NEW BOOKS Modern Electrolytic Copper Refining. By Titus UZke. First Edition. 14 X 22 crn, pp. viii r70. N e w York :John Wiley and Sons, 1903, Price: bound, $3.00. -The industry of electrolytic copper refining has become so important that a monograph on the subject has been long needed. The present volume fills this need as well perhaps a% could be expected. The first chapter deals with the development, methods, and apparatus of electrolytic copper refining ; the second with a description of electrolytic copper-refining works ; and the third with cost estimates of an American electrolytic copper and nickel refinery. In an appendix there is a chronological list of patents, books, and special articles on electrolytic copper-refining methods and apparatus. The book is essentially a cornpilation from printed sources. While this is very welcome, it necessarily follows that much of the information is behind the times and that some of it is wrong. The account of the Hayden system in use at Baltimore is singularly incomplete. The whole of the third chapter is to be thrown out of consideration because the process described is not to be used at the Sault St. Marie and because there is no evidence as yet that the process will be a commercial success. While this book will be valuable, it would be more valuable if the accuracy of the author’s statements had been questioned Wilder D. Bancroft less often.
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Die Aluminium-Industrie, By F. Wintelev. 16 x 24 rm ;pp. xi 108. Braunschweig : Frfiedrich Vieweg und Sohn, ‘903. Price : 6 marks. - In the historical part, the process of Heroult gets two pages and those of Hall eight lines. The technical part is no better, and it would puzzle any one who did not already know to find out under whose patents aluminum actually is made. No mention is made of Acheson graphite, though ten pages are given to carbon electrodes. Over thirty pages are given to bauxite and cryolite, less than four pages to the physical properties of aluminum, one and a half pages to the chemical properties of aluminum, six pages to methods of working aluminurn, eight pages to the applications of aluminum, and less than four pages to the alloys. In other words, forty-five pages out of the hundred and eight are devoted to bauxite, cryolite, and methods of electrical measurements, Most of the twenty-four pages on operating the aluminum bath might well have been omitted so as to make room for facts in regard to the matter, Wilder D.Bancroft Quantitative Chemical Analysis by Electrolysis. By Alexander CZassen. Authorized translation,fourth English from tke fourth German edition, revised and enlarged b y Bertram B. Boltwood. 14 x 22 cin ; p$. vi +3z5. N e w York: John Wiley and Sons, 1903. Price: $3.00. -This book is more than a mere translation of the fourth German edition. The translator has introduced much of the more recent work including the determinations of
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Gooch with a revolving cathode. This work of Gooch has so revolutionized electrolytic analysis that all the old methods are already out of date, and we continue to use them only until the new directions are forthcoming, Wilder D. Bancroft Die Herstellung der Akkumulatoren. Ein Leitfaden. B y F. Griinwald. ‘Dritte AuJZage. io X z6 cm ;pfi. vi z58. Halle : Wilhelm Knapp, 1903. Price : bound, 3 marks. -There is a preliminary chapter on the electric cur-
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rent and then one on the development of the lead accumulator. This is followed by chapters on raw materials, on the treatment of accumulators, and on their application. Some useful tables are given in the appendix. There is a great deal of information contained in a small space. The aiithor considers the work of Dolezalek. Errors are few in number, though putting the meltingpoint of antimony at 440’ is one. Wilder D.Bancroft Physics of Thermo-Chemistry. By G. M. Westman. 15
x 23 cm ;122pp.
New York : G. M. Westman, 1903.- “ By isotherm expansion of the gas, the volunie of the molecule also expands, and consequently its heat capacity is changed. The molecule takes a part of the heat introduced into the system jn order to satisfy its greater heat capacity, when the system is isothermally expanded, and consequently the growth of the inner energy cannot be considered null as the Second Law [of Thermodynamics] presumes.” This paragraph from the introduction is really the starting point for all of the author’s deduc. tions. The argument involves the explicit assumption that the volume of the molecule expands during the isothermal expansion of an ideal gas. This is a matter about which we have no proof. We find, however, that the specific heat of different gases is more nearly independent of the volume, the more nearly the gas approaches the condition of an ‘ ideal’ gas. I t therefore becomes a very plausible assumption that the specific heat of an ideal gas is independent of the volume. While the author has a right to substitute some other assuniption for this, it would be more satisfactory if he had stated the facts as they are. The author starts with the following postulate : I ‘ All forces in nature can be referred to the force of attraction, and to the force of repulsion. While the force of attraction, which is called living force, emanates from the centrum, and acts towards it, the force of repulsion emanates from the surface and acts in the direction of the tangent. When the latter, which could better be named the radiant force, is freely developed, it is of equal value to the living force.” This is supplemented by the hypothesis that “ gases are considered to consist of molecules, tmd a gaseous matter around each molecule, as the phenomena of expansion cannot be explained if the gases were only a continuous medium ; and on the other hand a continuous medium is necessary, because vibration travels to the space which cannot be propagated by matter.” Starting from these premises, the author discusses : the energy of gases and laws controlling them ; determination of volume and energy of gaseous molecules; latent heat; determination of the volume and energy of the elements by heat evolved or absorbed in chemical reactions ; the coefficient for transferring the volume of the compound into the volume of the components ; volume and energy of twenty-seven elements ; determination of the
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radiant energy of some oxides by the heat evolved in combination with H,O, CO,, and SO, ; determination of the radiant energy of some sulphates and chlorides through the heat evolved in combination with different members of molecules of water ; energy evolved by dissolving bodies in different proportions of water ; heat of neutralization ; melting-point of the elements ; boilingpoint of the elements ; the modern kinetic gas theory and the author’s formula for kinetic energy ; valence and the supposed composition of the elements ; energy of bodies as deduced from the refraction of light ; the liquid state of a compressed gas ; the conditions for a chemical reaction. This is an interesting programme. While the reviewer has been unable to follow all the steps in the reasoning based on this theory of elastic molecules, it must be admitted that the formulas obtained do, in some cases, represent the WiLder D.Bancroft facts very well.
