MAY, 1951 and, except for a few instances, is no more upto-date than the chapter by Shriner, Adsms, and Marvel. A few examples will indicate the nature of the objections that can be made to the book. Since reference is made ta the theoretical work of Boys, of Candon, and of Eyring, one would expect reference also to that of Werner Kuhn and of Kirkwood. Similarly it is difficult to understand the failure to mention the experimental work of Werner Kuhn, who first demonstrated the formation oi an optically active compound by the action of circularly-polsrieed light, and of Prelog and Wieland, who resolved Troeger's base and thus prepaxed the first optically active compound, the activity of which is due to tricovalent nitrogen atoms. Contrary to the author's statement, it has been shown that the direction of approach of a group during a Walden inversion is not governed by the electrical properties of the groups taking part in the displacement reaction. The author writes formulas for the conjugate acids of esters and of carboxylic acids with the protons on the dkaxyl or hydroxyl oxygen atoms, whereas the currently preferred location is on the earbonyl oxygen. An appendix of thirteen pages is devoted to the construction of models composed of solid tetrahedra. Such mdels a m hardly the most help ful type for visualizing the configurations of molecules. This reviewer hesitates to find fault with minor matters that have no bearing on the scientific aspects of the treatment. However the rather frequent typographical errors, the misspelling of authors' names. the inconsistencies in the hwhenation and com". pounding of words, and the erratic inclusion of authors' names in references at the ends of chapters cannot help hut annoy the reader. CARL R. NOLLER
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY P. I. Durrant, Selwyn College, Cambridge University. Long. mans, Green and Co.. Ltd.. New York, 1950. xi 544 pp. 60 figs. 18 tables. 14.5 X 22.5 cm. $3.75.
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Tms book offers an interesting contrast in approach to its subject in oomprtrison with American elementary textbooks. Theory and laboratory practice are treated concurrently, the text being divided about equally between the two. Durrant's text is a little more detailed than most one semester American hooks, but by judicious selection of material could well be used for such a course. Since Durrant bas laboratory procedures for each class of organic molecules interspersed throughout the book, it should be used as both laboratory manuel and lecture text. In Chapter 1 the electronic structure of the elements is considered in more detail than in most elementary American texts. The last part of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of resonance usine CO*as a model oomnound.
Aliphatic as well as aromatic are considered. Also a hasty explanation of optical and geometrical isomerism is given. This chapter was a disappointment since the title leads one to believe that the over-all objectives of organic chemistry were to be die cussed rather than merely an outline of nomenclature. Chanter 3 on Laboratom Technioue contains a laree number of
ough and well b t r a t e d &th drawings of the necess&y apparatus. With Chapter 5, page 104, Durrant continues, where many American books begin, with a study of paraffins. Aliphatic chemistry is covered in the next 198 pages. Then follows a
ohapter on optical and geometrical isomerism, one on polyhydric alcohols, and then one on carbohydrates. The next 122 pages are given to aromatic chemistry. Chapter 29, 34 pages, is a recapitulation of all the important organic reactions in tabular form with a brief summary statement of the usefulness and limitations of each. This chapter should be welcomed by students preparing for exams. The last chapter in the book discusses how organic compounds are prepared industrially from the four fundamentals, carbohydrates, oils and fats, coal, and petroleum. Students will find this a. most interesting chapter. Durrant emphasizes a point often neglected: that the various countries frequently use quite differentraw materials to make the same cbemical. There are no questions at the end of the chapters, but at the end of the book a section of 314 review questions is included. CORWIN HANSCH
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING COST ESTIMATION Robert S. Aries and Robert D. Newton, Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and Chemical Engineer, Charles Pfiaer and Co., Ino., respectively. Chemonomics, Inc., New Yark, 1950. 109 pp. 27 tables. 67 graphs. 21.5 X 28 cm. $5. ONEimportant function of the chemical engineer is to estimate the cost of the new plant which will produce the chemist's brain child. If the cost is too high the completed research project remains only that. This hook gives charts and rules based on published cost figures for installed equipment which will permit an engineer to estimate with s. fair degree of accuracy the cost of the required plant. The material presented here is largely a callection of graphs and tables previously published in Chemical Engineering and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the literature citations are frequently incomplete, and time is wasted seeking the original article. Beeau~usethis is one of the few collections of such information the book will be consulted frequently by engineers making cost estimations. KENNETH A. KOBE
UNN~RBITV OB TEXAS A a s ~ n i TEXAS .
HANDBOOK OF ANTIBIOTICS A. L. Baron, S. B. Penick & Ca., New York. Reinbold Publishing Corp., New York, 1950. viii 303 pp. 16 X 23.5cm. $6.50.
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"HANDBOOK of Antibiotios" is a descriptive msnusl oondensed from the accumulated litzrature existing in late 1919 and, in some instances, early 1950. I t presents abbreviated details of history, production, chemistry, bacteriology, and pharmitcology for many of the 141 antibiotics listed. The author has considered an antibiotic to be a metabolic product that is antagonistic in low concentration to the growth of one or more microbial species. Origin is not restricted to produotsof microbial metabolism; thus, such materials as plumbagin and tomatine are included. Disoussion of each antibiotic includes portions of the following dstails: history4iscoverer, productive organism, synonyms; production-type of fermentation, formulation of media, expected yields, methods of isolation and purification; ehemistry-constitution, properties, reactions, derivatives; bacteriology-method of assay, microbial spectra. in vitro and in uivo, mode of action, factors affecting activity, microbial rosistence; pharmacologytoxicity, physiology, blood level, spinal fluid level, fetal blood level, absorption, excretion, diffusion. The attempt to include all rtntibioties has made the manual erratic in balance. Many of the entries are discussed thoroughly; others, however, receive little attention. Althoueh this situation results unquestionably from the soarcity of p u k x & m s relative to certain-antibiotics,
