158
JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
The special appeal of this work to the teacher and the student of inorganic chemistry liea in the fact that an attempt has been made to gather into one place material whieh hitherto has been available only by reference to a variety of sources. The selection of this material has been thoughtfully planned and the result is a very teachable textbook, clearly written and with s minimum of mathematical treatment, up to date, comprehensive, with ample references to the original literature for those who would seek further enlightenment. Professor Moeller is to he congratulated in supplying a muchneeded aid to the instructor in advanced inorganic chemistry, whether at the senior or graduate level. The book should go far to dispel the often-heard but erronwus belief that inorganic chemistry has nothing left to explore, that everything of consequence has been done, and that the search for new things lies rather in the other branches of the science of chemistry. A careful readine of this hook will reveal that inorwnio ahemistrv
0
COMMUNICATION OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Robert M. Deden'ch. Chemanomics, Inc., New York, 1952. 116pp. 15.5 X 21 cm. $5. NOTHING except the promise to review this book for readers of could have induced this reviewer to persevere to THISJOURNAL the end of it, doggedly turning page after page and reading every word. I t took a long time, but here goes. This book offers a supreme example of something in which one "can't. see the forest for the trees." because the nhvsicsl an-
embalmed were annoying, and the inevitable monotony of the crowded pages soon became most irritating. Because any book on the oommunication of technical information might he eagerly seized by any scientist or technologist bent on improving his reports or other written work, intellectual honesty compels the flat statement that this little book, alas, will not be very helpful. It is simply baffling in the frank abctndon with which the author blandly admits d l that his book is not. I t is, for example, ". . . not on report writing. . . simply about renot porting." The chapter on writing is just ahout writing". "II Htrempt to ~mwidt~ a guidr ior punctuation or sprlling or gmmm:.r; rather it i.ian attrnlpt to chon. the rclntionship bvtwcrn writitru and thinkine." Further. ". . .the thinkine r o n m more from :. .anthropology and psychblogy than from .7.literature." The foreword, by an Assistant Professor at Columbia University (department not indicated; not in "American Men of Science"), says that the author in "uniquely fitted to write in this field" because of his academic training in English literature, rhetoric, and grammar, plus engineering school while in the Navy. Such a flaunting promise of excellence is best fulfilled by a text of which every page exemplifies "Q.E.D." I t seems incredible that anyone actually trained in English could use such poor English in general, suoh aehildish presentation in spots, and so many appalling sentences. It seems to have been left entirely without editing. The text is freely interlarded with the jargon of "pedaguese" (e. g., "area," "frame of reference," "pattern of activity," "postulated entity," "strneturing"). Many pages seem to he merely s. rehashing of notes taken in some course (probably one of these newfangled offerings on "Communioations" under Social Studies), in whieh the professor starts droning on a balmy September day, knowing that he has until Christmss to get his points across. The whole thing, in fact, might well have started as a "literrtry mosaic," like some of the term papers submitted in just such courses.
..
This hook is literally incredible; that is, it must he seen to be believed. One consolation for disappointed persons who may have paid the unaccountable price of it is that for anyone seriously interested in the communication of technical informationit is atreamry of "horrible examples" on which to practice editing and the correcting of both obvious and elusive errors of all kinds. FLORENCE E. WALL
New yonu. NEW Yon&
0
THE COMMON AND SYSTEMATIC NOMENCLATURE OF THE SIMPLEX ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
Fred Serneniuk, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina. North Carolina Phar maceutical Research Foundation, Iuc., Chapel Hill, 1952. vi 55 pp. 21.5 X 28 cm. Paper covers. $1.25.
+
about a strong demand for accurate names and a growing interest in nomenclature. Books an this subject are needed, and in fact two such have already appeared, Mitchell's in England and Gaede's in Holland. Unfortunately this American addition to the list is a distinot disappointment, being as likely to mislead students as to help them. I t contains numerous Errors, especially in the "I.U.C." names (there is no recognition of the fact that the IUC became the IUPAC, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, in 1949, or of the decisions made in 1949 and 1951). The IUPAC rule that only one kind of function will be expressed by the ending of the name is disregarded; so also is the rule that the carbon atom having the free valency, in an aliphatic hydrocarbon radical is numbered one (hence such radical names as 2-propyl for isopropyl are wrong). It is not true that "oxo" is interchitneed& with "oxv." Instances of urrone correlationof structure withname are: -4-0-, dioxo; -N=, azo; O=C=C=O, oxalyl. Some of the structures, as of azides, ozonides, calcium earbonste, artre not modern. There are three or four pages of explanation; the rest of the material is in tabular form.
-
-
AUWIN M. PATTERSON
XENIA,OAIO
0
CHEMISTRY OF CARBON COMPOUNDS. VOLUME I. PART B: ALIPHATIC COMPOUNDS
Edited by E. H. Rodd. Elsevier Publishing Co., Houston, Texas, 1952. mi 684 (779-1462) pp. 23 figs. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. Subscription price, $15; single copy, $17.50,
+
"CHEMISTRY of Carbon Compounds" will constitute a f i v e volume oomprehensive treatise on organic chemistry when completed. Volume I covers a general introduction and aliphatic compounds, while Volumes I1 to IV will consider alicyrlic, aromatic, and heterocyclic compounds, with Volume V containing miscellaneous material and general indexes. To date Volume I has been published in two parts, IA (pages 1-778, Introduction and Chapters I-XI (1951)) and I B (pages 779-1462, Chapters XII-XXIII). Future volumes are scheduled to
British Universities. Individual chapters to the volumes have been contributed by one or more distinguished British chemists. There are 23 contributors to Volume IA and 13 to Volume IB, five of the group having contributed to both volumes. Dr. Rodd is assisted in his editorship by an advisory Board including such eminent British scientists as Professors R. Robinson, J. W. Cook,R. D. Haworth, I. Heilbron, E. L. Hirst, and A. R. Todd. The intention of the present reference series is to bridge the gap between such encyclopedias as Beilstein's "Handbuch" and ordinary singlevolume organic texts. The outlines of the pre3ent
