JANUARY, 1950
49
planning the installation of a radiochemistry laboratory: "Before any oonstruction has begun, it is advisable to obtain the advice of those who have operated tracer laboratories to find out the problems that developed during and after the construction of other laboratories!' Chapter IV, Working in a Fhdiolaboratory, allots 12 pages to some steps which the authors feel should be followed by the worker in protecting himself and others, and might possibly better have been included in Chapter 11. Most of the remainder of the book deals witb experiments suitable for instructional purposes, and the reviewer believes that i t is this portion whicb will he of most value to those planning to give laboratory courses in radiochemistry or allied subjects. Chapter V, Basic Experiments, is a 42-page general account of radiochemistry measurements with the Lauritsen electroscope and Geiger-Mueller counter. Chapter VI, Chemical Experiments, gives a 27-page guide to tracer experiments of chemical interest, such as solubility determinations, exchange reactions, analyses, and measurement of transference numbers. Chapter VII, Physical Experiments, (27 pages), includes the determination of very long and very short half-lives and experiments on the Saihrd-Chalmers recoil separation method. Chapter VIII, Biological Experiments, devotes 13 pages to plant radioautographs, excretion and deposition studies, deposition of iodine in the thyroid, and body fluid volume andadsorption. Chapter IX, Special Preparations, gives 12-pages of directions on preparing the various active tracer solutions required for the experiments. The chapters involving experiments include some calculations and questions intended for students. Typical references are given after certain sections rather than complete documentation by superscript reference numbers at the point of interest, so that it becomes difficult for the student to learn much about the historical development of the subjects or to consult recent pertinent references for details. The experiments themselves generally appear well chosen and seem to require only the more commonly available pile-produced radioisotopes. Adequate directions are given the student for eachexperiment. The book is completed by eight appendixes (Outlineof Lecture course; Form for Writing up Laboratory Experiments; Surgical gloves; Basic radio-laboratory apparatus list; List of supplies (detectors only); Scales of 64 and 32; Some Radioisotopes of Tracer Interest; Table of Fundamental Constants) and a rather brief index. The addition of photographs and of more tables and figures would have made tho book more useful to those who wish to use it without enrolling in a laboratory course. The paper, binding, and printing of the book appear to be satisfactory. The reviewer feels that this book contains little whicb is probably not alret~dyknown to most persons engaged in radiochemical work, and he is unable to recommend it as a reference book. However, the work should be of value as a textbook manual for lahoratory courses in radiochemistry and related fields. The chemist who has never used radioisotopes and who wants to begin to do so will find in this book a useful guide to the more common tecbniques for handling radioactive substances.
sign engineer, Henry Eckhardt, suggested the accumulation, correlation. and oublication of oreconstruction cost data hv eneirrwr* who p w r s s current data. TLis plen has heen follosrd hy a Lrgc nundwr of nnicles in various profr~~ional joumxls gi\.ing
