CHEMISTRY IN ACTION
George M. Rowlins, Professor of Chemistry, Austin Peay State College, Clarksville. Tennessee, and Alden H. Struble, late teacher of Chemistry, Western High School, Washington, D. C. Third edition. D. C. Heath 8 Co., Boston, Massachusetts, 1956. viii 591 pp. Many figs. and tables. 17 X 24 cm. $4.40.
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LIKE the earlier editions, this new "Chemistry in Action" ia an attractive book, with an easy-to-read print, a double colnmn format, and generous margins. I t is p~.ofusely illustrated; practically every page carries photographs or simple tcaehing diagrams or both. The liberal use of color is montioned by the publisher8 as a teaching device. While it certainly gives point to many of the drawings in which it is used, the appearance of something in red on every page soon gets to he an old story, and the impact which its more sparing use would have given is somewhat last. The text is divided into nine units, with 47 subdivision chapters. At the end of each chapter is a. summary in the form of two groups of questions: the first designed as a review of the rhspter, the second to test the ability to apply the material to new situat,ions. Similarly, a group of questions sommariees each unit and is follon.ed by a list of topics or projects for furthel. sturly. A fine feature of the earlier editions, a You Will Like to Read list, has been retained. The appendix contains more than the usual amount of useful information Most valuable is an annotated list of films, including information about where they may be obtained. Supplementary material includes a Teacher's Handbook, a laboratory manual, with a teacher's key, two sets of tests of equal difficulty with accompanying keys. The longest unit is The Wonder Element Cmbon, the best material and writing in the book. The photographs are excellent; the well-selected subject matter is presented in an appealing manner. Here is the anewer to a lang-felt need on the part of those teachers who wish to put more emphasis on organic chemistry. The revision introduces "many modern chemical developments" and presents concepts in a modern manner. Thus, the acidity of an aluminum sulfate sohltion is attributed to AI(0H) +=andto Al(OH):+ and not to aluminum hydroxide, and the alkalinity of a aolution of sodium carbonate to HCOJ- and not to carbonic acid. In discussing acids, however, the authors speak of the hydronium ion, give an equation for its formation, and then say that far the sake of simplicity they will use H+ to indieate the hydronium ion. Thereafter H + appears until, 186 pages later, an eqnittion is given for the ianization of hydrochloric arid whieh shows the formation of the hydronium ion. VOLUME 34, NO. 1, JULY, 1951
Such treatment cannot help being confusing to the student. If he can master A1(OH)+Z and AI(OH)%+he is equally capable of managing HaO+. The thing whieh really disturbs me about the book is that a good text has shoved the periodio classification of the elements toward the rear cover, making it more or less of an extra t o be learned rather than giving i t its proper place aa an invaluable tool to be used throughout the entire year. Atomic stnlcture is introduced and used without benefit of the Periodic Chart. This sequence of subject matter leaves the student with the impression that the atomic theory is the fact, and that on it we base the periodicity of the e!ements, an unfortunate reversal of the real situation. But, after all, the proof of any pudding is in the eating. In my own school "Chemistry in Action" has been in use this year. In the hands of an inexperienced teacher with a class of only average ability (a8 distinct from our "honors" section) the work has been successful. I have sat in on z good many sessions, and I am constantly amazed a t the good, hard, "unwatered-down" chemistrv n h k h is being taught. Much of this I attribute to the clarity of presentation and "teschability" of the text. What more can one say? DOROTHY W. GIFFORD LINCOGA8 ~ ~ 0 0 ~ PROVIDENCE. RRODEIBL*ND
ELEMENTARY QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS Morris F. Stubbs, Professor of Chemistry, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and W. Norton Jones, Jr., Professor of Chemistry, McMurry College. William C. Brown Co., Dubuque, Iowa, 1956. v 110 pp. 5 figs. 22 X 28 cm. Paper bound. $2.
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HEREin one volume is both a laboratory manual and a workbook for students studying equilibria in chemical reactions. The principal difference between it and other qnslitative analysis laboratory manuals is that the student is directed to set up a scheme of analysis and separation after running preliminary tests for individual ions. This is noteworthy for those who have some opportunity and method for screening students. I t is doubtful, however, whether the first-year, run-ofthe-mill student in most of our colleges is capable of determining a scheme of analysis and separation without individual guidance. The authors state in the preface that interferences will not be considered. The preliminary tests that are given show adequately the properties of the individual ions. The ~ t u d e n tshould be made aware, however, that interferences affect
the separations and identification, and it might be pointed out that the scheme will fail, should certain ions be present. To give one example, in the ammonium hydroxide group, if both F e t b a d Ali" are present in s. sample, the seheme developed for their separation and identification will fail. The learning and teaching process would have been enhanced had the book used chemical formulas following the word formula in the discussion of the preliminary tests. MAUD B. PURDY LOUISIANA STATEUNIYERBXTY B*TONRonae. L o m e l * ~ *
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
Robert B. Fischer, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Indiana University. W. B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia and London, 1956. vii 40 pp. 9 1 figs. 16 X 24 cm. $5.50.
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INTHE preface the author calls this book the "successor" to the earlier work of the same name (1949) by Clark, Nash, and Fischer. The term is well chosen since the new book differs from the old in form and content to a greater degree than is perhaps implied by the term "revision." The page size is larger, the type is more legible, and the general format and appearance of the book are a distinct improvement over the previous one. In scope there is little change, but Professor Fischer has improved the organization of tho older text. The new text is leas diffuse than the earlier one. Principles applicable to a particular type of analysis are more concisely treated in a single chapter and more clearly correlated with the descriptions of laboratory procedures. Same features of the book of interest to the teacher should be mentioned. The unit operations approach to technique is effectively used in the Introduction and in the first chapter of each of the main sections of the book which are in order: Grevimetric Methods, Volumetric Methods, and Optical and Electrical Methods. I t will be noted that Gravimetric Methods are given first. The treatment of the individual sections is such, however, that m y order of prcsentation may be followed without loss of continuity. In general the order of presentation of each field of analysis is unit operations, calculations, laboratory methods, and finally theory. An exception is made, however, in the case of redox methods where theory precedes the laboratory methods. AR is 80 frequently the case in textbooks of elementary analytical chemistry, the final secbion on Opticaland Electrical Methods seems to be an afterthought with little correlation with the older procedures. I t would seem that potentiometrie titrstions could well be a
