534
NEW BOOKS
The price of the book, which seems high, perhaps indicates that i t is anticipated that the use of the book will be limited largely to those having an active interest in this rather specialized subject. F. E. BARTELL.
+
Colloid Chemistry (A Textbook). By HARRY BOYER WEISER. viii 428 pp. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1939. Price: (cloth) $4.00. The purpose of this book by the well-known investigator and author in the field of colloid chemistry is, in his own words, “to acquaint the student with the foundations of colloid chemistry and with the r61e that the classical experiments have played in the development of the modern theories and applications of the subject: to formulate systematically and to correlate critically the theories underlying colloid chemical behavior; and t o illustrate the widely diversified applications of the principles of colloid chemistry in such fields as the industrial arts, agriculture, and biology.” The general plan of the book is as follows: After a short introductory chapter, the first section of seven chapters deals in the conventional way with adsorption. The next section of ten chapters deals with the sols, only the last chapter of this section being devoted exclusively t o the hydrophilic sols. Shorter sections on gels, eniulsions and foams, aerosols and solid sols follow. The last part of the book deals with the “Applications of Colloid Chemical Principles t o Contact Catalysis, Dyeing, and Clay.” In addition there are indices of authors and subjects. The value of this otherwise very readable and instructive book is unfortunately somewhat diminished by too short a treatment or by complete omission of many newer dkvelopments, e.g., in the field of hydrophilic sols. The selection of the references is another point, inwhich improvements could be made in a second edition. Weiser’s book will be a valuable aid to students seeking an introduction to the field of colloids. Its clarity, didactic skill, and simplicity (with an occasional tendency t o oversimplify) will be extremely helpful to the newcomer in the field in acquiring much well-balanced basic information. KARLSOLLNER.
