BOOKS
Survey of Rare Earths The Rare-Earth Elements. TRIFONOV.
Rev.
ed.
xv
D. N. +
128
pages. Macmillan Co., 60 Fifth Ave., New York 11, N.Y. 1964. $3.50. Reviewed by Dr. Therald Moeller. Dr. Moeller is professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Illinois. A book of this type may be judged logically in terms of how well it satisfies its stated objectives. This volume purports to give "an account, which is lively, easily intelligible, and informative, of the long and extremely involved story of the discovery of these elements, their properties, the methods for their separation, the present state of problems regarding them, and some aspects of future developments in this branch of chemistry." Unfortunately the account is neither lively nor completely informative, and it covers in real detail only the historical aspects of the chemistry of these substances. It does provide the layman with a useful over-all survey, but it does not properly fulfill the needs of students, and it is doubtful that "specialists also will find [many] interesting facts in it." The volume is an essentially unedited literal translation from the Russian. As such, it is a circuitous and often difficult-to-read presentation. The discussion is very general and often repetitious. The information presented varies widely in its breadth of coverage. Primary emphasis is upon the historical development of this area of chemistry, upon the problems associated with placing these elements in the Mendeleyev periodic table, and upon applications. Minimum space is devoted to electronic configurations and the properties that can be related to these configurations. The 21 notes added at the end of the book by the translation editor are useful in updating and interpreting the discussion, but they are inadequate to take care of all of its deficiencies. Unfortunately, there are numerous typographical errors in the manuscript. Internal inconsistency also occurs, e.g., among electronic configurations as summarized in the introductory periodic table and Table 3. No distinction is made between metals and ions in the section on magnetic be62
C&EN
JUNE
22,
1964
haviors. It is implied both that ion exchange cannot be used to separate large quantities of the rare earths and that amalgam formation by electrolysis of aqueous solutions is readily effected in all instances. There is no discussion of solvent extraction. The entire section on separations is left dangling by an arbitrary termination of that discussion. There is often a lack of balance in assessing the contributions of the various workers whose names are cited. This book can be recommended only to the person who desires an over-all and cursory treatment of the subject. The serious reader will wish to obtain supplementary information from other available sources.
Inorganic Text Modern Approach to Inorganic Chemistry.
C. F. BELL, K. K. K. LOTT.
iii -h 293 pages. Butterworth, Inc., 7235 Wisconsin Ave., Washington, D.C. 20014. 1963. $8.95. Reviewed bv Dr. John P. Fackler,
Jr. Dr. Fackler is assistant professor of chemistry at Case Institute of Technology. This text, written by two lecturers in inorganic chemistry at Brunei College, London, is "primarily intended for Higher National Certificate and Ceneral Degree students" in England. In this country it is advertised as "specifically designed for the undergraduate student who is not majoring in chemistry, but who requires a firm foundation in, and a thorough understanding of, inorganic chemistry." Except for the inclusion of some chapters which are (in my opinion) inappropriate to an inorganic text, this book is fairly successful in acquainting the nonchemist with several aspects of inorganic chemistry. Obviously no one text (or several for that matter) is able to develop "a firm foundation in, and a thorough understanding of, inorganic chemistry" among its readers. However, some texts such as this take a reasonable stride in this direction. Indeed the level of training available to the student of this text appears to be beyond the level currently achieved in in-
organic chemistry by some college graduates majoring in chemistry. Approximately two thirds of the book treats topics which the authors feel should equip the student "for a detailed and systematic study of the elements." The last third is a brief description of some of the chemistry of individual elements. The authors suggest that size considerations limited this section and that "one of the standard reference books should be consulted" for a more detailed description. Five pages at the end are devoted to "Physical Measurements in Inorganic Chemistry." This book appears to be relatively free from obvious errors and misprints and contains much valuable information. However, considerable improvement could be realized by including a chapter on inorganic kinetics. Spectroscopic aspects of inorganic chemistry also are not satisfactorily developed. While the book certainly is not recommended by this reviewer to be used by students majoring in chemistry, especially if this would constitute the students' only course in inorganic chemistry, it may serve to acquaint the nonchemist with some aspects of inorganic chemistry which have been deleted from most courses in general chemistry. It also could serve as a supplementary text, of a more descriptive nature than most, in a general chemistry program.
Chemical Notation Systems Modern methods of handling chemical information are reviewed in "Survey of Chemical Notation Systems," a report of a committee of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council. The purpose of the Chemical Notations Study was "a thorough analysis of the characteristics of the various chemical codes, chemical notations, and other nonconventional methods of handling information deriving from chemical structures, the similarities and differences among them, the uses now being made of them, the criteria which led to their adoption or development, the problems encountered in their use, the potentialities of each system for more widespread use, the needs not met by existing systems, and the purposes that might be served by agreement among chemists on the use of one or more standardized systems." The 467-page, paperbound book is
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