NEW BOOKS VoEumetm’c Analylsis. By H. P. STARCK. 228 pp. Baltimore: William Wood & Company, 1934. Price: bound, $3.00. This book is written primarily for pharmaceutical and medical students and seems t o be suitable for the purpose. However, i t cannot be recommended as a text for students in chemistry, since the theory is entirely inadequate, a great many of the procedures are repetitions and not up-to-date, and some of them are highly inaccurate. I. M. KOLTHOPF, Dipole Moments. A General Discussion held by the Faraday Society. 25 x 16 em.; lxxxvi 227 pp. London: Gurney and Jackson, 1934. Price: (in stiff cloth covers) 21s. This volume, reprinted from the Transactions of the Faraday Society, contains twenty-four papers and a general discussion on dipole moments and related topics, which were communicated at the Faraday Society’s Symposium a t Oxford in April, 1934. The papers, which include contributions from the leading workers in this field in America and Europe, are divided into three groups: Part I. Dielectric Constant; Part 11. Determination of Dipole Moments; Part 111. Interpretation of Dipole Moments. The first section begins, as is fitting, with a paper by Debye, on “Energy Absorption in Dielectrics with Polar Molecules.’’ The other two papers in this section deal with the temperature variation of the dielectric constant of some crystalline solids. The nine papers in the second section are mainly concerned with the dielectric behavior of concentrated solutions, dipole association, and cohesion, and with the difficulties encountered in the calculation of dipole moments from polarization measurements in solution, in particular, the vexed question of the atom polarization, and the effect of the non-polar solvent on the apparent dipole moment. These papers constitute a valuable summary of the present position in these matters. The third section contains papers which cover a very wide field of the application of dipole moment measurements to problems of molecular and stereochemical st r uc t ure . An appendix of some eighty-six pages contains an excellently arranged catalogue of dipole moment data compiled by Dr. N. V. Sidgwick and his collaborators. This is the most complete list of dipole moments which has been published, and would in itself render the volume invaluable as a book of reference. In this list are given, not only the actual dipole moments, the authors, and references, but also the temperature or temperature range of measurement, the solvent or medium in which the measurement was carried out, the method used for the elimination of P,, the allowance which has been made for Pa, and the observed value of mP2 where this is given by the author. The book is indispensable t o workers in the field of dipole moments and contains much of interest to the general reader.
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Leitfahiglceitstitrationen und Leitfahigkeitsmessungen. Visuelle und akustische Methoden. By G. JANDER and 0. PFUNDT.25 x 16 cm.; viii 88 pp. Stuttgart: F. Enke Verlag, 1934. Price: unbound, 7.40 RM; bound, 8.80 RM. This book constitutes the second edition of Prof. Jander’s excellent monograph on visual conductometric titrations. Since its appearance, he and his pupils have made several improvements in the technique of these methods, and these are described in the present volume. As its name implies, the new edition has been extended so as to cover the whole field of conductometric analysis, including its technical applications. Coming, as i t does, from the pens of well-known authorities in the field of physicochemical analysis, the volume will be heartily welcomed by physical chemists, analysts, and especially those engaged in many chemical industries. The introduction of satisfactory and accurate visual methods has undoubtedly rendered conductometric methods available in noisy works laboratories, in which the ordinary telephone method cannot be used, and i t is there that Jander’s technique will find ever-increasing adoption. The second half of the book deals with analytical processes. Although, from the purely practical standpoint, the descriptions are adequate, i t is felt that too little attention is given to the principles underlying the procedures, and this is especially the case in the section on acidimetry and alkalimetry, in which no attempt is made t o correlate the shape of the titration graphs with the dissociation constants of acids and bases and the concentrations of the solutions being titrated and their titrants. On titrations themselves, the book can hardly be regarded as exhaustive. H. T. 8. BRITTON.
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CLARK. The Electronic Structure a n d Properties of Matter. By C. H. DOUGLAS 22x 14cm.; xxv 374 pp. London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1934. Price: 21s. This book is the first volume of a Comprehensive Treatise on Atomic and Molecular Structure, of which two further volumes, treating of the fine structure of matter and the interpretation of band spectra, respectively, are in preparation. This volume consists of two parts, a general introduction and a treatment of physical properties and molecular constitution. The general introduction gives a survey of modern views on the Periodic Table, the electronic configuration of atoms, quantum numbers, the transition elements, valency, and the nature of chemical linkages. The treatment is brief, accurate, and reasonably clear, though too condensed to be of much value to the student approaching the subject of electronic structure for the first time. It is a pity that Dr. Clark has not given a fuller and clearer treatment t o this portion, and so made it a very valuable textbook for the university student. The second portion collects a great number of facts which have not been assembled before in a single volume. This section will certainly be of great value. It contains excellent surveys of melting and boiling points, atomic and molecular volumes, atomic and ionic radii, electrical conductivity, magnetic and cohesional properties. The reviewer, though naturally unable to test the accuracy of the whole of a work of this type, has found no errors other than minor misprints. Full references are given to the author’s sources, and their clear and detailed presentation is a valuable feature of the work. The indexes are not so complete. A short examination revealed the absence of the names of Wasastjerna and Kerschbaum from the author index and of permutites (pp. 150, 151), rectification (p. 190), and complex compounds (pp. 225-8) from the subject index. FRANK SHERWOOD TAYLOR.
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