RECENT BOOKS. TEACHING OF SCIENCE. E&t R. Downing, The Department of Education. The University of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 1934. vii 258 pp. 13.5 X 19.5 cm. $2.00. Although this volume is announced on its title page as 'A Revision of Teaching Science in the Schools;' it is in reality, as the author states in his preface, a new book. It is worthy of mention a t the outset that, in view of the subject matter it covers and the considerable collection of data it contains, the book is unusually readable. The author has employed plain, straightforward English in preference to "pedagese," throughout. Such more or less technical terms as are necessary are usually explained both by definition and i U w tration. The author maintains consistently the point of view of the practicing teacher rather than that of the educational technician. The volume opens appropriately with a chapter on "Major Goals and Specific Objectives." The second chapter is devoted to a discussion of the essentials of what the author has chosen to call "consumer science." as distinguished from "producer science." Chapters on "The Important Principles," "Skill in Scientific Thinking," "Emotionalized Standards," and "The Science Curriculum" follow. Chapter 7 is an excellent exposition of the unit method of organizing and presenting subject matter. Chapter 8 constitutes a brief but adequate summary of "Studies of the Methods of Teaching Science." The vexed question of individual laboratory work verms lecture demonstrations is fairly presented and discussed. A bibliography of studies on this subject is included. as well as a summarized tabulation of data. Chapter 9 is a rather detailed discussion of "Supervised Study." In his introduction to this chapter the author makes the point that comparative studies of teaching methods often show-very slight differences because the studies often deal with the mere rn&hanics of instruction rather t h a n with the real technics of teaching. He emphasizcr the imporranrc of helping tbc pupils to acquire skill in learning and remarks the futility of attempting to "learn 'em." Chapter 10 discusses the utility, the formulation, and the desirable characteristics of standardized tests. Several brief models for the teacher are included, as well as a selected list of commercially available tests. The concluding chapter, on "F'resent Conditions," discusses preparation of science teachers, the teaching load, the demand for teachers of science, salaries, and opportunities for improvement in service. Available literature on laboratory layout and furniture, on apparatus and supplies, and on science libraries is summarized. The chapter candudes with a consideration of the decline in enrolment experienced by all science subjects except chemistry in recent years. The author interprets this trend as a result of the competition of many new secondary-school subjects rather than as an evidence of decreasing interest in science. , References are not interspersed throughout the text, but a complete bibliography is appended and there is little difficulty in locating any reference desired. Some of the specifically chemical subject matter, drawn from educational studies and reports, might have been improved by more careful wording. The author himself arranges the elements periodically in the order of atomic weights rather than that of atomic numbers (P. 15). These, however, are minor defects. utterly inconsequential in comparison with the real merits of the book. OTTOREINMUTH
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE
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YEAR CHEMISTRY.William H. Chapin. E x E ~ a s E sIN SECOND Oberlin College. Third Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 255 pp. 34 Figs. 15 X 25 cm. New Pork City, 1934. xiii $2.50.
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This book is designed to accompany the author's text, "Second Year College Chemistry." I t is divided into two main parts.
Part I, which deals with theoretical problems, contains sixty-one exercises on the following topics: Use of a balance and of volumetric apparatus, kinetic theory of gases, gas laws, change of state, molecular weights, atomic weights and the laws of weight relationships. valence, solubility, depression of the freezing point, ionic theory, homogeneous and heterogeneous equilibria, indicators, complex ions, colloids, and electrochemistry. Part I1 is entitled Quantitative Analysis. I t contains twenty-five exercises dealing with the following subjects: measurements of acids and bases, gravimetric analysis, volumetric precipitation, volumetric oxidations and reductions, and electro-analysis. No complicated or very expensive apparatus is needed for the performance of the experiments. The directions are complete and should be easy to follow. Sample calculations frequently appear. Experiments dealing with practical problems predominate, and are used to illustrate theoretical topics. The experiments on pH are particularly good. The quantitative aspect of the experiment is emphasized as much as possible considerine the nrevious chemistrv trainine of the students. The book well written and quite free from mistakes. I t should he provided with an index. The hook certainly covers the experimental side of the work included in the "Second Year College Chemistry." The erperim a t s in the first part, which are often presented in courses in elementary physical chemistry to third- or fourth-year students are not quite as complete or precise as those usually presented to such students or as those experiments in the second part which deal with Quantitative Analysis. This choice is made necessary by the sequence of courses followed a t Oberlin and at other schools which have adopted their system. Some readers will feel that in a work of this kind designed to emphasize the fundamental principles ofchemistry, more space should be devoted to a discussion of electrode potentials as a measure of the driving force of oxidation-reduction reactions. A good start in this direction is made in Chapter XXI. The reviewer feels that this start might have been made in Chapter XVIII and that in the latter chapter more details of mare examples might have been given. E. ROGERWASHBURN UNIY&ESIN OW NBBPASK* LINCOLN, NBB.
CHEM~SCHE UNTERRICATSVERSUCAB. Prof. Dr. H. ~ k e i n b h t . Bonn. With an introduction by ~ r $ . Dr. Paul ~fdffezr; Bonn. Theodor Steinkopff, Dresden. 1934. xx 326 pp. 112 Figs. RM. 10.
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Although the title of the book under review suggests that it is either a compendium of lecture demonstrations or a laboratory manual to be used in connection with classes in general chemistry, it really has a far broader and more important aim. Its major objective is the training of teachers in the setting-up of lecture demonstrations and in the technics which they must impart to their students. This objective, impartant as it is, seems to the reviewer to have been almost entirely neglected in this country, not only by authors of books, but in the courses available to prospective teachers. The present book is, therefore, a valuable addition to chemical literature and one which every teacher in high school or college will wish to possess. The numerous experiments are described in the greatest possible detail with alarge number (112) of excellent illustrations, and are supplemented by extensive references to the literature with particular emphasis on historical aspects. The experiments range in difficulty from those suitable for student work in elementary courses to those requiring more complicated devices intended for lecture demonstrations. Even the simplest experiments frequently are presented with a sufficient degree of novelty to be very suggestive to the teacher anxious to improve his laboratory instruction. In every instance the directions are very complete and precise. The first part of the book, after a brief but excellent analysis
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of the objectives of lecture demonstrations and student experiments gives general directions for construction of laboratory apparatus and a detailed description of methods for the preparation, handling, and liquefaction of gases, with special attention t o the gases most commonly used in the laboratory. The second, by far the larger, part of the b w k is essentially a laboratory manual far t-her-training courses. This part contains a very large nnmher of main experiments (252) and many minor ones (over 300) which are essentially tests on the substances prepared. I n working through the manual a student will gradually improve his general experimental technic and will learn to construct many di5erent types of apparatus, such as a muffle furnace, tube furnaces of various kinds, an electric furnace for the demonstration of the manufacture of phosphorus, devices for showing syntheses of and thermal dissociation of gases at high temperatures, apparatus for electrolytic preparations and for various types of catalytic processes, and a great variety of apparatus constructed of glass. The subject matter illustrated by these experiments is very broad, covering as it does every important phase of general chemistry. The point of view is not wholly preparative; the oraoerties of the elements and comoaunds t o be oreoared are illustrated in very ample fashion. Thus with the preparation of hydrogen, there are given experiments on catalytic hydrogenation, with the preparation of oxygen experiments on its separatiou from hydrogen by diffusion, on the production of oxygen by plants, on dust explosions, on catalytic oxidation, with the preparation of hydrogen sulfide experiments on its liquefaction, its thermal dissociation and its catalytic oxidation. etc. Not only is there a wealth of such illustrative material, but a great variety of methods of preparation is described Under the metals, for example, reduction of their compounds by hydrcgen, by carbon, by carbon monoxide, by aluminum, by iron, and by electrolytic processes is illustrated. The substances prepared include all those commonly made by students in general chemistry, as well as very inany usually taken up only in more advanced courses in inorganic preparations. I n some ways the book will, therefore, be valuable in the latter type of work; its disadvantage for this purpose is that little or no emphasis is p l e d on yields and that in many instances only enough of the substance is prepared t o give evidence of its formation. The book is excellently put together. I t has a very excellent index. The only criticism that the reviewer might venture to make is that, in the desire for "elegance," the experimental s e t u p described is often far more complicated than is either necessary or desirable. But such a defect is easily corrected in using the book, which can be highly recommended. H. I. SCRLESINGER L
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UNZVBRSITY OP CFXC*OO
CRICICO,ILL.
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Volume XIV of Organic Syntheses cont'ains directions for preparation of the following substances: aceta-9-cymeue, benzanthrone, benzopinacol, 8-benzopinacoloue, o-bromophenol, &chlaroethyl methyl sulfide, decamethylene glycol, diazoaminobenzene, 8-diethylaminoethyl alcohol. 2,6-dimetbylpyridiue, dipbenylmethane, diphenyl sulfide, ethyl acetosnccinate, gallacptuphmone, glyccrol u.ydibrumohydrin, plgcine ethyl estcr hydrwhloride. phydroxybrnruic acid. ?-llydroxy-3.;rdiiud+ benroic acid.. .0-hvdroavethyl . . . methyl sulfidc. dl-methionine. 5 rnethvlfurfural.. b-nitrodiobenvl . . ether. nitromesitvlene. &nitroobenvl isocvanate. nitrotbio~hene. .dl-8-ohenvlalanine. . . ~,~ ~~~~~, . There are also. as usual, a number of referases to later work concrrned with preparations described in previms volumcs, and a few additions and corrections for preceding volumes. We are particularly glad t o find among these additions, a cammunication regarding the preparation of n-heptyl alcohol, for there is still fresh in our mind an unfortunate experience with one of those "frequently.. . . . .noted lots of iron filings'! with which we were unable t o reduce n-heptaldehyde successfully.
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U N I V B ~ I OB T YMAILYLWD
COLLBOB PAllX. MD.
ELEMENTARY QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS. F. M. Brewer, Oxford University. Oxford University Press, New York City. 1933. viii 228. 12 X 18 cm. $2.00.
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Here is a new approach t o the study of qualitative analysis. The author has built up this text around the relation of the analytical schemes and methods of detection to the periodic table. After a brief introduction bearing on the theoretical basis of qualitative analysii, same fifty pages are given over to the proprrties and methods of idcntidcation of the common anions. and a somewhat grcatrr spare is devoted to the common cattons. Thc conventional methods and schemes are employed, though in the cation schemes the author has included in his " F i s t Main Group" the ions of Groups I and 11. His "Second Main Group" comprises the usual Group I11 cations and the "Third Main Grouo" includes the alkaline earth and alkali metals. The newcr tests, rcagmts, or nwrhods stem not tohc given. Equntions are e v e n in ~nolrrularform. Applications to equililxium thcory are not cmphnrired. l'rowdurcs are given fur the analysis of a single substance and for a mixture of s ~ h s t a n c ~ sThe . uiud "dow-shcetr" or diamammatic presentations, so familiar in other tests, are lacking, though directions are clearly and fully given. The author is t o be complimented for the way in which he has correlated periodic properties with analytical behavior. Greater stressing of fundamental theory, ionic equations, and condensed procedures would make the book more complete and simpler for the beginning student to follow. The text might be used very profitably in conjunction with a course in inorganic chemistry. CAKL J. ENGELOER
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Tns ZTNrv~~srrr OP PITTSSIIRDA
ORGANICSYNTHESES,VOL. XIV. W. H. Hartman, Editor-inchief. John Wiley & Sons. Inc., New York City, 1934. vii 100 pp. 2 Figs. 15 X 23 cm. $1.75.
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An improved method for preparing dCmethionine should be welcomed by biochemists. Earlier in the volume we find directions for preparing 8-chloroethyl methyl sulfide which enters into the dl-methionine preparation. The reduction of ethyl sebacate by the Bouveault-Blanc method illustrates a general reaction by which other glycols, and simple alcohols as well, can be made. A number of glycols, prepared by the checkers according t o the directions given, are listed in the notes following the description of experimental procedure. Information like the above. regarding the scope of a type reaction, is particularly valuable in a volume like the one under discussion, and we are glad t o note that similar information is t o be found following the desaiptions of certain of the other preparations. Volume XIV of Organic Syntheses is a worthy addition t o a series which is indispensable t o the organic chemist. NATHAN L. DRAKE
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N. Holrnes, ProINTROD~CTORY COLLOIDC A E ~ S T R YHarry . fessor of Chemistry, Oberlin College. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. New York City, 1934. xiv 198 pp. 34 Figs. 15 X 23 cm. 52.50.
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The aooearance of this volume simultaneouslv with the third cdition of the Laboratory hlanual of Colloid Chemistry by the same author is of cvnsidcrahle interest to .rudenu of this rapidly growing tirld of chcmistr). In no s e m r should it bc considered as a companion book t o the manual even though the subject matter is arranged in almost the same order. I n fact, introductory paragraphs of many of the chapters are almost identical in many instances with those in the manual. There are many additional points of similarity t o the author's laboratory manual. Among them we find directions for a number of experiments, so that this volume is something of a combination elementary text and laboratory manual. The experiments as given do not detract from the value af the book in the least. This volume should only be considered as an introductory and elementary book on the subject. As such it c o w s a surprising amount of material which in the main is well arranged and interestingly written. ~
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