414
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
FEBRUARY. 1931
the text all the more valuable for student and teacher. The latter part of the book contains much helpful information about the production, composition, and nutritive value of certain fwds, such as milk, hutter, cheese, meats, cereals, vegetables, and fruits. There is woven into the book the scientific background necessary for a complete understanding of the chemical principles Tne J a m s H o ~ x l U ~N s IVBRS~Y HOMEWOOD, B ~ ~ I T S O R MD. B, underlying foods and nutrition. The author has fulfilled his . uurwse of "bring. . Nutrition and Food Chemistry. BARN- ing together accurate information about m n S. BEONSON,State College for foods and simplifying and interpreting i t Teachers, Albany, N. Y. First edi- in such a way as to make the best modem tion, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., t h o u ~ h tavailable and com~rehensihle." New Y a k City, 1930. viii 467 pp. he book would he most helpful either as a 34 figs. 15 X 23 cm. $3.75. reference or teat for classes of home While being written primarily for class- economics students in foods and nutrition. N. M. N A ~ R room teaching, the book is quite readable IOWA STATECOLLBOB for others interested in the field of nuA ~ e s low* , trition. It presumes a background of elementary chemistry, but when a knowl- Textbook of Quantitative Analysis. edge of organic and quantitative chemTHOMAS HALL, Associate WILListry is needed, it is woven into the textProfeof Analytical Chemistry. hwk discussion. Several chapters deal Massachusetts Institute of Technology. with the chemical composition of the John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York major kinds of foods, fats, carbohydrates, 279 pp. 42 figs. City. 1930. vii and proteins. This section gives clearly 15 X 23 cm. $2.50. and concisely that part of organic The preface states that the book reprechemistry most useful for a thorough understanding of the composition of foods. sents a two-semester course in analytical The classifications of carbohydrates and chemistry as given at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to chemical of proteins are made especially clear. Considerable quantitative chemistry. engineering students. The contents inincluding a section on the significance of clude, in addition to the usual general pH determinations, is given in the chapter matter, procedures for about forty-two on acid-base balance. The excellent volumetric determinationsand twenty-two With the exception discussion of the inorganic constituents of gravimetric ones. foods contains much recent information of the Kjeldahl method these exercises and is quite complete in its r o p e of are all devoted to the analysis of inorganic material. Not least important are the substances. There is a chapter of suggestions given to help one in planning 6fteen pages on patentiometric titration, a diet which has the correct acid-base including the use of the quinhydrone electrode. B d e r solutions are briefly balance. The chapter on the vitamins and mentioned but not discussed. The potentiometric method for determining pH deficiency diseases is very condensed but accurate and up-to-date in its information. values is Liven. and as suecial features Here. as all throueh - the book. the complete: there shozd b e mentioned-the tpq pages lists of hibliographical references make on the properties of logarithms and the
who wishes to keep up with the latest phases in our knowledge of the physical world. Aside from the value of the information, the book is inspiring in the very striking and unexpected nature of the results it presents. One is left with the feeling that we never know what undreamed-of possibilities may be awaiting us a t every turn in the road to science. DONALD H. ANDREWS
+
+
VOL.8. No. 2
RECENTBOOKS
so-called "Home Problems" a t the end of each chapter. Volumetric analysis is presented iirst. The preface states that experience a t M. I. T. shows that this is the better plan., The preface also gives the system of weighting the laboratory and class work and the home problems of the students in order to arrive a t a just estimate of the semester grades to be given. The procedures for carrying out the determinations are preceded by a paragraph or two in which the principles and chemical equations an which the methods are based are presented. This is a most excellent feature. As a whole the procedures are up to date. The Willard Smith method for the separation of sodium and potassium is given hut there is no mention of the methods of Kolthoff and others for the direct determination of sodium. The chapter on potentiometric titration is also lacking in most of the more modem methods. The publishers are to he congratulated on the fine appearance of the hookwith one exception, the illustrations. They are pretty bad. Professor Hall evidently has no brutal friends to whom he submits his manuscript before printing. If he had, a number of had spots, especially in the first half of the hwk, would have been noticed and eliminated. For example, in the section on methods of weighing, the well-known term zero point is used but not defined. There is given of course the experimental procedure for determining the zero point hut in that paragraph it is called "rest point." with no hint that this is the same as "zero point" in another place. On page 5 the statement is made that a set of weights need not contain any weight smaller than 10 mg., though a flew lines below is a reference to the occurrence of balances requiring 5 or 6 mg. riden. The section devoted to the calibration of pipets directs that the water from the mark he allowed to r a n into a weighed flask
415
and then leaves the student to infa that flask and contents should he weighed. There is also no reference to the important point of adjusting the rate of onfflow of burets and pipets. These and other evidences of lack of final editing detract, in the reviewer's opinion, from an otherwise excellent hook. C. W. FOaK
The Chemical Analysis of Rocks. H a N a y S. W A S ~ G T O N Ph.D., , Geophysical Laboratory. Carnegie Institution of Washington. Fourth edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York City, 1930. xvi X 296 pp. 15 X 23 cm. $4.W. The purpose of this hook is to give to petrologists, mining engineers. and chemists who are interned in the study of silicate igneous racks a series of simple yet exact methods of analysis for the important constituents of such rocks. The methods are described in detail with discussions of the MOISinherent in the methods and those likely to arise from carelessness or lack of skill in manipulation. This detail is calculated to make it possible for one with little previous knowledge of or experience in quantitative analysis to complete these analyses successfully without the help of an instructor in person. There is no attempt made to discuss the theoretical principles underlying the various procedures any further than that necessary for the intelligent use of the methods. The text is divided into five parts: Part I, consisting of 28 pages, is introductory. Part 11, 43 pages, is a description of the apparatus and reagents needed. Parts I11 ;uld IV, 53 pages, contains a discussion of the sample and the operations involved in exact quantitative analysis. Part V. 151 pages, is the main chapter of the hook. The iirst few pages are devoted to a brief outline of tlle detefilinations to he desnihed fulb lata an in the chapter.
