-MISTRY
In stating a science in such general terms one must, of necessity, violate the accuracy of detail t o a degree. This book shows surprisingly little of such violations. The reviewer feels that the authors have done an excellent piece of work in making a scientific book for the audience they had in mind. WILLIAMCROCKER Industrie des Cyanures. BY P. BRUN. 447 pages with 44 figures. Published under direction of Dr. Toulouse by Gaston Doin, Paris, 1925. Price, 20 francs. This is a handy reference book on cyanogen compounds. Fifty-four pages are devoted to a very brief review of the important characteristics of well-known cyanogen compounds; 285 pages are devoted to their industrial production. The information has been gleaned from patent literature and is not complete. The reader or student is given little assistance in distinguishing hetween processes of importance and mere proposals that have possessed no merit or have a t best only historical interest. As is t o be expected when patents are relied upon for information, the unimportant is frequently found when one seeks in vain for that which is of value. I n no instance is the treatment of subjects exhaustive; in most of them the facts are few and discussion is lacking. Ninety-nine pages are devoted to the use and methods of chemical analyses of cyanogen compounds. Those who have a special interest in the manufacture and use of these compounds will find some value in this reference book; other persons will find in it little that is of special interest. M. J. BROWN BY E. J. WALL. 747 pages. American Photographic Publishing Co., Boston, 1925. Price, $15.00.
History of Three-Color Photography.
This is one of those rare books which are quite invaluable in connection with their own field of science. Every new invention or proposal in connection with color photography will be looked up in “Wall” in future before anything else is done with it, and Mr. Wall should save inventors and promoters enormous sums of money. The book consists of a complete study of all the practical branches of color photography, each section being developed systematically and followed by a comprehensive bibliography containing not only references t o the literature but also the patents. In all, specific reference is made t o 9000 articles and 3400 patents. The attitude of the author is distinctly impartial and the only serious criticism which can be offered is that it is too impartial. In some cases the author has been so anxious t o be neutral t h a t he has been a little uncritical where a somewhat more critical attitude would have been an advantage The book exhausts its subject as no other book on photography has yet done, and will prove of very great value as a work of reference for the experimenter and for all who are concerned in any way with the handling of inventions in color photography and cinematography. C. E. K. MEES Tabulae Biologicae. Vol. I-Reine und physiologische Physik, physikalische Chemie und biologische Anwendungen. 522 Edited by C. OPPENHEIMERAND I,. PINCUSSEN. pages. W. Junk, Berlin, 1925. This is the first of four volumes designed, as the editors state, t o provide workers in the entire field of biological and allied sciences with a “Landolt-Bijrnstein.” Figures and data of the most varied character and from widely scattered sources are brought together in tables without any discussion of their meaning; the latter is left to the authors of special papers and treatises. The collection is designed simply to save workers and authors some of the labor involved in the search of such material, often in fields far removed from the one in which the worker is a specialist. Data are given on such subjects as the elasticity of all kinds of animal and plant tissues and the effects of chemical compounds and poisons upon it; specific heats and conductivity; the body temperature of many animals; elaborate data on blood pressure and heart rate; viscosity of blood, etc., and the influence of age and other conditions upon it; physiological optics; amino acids in various proteins; the anesthctic tension of chloroform, ether, etc.; swimming and running records, etc., etc.
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It seems difficult to find any kind of data of this character which are not included, or will not be included in the subsequent volumes. The special value of the work lies in the fact that the data have been collected by some of the leading original workers in the various fields-men who can be trusted to be discriminating in what they collect and who know from personal experience what is needed. REIDHUNT Sermons of a Chemist. BY EDWINE. SLOSSON. 319 f vii pages. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York, 1925. Price, $2.00. We doubt if any chemist in America is better known to the public than Edwin E. Slosson, the author of “Creative Chemistry’’ and a popular exponent of this science. The public may not be surprised to learn t h a t he is also capable of preaching a sermon, but that accomplishment may come as something of a surprise to his chemist readers. It is not customary for THIS JOURNAL t o review theological works, but in his latest book Dr. Slosson discusses difficult subjects in easily understood ways and brings out the essential factors in scientific fashion, illustrating his points with references t o his daily experience as a chemist. His book should help to illuminate for many intelligent people, who are disturbed by the statements that there is a conflict between science and religion, points which have been the centers of such contention. The author brings common sense t o bear upon religious questions and presents his conviction that the purpose of religion is t o spiritualize daily life. He applies scientific tests to the essentials of basic religion and shows what every scientist knows-that scientific knowledge strengthens and clarifies them. The sermon on “The Chemistry of the Greatest Miracle in t h e Bible” is typical of the book and easily holds the attention. The reader is left with the conviction t h a t if the preachers of the day would qualify themselves t o apply more science in their teaching and draw upon scientific data in illustrating their sermons, it would be a decided advantage in the religious teaching of our time. Since most of the sermons in this volume are the outgrowth of addresses a t chapel exercises and sermons delivered as elder or deacon in Presbyterian or Congregational churches, it is evident t h a t chemistry and the other natural sciences have their place in the pulpit. We heartily commend “Sermons of a Chemist. ” Standard Methods of Chemical Analysis. A Manual of Analytical Methods and General Reference for the Analytical Chemist and for the Advanced Student. Edited by WILFRED W. SCOTT.4th edition, revised and enlarged. 2 volumes. 1729 pages. 6 X g1/4 inches. Cloth. Illustrated. D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, 1925. Price, $12.00; volumes not sold separately. Volume I of the fourth edition of this well-known text contains 50 chapters on the elements, qualitative tests, and various tables. Volume I1 contains 20 chapters on special subjects. Considerable revision has been done throughout, and there have been added new chapters on indium, thallium, and other rare elements, various methods of analysis adopted by the and the American Society for AMERICANCHEMICALSOCIETY Testing Materials, fire assay of gold and silver, sampling, standard apparatus, metallography, determination of poisons, and the testing of petroleum and its products. These volumes contain a great deal of useful information and the methods that are described are, in the main, satisfactory. More careful revision should have been done in justice to some of the authorities t h a t are cited. For example, in Volume I the methods for chromium, vanadium, and nickel that are labeled A. S. T. M. methods are no longer standards of t h a t society. Similarly, the so-called Bureau of Standards methods for carbon, sulfur, and vanadium in iron and steel are out of date. The methods that are given for silicon and for phosphorus are misleading, for never, so far as the reviewer knows, has it been the practice of that bureau to wash silica with hot dilute hydrochloric acid, specific gravity i.1, or t o catch a reduced molybdenum solution in an empty receiver. It should also be noted t h a t while the 1925 Table of Atomic Weights is given, the table of conversion factors and many other data are based on the 1920 weights. The volumes are attractive in appearance and will doubtless continue to have the deserved good sale of the previous editions. G. E. F. LUNDELL
