.
Recent Books - - - -
Recent Advances in Organic Chemistry. D.Sc., Professor ALFRED W. STEWART, of Chemistry in the Queen's University of Belfast. 5th ed. Longmans, Green & Co., London and New York, 1927. 2 vols., xiv 387 and xiv 382 pp. 14 X 21.5 cm. $7.50 each.
+
+
This book, which has given aid and inspiration t o many for nearly two decades, has been rewritten and enlarged and now appears in two volumes. The object is to give vivid pictures of recent developments in selected fields rather than to cover the whole of organic chemistry. Each chapter is complete in itself. Volume 1 contains chapters an: Main currents in organic chemistry, modern reagents, addition reactions, aliphatic diazenes, ketenes, polyketides, monacyclic, dicyclic, and olehic terpenes, pyridine alkaloids, quinoline alkaloids, purines, polypeptides, trivalent carbon, unsaturation, and orientation in the benzene system. Volume 2 is more than half new and contains chapters on: Organic chemistry in the 20th century, some carbohydrate constitutions, sesquiterpenes, rubber, recent work on alkaloids, anthocyanins, chlorophyll, depsides, theories of the natural syntheses of vital products, new organo-alkali compounds, abnormal valency, structural formulas and their failings, some applications of electronics to organic chemistry, and some unsolved problems. The topics are well selected and discriminatingly treated. This hook will prove valuahle t o ambitiausstudentswho wish to go beyond the textbooks and will greatly aid teachers in the impossible task of keeping up with organic chemistry. I t is well worth while. E. EMMBT REID
A System of Qualitative Analysis for the
Rare Elements. ARTHURA. NOYES, Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology, and WILLIAM C. BRAY, Professor of Chemistry, University of California. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1927. xii 536 pp. 14 X 21.5 an. $5.00.
+
The aim of this book, as stated in the preface, is three-fold: fyst, to supply the chemical analyst with a system of procedure which will enable him to detect the various elements in all their comhinations by as simple a process as possible; second, t o record the numerous experimental investigations that have been carried out in developing this System of Analysis; and, third, t o provide for students a course in advanced inorganic chemistry that will afford them an acquaintance with the chemical properties of the rarer elements, many of which have now become highly important. The first two of these aims are evident in that there are really two volumes bound in one: the first extending t o page 267, giving the system of analysis with procedures and notes; the second, the balance of the text, giving the confirmatory experiments on which the system is based. The third aim receives attention through suggestions under the heading, "The Course of Study," in the first few pages of the hook. Fortunate the school that can find time in its schedule for such a course and students free t o elect i t from the multitude of courses now appearing in the average chemical curriculum! This is a book that has been eagerly awaited by the analytical chemist and that now supplies him with an immense fund of practical information. The attempt t o fit all the metals into a single systematic procedure far qualitative testing represents a culmination of the older point of view in analytical chemistry
in which the analyst tried to determine on a single sample all the constituents in which he was interested. Today i t is recognized that methods of separation must be varied according to the constituents present, that there is no single best method that can always be used. Therefore, this volume is valuable, less for the practical system of analysis developed with its apparent usefulness, than for the vast store of data in that part recognized by the authors themselves as being their main contribution, namely, the conh a t o r y experiments. Copious references in tbis part of the book add distinctly to its value. With a hook so very well done i t seems petty to search for minor imperfections. It may he noted incidentally, however, that of the metals listed in the table on page 503 only Terbium. Radium, and Radon are missing in the outlines. The two metals Samarium and Yttrium are still re~resented by the older symbols Sm a n d Y in the bady of the text instead of the more modern Sa and Yt. Glancing through the index, which seems very complete, the rare earth metals Dysprosium, Holmium, Lutetium, and Thulium are missing, though they appear in the tabular outline on page 210. It is not a volume for easy reading, hut with so remarkable a quantity of experimental work summarized in its pages, i t belongs . on the shelves of every chemist interested in the inorganic and analytical field, and should prove exceedingly valuable to teachers of advanced inorganic chemistry. R. K. CALPINB
welcome. This one, written in the charming style so usual with the author, concerns his recent experiments on muscular movement, especially during violent exercise. The first ten chapters deal with observations made upon athletes, the remainder with experiments upon isalated muscles, these being the necessary precursors to the human experiments. Deductions made from the human experiments were based largely upon the study of the differences existing in the oxygen consumption before, during, and after exercise. From these data the author has drawn many interesting conclusions as to the maximum speed, fatigue, and recovery. The "buffers" of the blood and tissues are treated in a most instructive manner. Practical application of the findings to athletics is made in chapter ten. The book carries with i t a plea for chemists to interest themselves in this type of chemistry, biochemistry, and thermodynamics; to interest themselves in this difficult chemical and physical problem elicited by the power which a muscle possesses of transferring chemical energy into mechanical work, while maintaining a constant temperature and a fairly high efficiency. It is an exceedingly fascinating book by an authority, and for the most part comprehensible even to mediocre chemists. H, B,
Muscular Movement in Man: The Factors Governing Speed and Recovery , from Fatigue. A. V. H ~ L Foulerton Research Professor of the Royal Society of Landon: The George Fisher Baker Non-Resident Lectureship in Chemistry a t Cornell, 1926-1927. Volume 3. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 93 pp. 15 New York, 1927. xii X 22.5 cm. 32 illustrations. $2.50.
"The aim of tbis book is to present a comprehensive, accurate, and pedagogically sound review of elementary chemistry as taught in the best American High Schools." The book is designed to meet the 1926 Syllabus of the Board of Regents for the State of New York, and the College Entrance Examination Board. It is probably true that a review of this character does not lend itself readily to original treatment. It is no fault,
+
A publication by Dr. Hill is always
ELLISSTANNARD,A.B., Pd.B., Boys' High School, Brooklyn, New Y a k . Oxford Book Company, 251 pp. with New York, 1927. iv 24 figures. 13.5 X 19 cm. Paper cover, 68 cents. postage paid.
Chemistry. J.
+
