BOOK REVIEWS
of a wide variety of aromatic, aliphatic, alicyclic, and heterocyclic nitro compounds employing various types of nitrating agents. Especially valuable to American scientists are the extensive descriptions of Russian research. ineludine much
on the mechanisms of nitration show the chronological development of ionic processes in the aromatic series and of free radical processes in the aliphatic series. The latter chapter closes with the state-
ment, "All the hypotheses concerning the possible course of aliphatic nitration developed in this conclusion, together with the critical remarks on the schemes proposed by Bachmsnn (sic) and Tit,ov, led the author of the present haok to conduct an investigation in his laboratory aimed a t obtainina additional exoerimental material needed Tor more detailed and substantiated insight into the true mechanism of nitration." Unfortunately the reader is neither informed of the final results of this investigation nor provided with a. new theory overcoming Topchiev's objections to the older theories mentioned. I n view of the admittedly incomplete understanding of vapor phase nitration processes with which those now working in the field have to oantend, i t is in some ways un-
fortunate that publication of this book was not delayed until the author could incorporate into it the full illumination of these processes which he promises. On the other hand most chemists vwuld probably prefer a. review of available theories now than to wait, for a longer time perhaps than Topchiev contemplates, for his perfected ve~.sionof the mechanisms involved. The English translation by Catherine Matthews is very good considering the obvious complexities of the task and is marred only ocoasionally by awkward constructions and typographical errors missed in proof-reading. The quality of the binding, paper, and printing is high. This haok will interest the expert in the field of nitration as well as other chemists because of its broad coverage of one of the oldest and best known reactions of organic compounds and because of the extensive bibliography which it provides. While complimenting the author for the general excellence of the book, this reviewer cannot refrain from expressing disappointment a t the continual misspelling of his own name and of the confusion of it with that of the late W. E. Bachmann in the index. G . BRYANT BACHMAN Purdue Clniversity Lafoyette, Indiana ~
Annual Review of Nuclear Science. Volume 8 Edited by Emilio Segre, University of California, Gerhart Friedlander, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Walter E. Meyerhoj, Stanford Univorsit,y. Annual Reviews, Inc., Palo Alto, 417 pp. Figs. California, 1958. vii and tables. 16 X 23 om. $7.
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"Nuclear Science" means nuclear physics for most of this volume. Chemists will be most interested in the chapters Geochronalogy by Radioactive Decay (Aldrich and Wetherill), Nuclear Astrophysics (Cameron), Control of Radiation Hazards (Moyer), and Cellular Radiobiology (Wood). The usual exhaustive literature coverage was maintained by most authors into the early months of 1958. No library can sfford to he without this necessary link in its chain of critical reviews oi important topics in the science.
W. F.K. Electrolytic Solutions
R. A . Robinson, University of Malays, Singapore and R. H. Stokes, Univer~ity of New England, Armidale, New South Wales. 2nd ed. Butterworths Scientific Publications, Academic Press, 559 pp. Inc., New York, 1959. xv Figs. and tables. 15 X 22 cm. $11.50.
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A valuable reference work on eleetrolytes has been made even more useful both to the teacher of electrochemistry and to the research worker in the field by the publication of this second edition: much of the significant theoretical and experimental progress between 1954 and (Continued on page A180)
A178
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Journal o f Chemicol Edumtion
