April,
207
1943
Atoms, Rocks,
and
John Stuart Allen and Sidney
Galaxies.
James French, John Grant Woodruff, Clement Long Henshaw, David Woolsey Trainer, Jr. Revised Edition. Harper and Brothers Publishers, New York, 1942. x + 719 pp. 13 X 21.5 cm. $3.75.
This very solid book has been developed over the last dozen serve as the text in the survey course in physical science at Colgate University. Eighty per cent of it, including all the chemistry, is the work of the senior author, an astronomer. (Curiously enough, the chemist of the group contributed only the chapters on sound and heat.) In spite of its omission from the title, physics is given approximately equal space with chemistry, geology, and astronomy. A survey course may be anything from a set of popular lectures to a group of short courses in the subjects covered. This one An enormous amount of facapproximates the latter extreme. tual material is presented and well tied together with sound theory. The chemistry is well selected and its treatment is authentically modern. The physics includes all the material from that science which teachers of elementary chemistry find it necessary to inflict upon their students, and there is very little of it that is not useful to a chemist. It is excellently presented. The other two sciences appear to be adequately handled, but another than this reviewer would be better fitted to give a critical evaluation there. A student who actually knew and understood the physics and chemistry here presented would be extraordinarily well equipped to enter a standard elementary chemistry course; far better equipped than if he had taken any high-school chemistry course with which this writer is familiar. It is impossible, however, to avoid wondering to what extent the student masters the compact masses of chemical theory and to what extent he depends for passing the course upon assiduous memorizing of the extremely careful and complete summaries at the end of each chapter. A few details in the text may be adversely criticized. In the section on minerals (p. 86) twice the space is given to gold and silver ores that is given to the much more important copper. The only source of copper mentioned is the native copper of Michigan, to the complete neglect of the far greater quantities obtained from the sulfide ores of the Rocky Mountain states. It could well be stated that most silver is a by-product from copper and lead mines. The fact that a gas cools upon being expanded and heats on being compressed is said to be equivalent to Charles’ law (p. 128) and to be that law (p. 134). In the discussion of the efficiency of the heat engine (p. 289) the simple statement that {T2 T\)/Ti Efficiency is never actually made or definitely explained, and a quite unnecessarily inaccurate value of 25% is given for the efficiency in a case where the figures lead to the value 22%. On page 374 the M-shell of an atom is said to be filled by eight electrons. The action of baking powder is described as due to the thermal decomposition of NaHC03, no mention being made of any acid (p. 444). CaC2 is diagrammed as a three-membered ring, the Ca sharing an electron pair with each C atom (p. 463), thus:
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years to
=
—
C :::
C
Ca In the discussion of the sun (p. 648) the facts concerning critical pressure, elsewhere merely omitted, are actively flouted by the statement that when all the empty space is squeezed out of a gas it becomes a liquid. The book is attractively bound and well printed, and contains a multitude of well-chosen diagrams and good photographic il-
lustrations. Only three typographical errors were noted, but as these affected the meaning of sentences, they should be noted. Page 81, sixth line from bottom, reads “compounds” where “comPage 83, at top of Fig. 3.5, should ponents” appears to be meant.
read “The two minerals” instead of “Two minerals.” Page 413, next to bottom line, should read “only of” not “of only.” This book should be required reading for all liberal arts students who are planning to fulfil the science requirements for their degree by taking a biological science only, and is highly recommended to the attention of anyone giving a survey course including any of the four fields which it covers. Ewing C. Scott Sweet Briar College Sweet Briar, Virginia
4
Chemistry
of Engineering Materials. Robert B. Leighou. Rewritten by J. C. Warner (Editor), Thomas P. Alexander, Paul Fugassi, D. S. McKinney, Harry Seitz, Guido H. Stempel, Jr., and K. K. Stevens of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1942. xxii -j- 621 $4.50. pp. 91 figs. 15 X 22.7 cm. This is the fourth edition of “Chemistry of Engineering Materials,” the first three editions having been written by the late Professor Leighou. As stated in the preface, the purpose is "that of providing information on the chemical properties of engineering materials so that these materials may be more intelligently selected and used.” The emphasis is placed upon properties of materials, but where the authors consider a description of the manufacturing process to be important in understanding the properties, such a description is included. The range of subject matter can best be given by listing the Water for Steam Generation; chapter headings. They are: Fuels, Combustion, and Lubricants; Refractories; The Nonferrous Metals; Nonferrous Alloys; Production of Iron and Steel; Alloys of Iron; Technology of Shaping Metals and Alloys; Corrosion of Metals and Alloys; Protective Metallic and Inorganic Coatings; Building Stones; Lime and Gypsum Products; Portland Cement and Concrete; Clay and Clay Products; Abrasives; Glass; Organic Plastics; Rubber: Natural and Synthetic; Organic Protective Coatings; Glues and Adhesives; Insulating Materials. The new edition brings up to date a great deal of information valuable to the engineer and contains good, although sometimes brief, theoretical discussions of various subjects, such as corrosion and phase diagrams. In its present form the book can be considered to give a brief survey of industrial chemistry as well as a discussion of the properties of materials useful in engineering work. The text is very well written, figures and tables are excellent, and the format good. The book can be highly recommended to engineers and students of engineering as interesting and informative reading. Arthur A. Vernon
University Northeastern Boston, Massachusetts
Vapors. Clark Shove Robinson, Massachuof setts Institute Technology. First Edition. Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York, 1942. vii + 265 pp. 117 figs. 15 X 23 cm. $4.75. According to the author the purpose of the book is to present “a course of study in the basic theory of the recovery of vapor for the benefit of engineers and others who find that they need eleIt is obviously not mentary information on the subject meant for the expert in the field, but rather for the beginner who
The Recovery
of
....
it.” Approximately the first quarter of the book is devoted to a discussion of physical-chemical and engineering topics pertinent to the field. The rest of the book describes the principles of vapor recovery by condensation, absorption, vaporization with inert gases, compression, scrubbing, and solvent extraction. The author has purposely omitted a discussion of the evaporation of the solvent from the material in which it has been used and also the treatment of recovered solvent by distillation or purification since these subjects are covered in other books. wants to enter
