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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
vestigate their daily doings, let me introduce you to the monies of our old friend Cerium. Reader, meet Thorium, Lanthanum. Praseodymium. Neodymium, Samarium and these two shy fellows, with whom we are not yet well acquainted, Gadolinium and Europiutp. The names may sound much like a list of Greek Warriors, hut i t is thebhbit when naming metals to use names ending in -um. Now that we are all properly introduced, what do these fellows do for a living?" This style is, to say the least, admittedly foreign t o t h a t of the coUege classroom of chemistry today, but who can say that our matter-of-fact teaching might not be made more virile by an occasional sally in this vein? The book contains eleven chapters with an Introduction and a Summary. The chapter headings are: E v u y Man a Prometheus; Paper; Glass; Soap; Chemical Farm Relief; Chemistry and Health; Salt: Sugar; The CommonMetals; ManMade Materials; and Ceramics. One would not expect to find in a book of this nature a complete or critical account of the methods of manufacture of any of the products listed. There are few statistics given (in the author's words. "We are not going t o quote a lot of big numbers"), and only one chemical formula. 8 0 . There are no photographs of industrial plants or processes, but the work is enlivened by eighteen cleverly modernistic drawings by Joe Richards. JOHN R. SAMPEY lXorn*no COLLZG~
BIBMINOHAM, Ac*.
An Introduction to Organic Chemistry. ALE-DBR LOWY,Ph.D., Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, and BENJAMINHARROW. Ph.D.. Associate Professor of Chemistry, College of the City of New York. Third edition. John Wiley and Sons. Inc., 412 pp. New York City. 1932. xiv 15 X 23 cm. W.W.
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This text, which appears in its third edition although but eight years in ex-
Auouw, 1932
istence, has been designed to indude the "welkecognized basic principles of organic chemistry" and "its more recent and more important applications." The authors consider it suitable for the usual semiweekly lecture course throughout the year as given either to students majoring in chemistry or to those preparing for medicine or its allied fields. The plan seems t o be to present the subiect in a brief. easilv fashion. . ~erceived . To accomplish this end the style is abbreviated (at times it is almost outline-like), parenthetical expressions are numerous, practically all equations are written structurally, and uses for many of the hasic compounds as well as type formulas are given in chart form. I n the opinion of the reviewer the treatment of the subiect matter is too limited, particula~lyfor the student with the chemistry major. The main essentials are presented in a logical manner and the part which organic compounds play in our modern civilization is shown in an unusually complete and up-to-date way, but, besides a lack of desirable detail, the exclusion of analytical calculations (many pretpedical students receive no analytical training other than that given in general chemistry) and the inadequate and antiquated electron conception as presented, beginning on page 14. are to be regretted. It is, of course, granted that the desirability of introducing modern electronic theory in an elementary organic text &.a disputed point but certainly that is not equally true of the conception of the tetrahedral carbon atom which, although but hinted a t in a footnote on page 12, has been so helpful in accounting for, among other things, optical isomerism and certain ring forms. On the other hand this work contains many commendable features. The relations existing between the various organic types are clearly shown; a separate chapter on nomenclature (American practice) appears with a generous use of Geneva names in the main text; the latest developments, such as, for exampre, rub~
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VOL. 9. No. 8
RECENTBOOKS
her from chloroprene, are given; m u d information of value is t o be found in the charts of type formulas and uses as well as the tables on essential oils and enzymes; the readinn " references are numerous and excellent; and the chapters on plant and animal pigments, enzymes, vitamins, and hormones, although somewhat new to the pure organic field, show that the authors are expending considerable effort to keep abreast of the times. The hook is remarkably free from errors. Reading is easy t o a great extent because of the numerous structural formula equations which, though space-consuming, are of ready interpretation. However, a less frequent use of the parenthesis would allow one to follow the trend of the thought with less difficulty. C. A. B ~ H L E R Tae Umvsarlrv oP T s w ~ s s s s a KNOXVILLE, TBNN.
Organic Syntheses (Collective Volume I). (Being a revised edition of Annual Volumes I-IX.) HENRY GUMAN, Edilor-k-Chief. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York City. 1932. ix 564 pp. 42 Figs. 15 X 23 cm. $6.03.
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Volumes I to 1X, inclusive. of the annual publication "Organic Syntheses" have been thoroughly revised, slightly erpanded, and published in one volume. The new directions are for adipic acid, benzilic acid, cyclohexylcarbinol, dibenzoylmethane, d-glutamic acid, glycine, dlmethylethylacetic acid, pentaerytbritol and n-propyl benzene. I n the reviewer's opinion the outstanding feature of the collective volume is its indexes, of which there are five: a type of reaction index, a type of compound index, a formula index, a n illustration index, and a general index. Each index is conveniently marked by a thumb index tab, making its use convenient and rapid. I n connection with this well-known publication, i t is almost superfluous to add that the methods described for the preparation of various organic substances have
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been carefully checked in a laboratory other than that of the contributor. NA-N L. D ~ K E u s ,.,T .Y
or MARYLAND CDLLBOB PARK.MD.
Volumetric Analysis. G. F o w ~ ~M.Sc., s, A.I.C. Assistant Master. Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith. G. Bell and 202 Sons, L t d , London. 1932. xii pp. 5 Figs. 12.5 X 19.5 cm. 6s.
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The purpose of this book is to give an elementary survey of the field of volumetric analysis as it applies t o the determination of both organic and inorganic substances. It does not attempt to give directions for nor to discuss the preparation of the solutions for the analysis of technical and difficultly soluble substances. Chapter 1is in the nature of an introduction to the subject and describes the preparations of some simple acid and alkali standards and their uses in a few of the more common volumetric determinations. Chapter I1 is also preparatory and deals especially with the subject of accuracy, giving a number of practical hints about procedures and manipulations. A brief discussion$ given here of chemical equivalence and the method of calculating the results of the analysis. The next four chapten deal with the subject matter of the various volumetric procedures including the preparation of standard solutions and methods of analysis of various substances. Cbapter 111 takes u p the subject of acidimetry and alkalimetry. Chapter IV deals with oxidimetry, not including the iodimetric processes which are treated separately in Chapter V. Chapter VI deals with the volumetric a red pita ti on processes. Chapter VII, the last one in the hook, is a synopsis in which a more complete list of substances is arranged alphabetically, each substance being followed by a brief outline of the method or methods appropriate for its determination. While the subject matter is handled in an elementary way, the ground covered is considerably broader than that which
