VOL.7, NO. 6
RECENTBOOKS
will be used chiefly by upper classmen and graduate students, the bibliography is altogether inadequate. Moreover, the book comes far short of being brought down t o date in certain cases. For example, the section on the precipitation of colloids mixht years . have been written twentv . . ago. There are errors, both typographical and otherwise, which should be eliminated from the next edition. B. WEISER HARRY
Colloid Chemistq: Principles and AppliMSc., cations. JEROME ALEXANDER, consulting chemist and chemical engineer. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 270 pp. 1929. Third edition. x 15 X 23 cm. $3.00.
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The first chapter starts out as an introductory one but has a paragraph on wave mechanics, apparently because a material corpuscle is involved. The second chapter starts with material units and includes a table of isotopes, the diameter of the galaxy. Sorensen's pH, and residual affinities. The reviewer finds i t difficult to believe, p. 25, that the decreased efficiency of enzymes, after the temperature exceeds a certain value, is due t o the average molecular velodty reaching so high a value that the enzyme cannot cope with it. Chapter I11 deals with the classification of colloids but does not include the iuterlacing systems t o which many jellies belong. Chapter IV discusses the consequences of subdivision, the most important of which is that the total surface increases. Chapter V gives an elementary and much simplified description of the ultramicroscope. I n Chapter VI we find the general properties of colloids. The remaining eight chapters deal with practical applications of colloid chemistry, the special topics being: astronomy; meteorology; smokes, fogs, and dusts; perfumes; geology; mineralogy; gems; agriculture; clays; ceramics and refractories; flotation; dyeing; shower-proofing
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fabrics; nitrocellulose and its products; celluloid; explosives; paints, pigments, varnishes; emulsions; soaps; lubrication; colloidal fuel; petroleum; asphalt; fire foam; insecticides; filtration; sewage disposal; photography; brewing; tanning; paper; tubber; foods and their preparation; baking; milk; ice cream; confectionery; gelatin and glue; glasses; metals and alloys; the time factor; iron and steel; steel; stepped transformation in steel; standard heat treatment terms; tin - lead alloys; zinc - copper alloys; bronzes: amorphous vs. colloidal theory; electrodeposition of aietals; boiler scale; cement, mortar, and plaster; chemical analysis; pharmacy and therapeutics; antiseptics and bacteriology; biology and medicine; enzymes; cytology; growth; evolution; physiology and pathology; capillary circulation; psychiatry; . a m phylaxis and immunity; healing of wounds; digestion; absorption, secretion, excretion; diagnosis; chemotherapy and colloid therapy; serum therapy; plants: bio-electric currents; some physicachemical aspects of life; mutation and evolution. C . This is hlghly impressive on paper but there is not much leeway when one tries t o treat some ninety topics in 158 mediumsized pages. I t is a hopeless task, for instance, t o treat ceramics, p. 109, in two short paragraphs. When so much has t o be left out, it seems a pity t o include anything that is wrong; but the color of the ruby is due t o dissolved chromic oxide and not to dispersed ferric oxide, p. 97. One wonders whether the author knows what the Cottrell process is, p. 89. When one says high-tension current, one d m not ordinarily mean direct current. The book is entertaining reading and should be read for that purpose only. WILDERD. BANCKOFT CDRNBLLUNIVERSITY
ITAACA, NBW YORK
Bacterial Metabolism. MARJORYSTEP~ENSON, M.A., associate of Newnham College. Cambridge, member of the scientific staff of the Medical Research
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Council. Monograph on Biochemistry. Longmans, Green & Co., New York 320 pp. 34 figs. City, 1930. xi 85 tables. 15.5 X 24.5 em. $7.00. For the first time the varied and manifold chemical processes which underlie the life and growth of bacteria have been brought together within the limits of a single volume A brief introduction to the early views of fermentation is followed by a presentation of the energy relations based on the work of Rubner and his school; the biological significance of fermentation is considered in the light of Pasteur's views and the mare recent work of Meyerhof. Chapter I11 on Respiration is an exposition of the theory of hydrogen transfer (Wieland) a s elaborated largely by Quastel, the significance and use of oaidation-reduction potentials, the r61e of activators of oxygen and anaerobiosis. Chapter IV on Growth and Nutrition, dealing with reproduction and the nutritional requirements of batteria, is followed by chapters on the breakdown of carbohydrates and proteins. I n these sections in particular, as well as throughout the book, an immense amount of material has been most ably organized. The Synthesis of Polysaccharides, Nitrogen Fixation, and Autotrophic Bacteria f o m the subject matter of the remaining chapters; an appendix contains the important media used for the different types of organisms and there is an alphabetical bibliography of 32 pages. This book will be eagerly welcomed by biologists and chemists alike for its clear and critical emosition of the fundamental =hemistry and physics of bacterial life. The author aratefully acknowledges her indebtedness to Professor Sir Frederick Hopkins "at whose suggestion the book was written and t o whose influence alone I owe thc incentive to think on hiochemical matters." H. A. MATTILL
Utilizing Energy Released by the ComE. BUTTERbustion of Fuels. THOMAS PIELD, M.E., C.E., professor of heat power engineering a t Lehigh University, Member A.S.M.E. First edition, D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., New York City, 1929. xv 481 PP. 16.5 X 23.5 a n . 335 figures. W.50.
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ST*=
JUNE,1930
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
UNIYGRElTY OF IOWA IOWA crru. l o w *
Steam and Gas Engineering. A Text Covering Power-Generating Apparatus
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This book gives teachers of physics and chemistry encouragement. They are given little opportunity to observe the effectivenessof their teaching on the whole t o the great mass of students who go out from under their care with none too sanguine notions that anything very real has been accomplished for them. The author states: "Engineering students usually have a good preparatory knowledge of ~ h y s i c sand chemistry when they take up the study of this subject. They are well able t o perform the computations required to find air, gas, and fuel quantities and readily learn how to calculate efficiencies and losses associated with the combustion f. fuel in power plants." Teachers of science quite naturally continue to question the effectiveness of thei* teaching. They should continue to doubt their own conclusions as to the soundness of the. basis of their work, thereby seeking improvement. Testimony of experienced teachers in entirely unrelated fields, such as that of this teacher of engineering, shows that the foundation wmk of the universities and colleges in education carries with it an unknown effectiveness that should stimulate the teacher's faith in education and his desire for constant improvement, not for their own sake as teachers, but for that of the great group of students who will never know themselves from whence they derive such clearness of ideas and thinking as they acquire through the years. The author presents "an introductory text for engineering students and for engineers dealing with the utilization of fuels for the development of power." "Thermodynamics is the backbone of the text." The plan of the text calls for alternate discussions of theory and practice.
