VOLUME 33, NO. 6, JUNE, 1956
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CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS: AN INTRODUCTION
Elliot N. Marvel1 and Albert V. Logan, Professors of Chem. istry, Oregon State College. John Wiley 8 Sons, Inc., New York, 1955. x 326 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $4.75.
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THISsmall introductory text is intended for students in %onesemester terminal course. The authors take the atudent through monofunctional compounds before presenting aromatic or polyfunctional compounds. The choice of material seems good, in the framework of brevity, and it b well handled. The style is readable and the book is profusely illustrsted. The equetions are largely of the "condensed" or "structural" variety. The reviewer feels that this is unfortunate because he strongly prefers the "graphic" formulas in equations, particularly during the first part of the course. Modem electronic mechanisms are used very sparingly, but perhaps adequately for the brief course. There ia a, chapter on Petroleum, one on Insecticides and Herbicides, and one on Synthetic Polymen. The six-chapter section on The Biological Compounds deals with stereoisomerism, the lipids, carbohydrates and proteins, and their mett~bolism. The material is distributed as follows: Introduction, 7 per cent; Aliphatic Compounds, 37 per cent; Aromatic Compounds, 26 per cent; Biological Compounds, 25 per cent; Index, 5 per cent. The nuhliaherri have done their usual mod work in the orintine and more) are used in questions and exercises, whole and frsctional pages of charts, pictures, and diagrams, blank pages, and index. No tables of phys~calconstants for reference were noted.
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MEDICAL RESEARCH: A MIDCENTURY SURVEY. VOLUME 1: AMERICAN MEDICAL RESEARCH-IN PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE. VOLUME 2: UNSOLVED CLINICAL PROBLEMSIN BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
The American Foundation, Esther Everett Lape, member in charge. Little, Brown and Co., Boston, 1953. Vol. 1: nxii 765 pp. Vo1. 2: xxxii 740 pp. Both 16 X 23.5 om. Set, $15.
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THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION, aided by a committee of 26 distinguished consultants in the medical and natural sciences, presents two comprehensive volumes on medical research, its present trends, and its foreseeable future. Chemists will he heartened t o r e d the heading of the first chapter: Medical Research in the Perspective of Biological, Chemical, Physical, and Mathematical Science. Not only this, but also the ten chapters on unsolved clinical problems in biological perspective in Volume 2 emphasize the complete awareness, of the medioal profession, of the impact of biochemistry on their mode of thinking. These chapters deal with cancer, infertility, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, rheumatic diseases, tuberculosis, alooholism, the nature of viruses and of virus diseases, and the biology of schizophrenia. I n addition to lucidly and comprehensively surveying each field, references are not specifically listed but are relegated to the hack of the volumes, and continuous reading is greatly facilitated by this device. Teachers of chemical topics related t o biology and medicine will find these surveys helpful especially since they attempt to foreshadow future researches and thereby provide the inspired thinking n. good teacher should transmit t o his students.
JOHN W. CHITTUM THECOIIL..E 0. WOOWER Woomen, OH^
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ALFRED BURGER U m v ~ n a t r pow V ~ ~ a l r n * CHARLWTEBVII.LE, V~R~IN~A
