a changing technology, and industrial location. Kenneth Warren, who is a lecturer in geography a t the Oxford University, recanstructs the past by interweaving themes from geography, economic history, and the history of technology. His primary assertion is that shifts in plant site location were a coasequence of the changing economic and technological conditions in the alkah industry. T h e methods of large scale alkali production determined raw material and labor requirements. established the oroduct cost.. and.. therefore. imnosed discrete " eeo. ~ ~ ,.ultimatelv .~~~~~~~~~ ~.-~ graphic limitations upon the manufacturers. By analyzing changes in wages, tariff rates, chemical technology, costs of raw materials, production and transportation costs, the author interprets the dynamics of a nineteenth century industry in transition. T h e alkali trade resorted to business rnereers, mechanizatinn of hoth old and new orocesses. ~
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cation in an effort to combat falling prices, fluctuating demand, and rising wage rates. Warren perceives the development of the nineteenth century alkali industry as a stepwise evolutionary process. Simpler levels of technology and business organization were gradually displaced by increasingly more complex chemical processes and larger firms. T h e author distinguishes three distinct historical stages of development, during which a characteristic made of production predominated. T h e first phase of alkali produetian took place from 1800 to 1825 and was concentrated on the northwest shores of
cess, a fuel intensive chemical process with numerous hy-products, was the dominant method employed in Britain between 1825 and 1875.T h e Tyneside region, with its vast supplies of coal, became the center of the alkali industry during this stage. The Leblanc process slowly gave way to a third phase of development in which the majority of products were a result of the fuel efficient Solvay and electrolytic processes. As these newer processes were implemented in Brltain, regional supremacy shifted from the Tyneside reeion in the northeast to Mersevside in the n&hwest of Britain. Although the focus of Warren's study is based on the hypothesis that there is a eorrelation between technology and industrial
author brieflv discusses the role of science
conservatism of the owner-managers, and the large amounts of capital invested in obsolete equipment as major factors leading to the decline of the alkali trade. Even though Kenneth Warren is a geographer by profession, he has shown a remarkable ability to understand the chemical A276
Journal of Chemical Education
technology associated with the British alkali industry. His work forms a foundation from which more detailed and more technical studies should follow. T h e role of the chemical engineer and the nature of technological innovation practiced by those associated with the older Leblanc process and the newer Solvav oroeess should be camoared and of thumbmethods tooneguided by scientific principles would add much to Warren's already clear understanding of the economic and geographic conditions which affected this industry. "Chemical Foundations" can be enjoyed by both the technical and non-technical reader, and it can be used effectively as supplementary reading in either an undergraduate or graduate course in the history of chemistry, histary of technology, or economic history. On the whole, Warren has produced a sound piece of historical scholarship that can be of value to economic historians, historians of technology, and geographers alike. John A. Heitrnann Tne Oepanmenl of :he ri stor) of Sc ence The .oh"\ hopkms .n w s l , Ball more MD 2 1218
Information Theory as Applied to C h e m i c a l Analysis K. Eckschlager, V. Stepanek. John Wiley 8 Sons.. Somerset, NJ. 1979. v 186 pp. Figs. and tables. 23.6 X 15.8 cm. 519.50.
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vey applications of these concepts in analysis, the authors have written a concise manograph which serves both as a primer and a review. Applications of information theory in chemistrv is a fleddineof about adecade. and the authbrs are among the leaders in the area uf incorporating information theory concepts in analytical chemistry. Many of the authors' research publications in this field are not in English, so that in this book the authors' ideas are assembled and presented in English for the first time. Since relatively few chemists have applied basic information concepts in chemical analysis, this volume is useful in explaining basic ideas and in illustrating chemical analysis application areas. Puhlication of a text which develops the applieation of information in chemical analysis is badly needed, and this one should be valuable in stimulating others to extend the field. Comprised af six chapters and an appendix, the text is devoted primarily to establishing quantitative approaches to the evaluation and selection of an analytical method or the optimization of a n analytical p r o w dure. Beginning with a mathematical view of chemical analysis as a means of generating information, the authors formulate classical analysis properties in terms of information encoding, content, and decoding. In three chapters, basic concepts of probability theory, information theory, and some methods of statistical inference are presented. In the main and final chapter,"Evaluation and Optimization of Analytical Results and Methods," the authors illustrate the in for^ mation content of qualitative and quantitative analyses. They also describe the influence of the number of observations, precision,
information content in higher-precision analysis, of trace-analysis results, of twodimensional instrumental methods, and the information obtained by combining analytical methods and of results in analytical quality control are developed quantitatively as well. Eckschlager and Stepanek also c o w sider the assessment of analytical methods temporally as "information flow" and "information performance" and economically as "specific information price" and i in for ma^ tion prnfitability." These concepts are then evaluated in illustrating the choice of the cintimum anahtical method. Ootimization of
chemistry complete this chapter. This volume isnot a text-book, although it might well have heen expanded to become one, and some yet underdeveloped concepts such as the problems ofseleetivityand specificity of analytical methods are passed over when they could have been extended. All chemists concerned with qualitative and quantitative measurements will find this book worthy in acquiring the concepts of in^ formation theory and stimulating in extending them in chemical analysis. Ramon M. Barnes University of Massachusetts Amherst. MA 01003 C o n d e n s e d Matter Physics: Dynamic Correlations Stephen Lovesey, Benjamin/Curnrnings. Inc.. Reading. MA. 1980, xiv 191 pp., Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $14.50 paper. $26.50 hardbound,
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This hook is a graduate level text dealing with selected modern methods of statistical physics applied to some models of the dynamic properties of condensed phases close to thermal equilibrium. T h e volume is the latest entry i#49) in the extensive Frontiers in Physics series. T h e book reflects well the philosophy behind the series, namely communication to a wider audience the state of the a r t in a rapidly developing field. T h e organization is excellent. The general framework of the correlation function approach is set forth in the Introductim (Chapter I). Each of the remaining five chapters deals with a particular cumputational method. Macroscopic (continuum) models are treated in Chaoters 11.111. and IV: whereas, in Chapters V and VI the d;namics is deduced from micmseopic properties via Hamiltanians. Examples to illustrate the formalism appear throughout and the reader is invited to fill in the details tu test his understanding of the particular methods employed. Most chemists will find the reading heavv
the examples range widely over physical phenomena. T h e author has provided ass is^ t a m e by furnishing a large relevant bibliog~ raphy. One is rewarded for slogginx through the aleebra since the statistical methods are irontinucd on page A2781
BOON REVIEWS I
thereby obtained and may be related t o the
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not just formal theoretical constructs, rather they are the bonds between the models of the dynamics and experiments. The chapters are .seKcontained and one can become profident, in m e method a t a time. T h e breadth of ex^ perimental applications is remarkable. A nonexclusive list includes light, neutron, and electron scattering, hydrodynamics (including polymer melts), paramagnetism (ferromagnetism), dielectric relaxation, NMR, lattice vibrations, ultrasonic relaxation. and the electron gas. T h e general utility of the statistied methods is apparent. Each technique is described briefly below. Chapter 11. Stochastic Equations. This chapter treats macroscopic properties a t large distances and long times. Motions on a microscopic scale are treated as a random h r c e which is nncorrelated with macroscopic dynamical variables. T h e linear Langevin equation is presented as an example of a simple stochastic equation uf motion from which the velocity autocorrelation function can be calculated and the self-diffusion eons t a n t extracted from the result. This is a special case of the Kuho techniqur for ohtaining transport coefficients. A more cum~ l i c a t e deuuation of motion is set forth sub-
is relieved hy intraducti& of a memory function into the Langevin equation, T h e properties of the memory function are in^ vestigated and m e finds that the equation for evolution of the memory function has the same form as that of the generalized Langevin equation. An infinite hierarchy of memory functions results and Fourier transform leads to a continued fraction expansion (Mwi method). Chapter IV. Renormalization Group. T h e method has its orieins in field theorv. but it a creative application to polymer physics by
De Gennes). The problem is that standard methods diverge in a space dimension less than some critical dimension which is characteristic of the model Id = 4 for polymer statistics). T o find asolution for the realdimension of interest, the divergent contributions to the (Feynman diagram) expansion scheme are given a well~definedmeminxand the expansion reorganized to give finite quantities subject to the requirement that the physics be unchanged. Chapter V. Causal Green's Functions. An equation of motion for the causal Green's functivn is derived in Chapter I by considering the system response t o step-function perturbations. The advantages of using Green's functions are their computationill convenience and their ability to provide a base fur generating approximate results for nonlinear systems. Chapter VI. Linear Response Theory. A small time-dependent perturbation causes a system response (caleolahle from the change in Hamiltonian) which may be linearized (if necessary). The dynamic susceptibility is A278
Journal of Chemical Education
of this formalism is easy to visualizeand the mathematical simplicity of linear systems makes applicatims straightforward. Not surprisingly this has been a preferred path for the construction of correlation Sunctions. Although the content is demanding o f t h e reader, this bonk deserves wide circulation. Worth E. Vaughan University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison. WI 53706
Analytical Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy J. C. Van Loon. Academic Press, New York. 1980. xi 337 pp. Figs, and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm.
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This monograph is essentially a collection of analytical procedures based on atomic absorption spectrometry with the first 76 pages out of 337 devoted to a brief, qualitative description of the general principles of atomic absorption spectroscopy which should be readily understandable t o the nonspecialist. T h e remainder of the book consists of detailed procedures for applying this extremely popular analytical technique t o a variety of analvtical samoles. The ~ r o c e d u r e s are grouped together in chapters with separate chapters devoted t o the analysis of waters, r~rganicsamples, geological materials, metals and alluys, metal compounds, petroleum and petroleum products, industrial samples, and air samples. Of course, the major problem fur the a o thur in writing a book of this type lies in selpcting the particular procedures for inclusion from the burgeoning atmnic absorption literature. The author states in his preface that, "The procedures were selected with a view tc, their reliability. Emphasis was placed on choosing thoroughly tested methods, p r e f ~ erably ones t h a t were evaluated by using standard reference samples and interlsbo~ ratory comparisons."This is unquestionably a reasonable way to go about the selection. Ilnlortunately, this reviewer did not find much data in the text tosupport the author's statement. In fact, with must of the procedures described, the reader must wonder who determined the reliahility of the selected procedures? Was it the authors of the originally cited literature? Was it the author of this monograph' How specifically was the reliahility evaluated for each sample type? What were the results? Must importantly, what levels ofaccumcy would he expected fnr the methods? In the preface it states that "Citations have been kept t o a minimum to improve the flow of material and toavoid the impression that the reading of these refer^ ences is essential." If the discussion of the reliability and accuracy of the methods is to he found only in the original citatims, it would seem that reading them would he es~enlial. T h e format for the description of each procedure begins with a section entitled, "Comment on the Method," followed by "Reagents and Equipment," and finally, "Procedure." In reading these procedures, this reviewer found it difficult to determine whether definitive statements and conclusions about the procedures are those eon-
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lained in the original published citations to the literature or are possibly those arising from the author's own personal experience with the method in his laboratory. Here wain, i t would seem essential to consult the original literature. Part of this amfusion may he due t o the style of the format where the "Reagents and Equipment" section is written in the past tense in the same manner as the experimental section of a research paper. By using this style, the reader is given the impression that this material is essentially that frlund in the experimental sections of the cited reierences. In contrast, the "Procedure" section is written with an imperative verh form characteristic of an analytical methods buok rather than a research paper. Regardless of whether this tense shifting has any significance or is simply a matter of poor editing on the part of the publisher, it can be very disconcerting a t times. For example un p. 299 it states, "The hydrogen flow used is 1 liter/ min." Later in the same paragraph it states, "Nitrogen flow used was 6 iiterslmin." Still later in the same procedure the verh shifts to the imperative form and it states that, "Columns must hr cured for several hours." In spite of these shortcamings, this manograph does provide a collection of analytical procedures for the atomic absorption analysis of a variety of sample types with 218 literature citations. This book may, therefore, be useful to the practicing analyst faced with dayto-day analytical problems on a variety of samples where time does not permit lengthy literature searching. For such an analyst, this book would be quite valuable for quickly locating a procedure as well as fur deciding whether to do a particular determination by atomic absorption ur by some other technique. Because of the large amount of infwmation on sample preparation contained in this monograph, it should be a valuahle companion to the methods manuals supplied by instrument manufacturers with their spectrometers. Kenneth W. Busch Bayior University Waco, TX 76798
ANNOUNCING A NEW JOURNAL
Organometallics Dietmar Seyferth, (Editor). American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1982. Val. 1, No. 1.
Orpanometollics, an international journal concerned with all aspects of organome~ t a l k chemistry, will be puhlished monthly, one volume per year, beginning January 1982. It will cover svnthesis. structure and bondine
inorganic and organic functionality present in the molecule, and applications of organometallic reagents in organic synthesis and in polymer synthesis; catalytic processes in which an oreanometallie comnound is the ganometnllic compounds in the synthetic aspects of materials science and solid state chemistry.
