(1931); 13, 94 (1933)l; and [Orp. Syntheses, Coll.Vol., 2.586 (1943)l. Chemists dealing with these materials should proceed wit,h caution, and holders of the pmvious volumes should mark these dirertions accordingly. Perhaps greater care should he vsercised in evaluating future preparations t o determine any possibk explosive hazards. The popularity and extensive use of this scrica is attested by the fact that 27 of the first 29 individual volumes are already out of print. Volumes 30 t,o 38 inclusive, as well as Collective Volumes 1, 2, and 3 are still available. I t is likewise significant t h a t we are rapidly approaching thc time when r e may expect the 4th Collective Vohme.
RALPHE. DUNBAR North Dakota Slate College Fmpo
Chemical Engineering Prmlice Volume 5. Fluid S y d e m s 1. Edited by Herhert W. Cremer and Tiejor Davies. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1958. vi 695 xxiv pp. Many figs. and tables. 17 X 25 em. 919.50. Subscription price $13.30 per volume.
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This volume is entitled "Fluid Systems I," and a t least one half of the contents is a misnomer to the U. S. method of classification. The first two chapters on The Transportation of Liquids and The Transportation of Gases are quite thorough and go further than our unit operations text books. The next three chapters (Pipe Systems for Liquids and Gases, Design of High Pressure Vessels, and I'roduction of Vacuum) are very well written and go into much mechanical detail which seems to be needed in this dimmion. Theoretical and practical aspects are eovercd in t,hese chapters. The following three chapters on liquidliquid systems cover very well the equilibrium systems, the calculation methods and thc extraction equipment used in commercial installations. These three rhapters cover the complex m i s t u r ~ sas WPII a s the usual superficial coverage of only the ternary systems. Variom metho:ls of stage calculation are given using 110th the equilibrium stage-wise methods r s well ns the methods of transfer ~mit,s. Illu~trativeprohlems are included. The last four chapters attempt to cover the subject of distillation. The chapters rover vapor-liquid equilibria, binary distillation, multicomponent distiUat,ion, and distillation equipment. A relatively complete amount of information is packed into the 32-page discussion on vaporliquid equilibrium. As one would suapeet, the discussion on mi~ltieomponent equilihria is almost nil. The chapter on binary distillation is extremely elementary and is the type of material covered in mast of our undergraduate courses. This chapter could have been diminabed without being missed by most chemical engineers who will use this hook. The chapter on Multicompanent Distillation is a 25-page cursory coverage of
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this valuable and complex subject. I t would have been much more desirable if the pages ooctrpied by the chspter on binary distillation would have heen used for additional information on multicomponent distillations. The chapter on distillation equipment is almost an entirely quslithtiv? One. Although the author gives G5 references for t,his chapter he does not give suificient information to discuss adequately the mechanics of tray design. Although the entirc section on dist,illation (Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12) is not on the same level as the remaining contents of the book, this Volume 5 will be a v d u a l ~ l r addition to a chemical mpineer'e. library. JOHN J. MCKETTA University of Texas
Austin
for a comprehensive understanding of the material. The first part of the book is concerned with the fundamental principles of statistical mechanics. No discussion of the kinetic theory of gams is given itt this point and the reviewer certainly approves of this approach. The ensemble method of Gihhs is stressed and bath the canonical ensemble and grand canonical ensemble are discussed and used. The early intrw duction and use of the grand canonical ensemble is indeed an improvement over the discussion usually found in textbooks. Since no attempt is made to use the Fowler-Darwin theory or a similar type of argument to introduce the distrihution laws, the student will probably not he satisfied with the justification of the basic equations. The sketchy type of presentation mzy also he subject to criticism but
the reviewer faund that it provided a. good framework in which to use one's own lertures with a. minimum of confusion. The truly unique instructional contritrutions of this textbook is contained in I'&s 2 and 3 which give an introduction to the t.heory of stochastic variables and thc kinetic theory of transport processes. The material on fit,ochastir processes follows a series of basic papers which ran he found in a Dover publication ("Selected Papers on 'Joise and Stochastic Proces~es" edited hy Nelson \Val, Dover Publieations, Ine., New York). This latter reference is a valuable supplement to Kittel's presentation. From the point of view of a course for physical chemistry majors the principal omissions of subject matter are (a) the theory of real gnses, ( h ) cslcdntiun of the thermodynamic properties of ideal gas
Elemenbry Statistical Physics
C. Kiltel, Profe~mrof Phy~ics,Uniwr~ i t y of Cdifornis, Borkcley. John FYiley & Sona, Inc., Ncw York, 1068. is 228 pp. 16 X 23.5 cm. 58.
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Professor Kittel has pmdueed another excellent tortbook in an area where there had heen a. complete lack of any dementwy expositions. While tho material preuented in this book lics on the border brtwecn chemistry and physics, it act,nally Atplirntos littlr of the suhjert matter usually r o v e r d in a course on stxtistied mechanics for first or second year chemistry graduate students. For this reason it shottld not be considered siluply as an alternative teat. for s w h x course. However, anyone who is interp~tedin placing more emphasis on irmversihle theory of transport propertics without lengt,l~ening thc time spent an s. formal course in stutiptical mechanics will find Prafesaor liit,t,el's approach to this prohlcm vcry dieht,eninz. The rrviewer has used this rugineering and faund it very satisfaetog. from nearly 311 paintsof view. An outstanding feature of the book is t,lle splect,ion of problems Professor Kittel has compiled. The number of prohlems is lsr~ewhen compared u-it,h other texts on statistical mechanics and about one bhird of them prove to be challenging even t o the hest students. The prohlems form an intimate part of t,hc text (heing given a t the m d of each section) and the author prohnhly aasumcs that the reader nil1 work rnch prohlem ns it is encountered. This is onv of the nmjjar reasons for regarding this hook st,rictlv as a text,book for a Icrdiacuura~wits me RS a reading referonce. Another feature of tho hook is the list of rcfcrenrra given at, tho besinning of each chapter. The student is often refcrred to original journal articles and is given an erct4lmt n?!retion of background rending mat,cri~d. Quite oitm the- pree cntat,ion given by Kittel is just an outline and reeolll.sr to the rcfcrmres is necessary
Volume 36; Number 9, September 1959
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