Recent Books Elementary Organic Chemistry. HOMER S. M. MCELVAIN, Departh n r ~ AND s ment of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin. F i n t edition. McGraw-Hill 183 Book ,Co., New York, 1928. xi pp. 14 X 20.5 cm. $2.25.
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This book is one of a number of similar ones written in an attempt to facilitate and improve the instruction id short courses in organic chemistry. The material is supposed to be covered in approximately fifty class periods. As stated in the preface the authors have felt that "it was not advisable to attempt any extended correlation of organic chemistry with its applications in physiological, pharmaceutical and phytochemistry and have laid the emphasis upon the characteristic reactions of the important functional groups." They have succeeded admirably in thei~purposeas but few applications of organic chemistry are given. E The authors have also succeeded in having "the skeleton of the course in the texthook" and during the fifty classroom periods considerable vitalizing of the subject, as suggested, would have to be done by the lecturer. The authors state that the arrangement of the earlier chapters is essentially that used almost fifty years ago by Professor Ira Remsen. I wander what Remsen would think of the first chapter of this book, which gives briefly the chemistry of so many typical organic compaunds in thirty-two pages. While the hook was designed for a short course considerable is left to be "vitalized" before the study of homology and isomerism is taken up. The attention of the reader is not called to any of the important topics by the usual heavy type until be reaches the middle of page 71. After the description of some of the aliphatic and aromatic compounds there is a n
additional chapter on aliphatic compounds having several functional groups, a chapter on stereo-isomerism and tautomerism, one on the carbohydrates, one on the amino acids and the proteins and then a very brief one an heterocyclic compounds. For an organic chemistry designed for the purpose that this one was the material is briefly hut well presented. The text can be recommended to teachers who desire to give a short course in organic chemistry, a practice which is becoming very popular a t the present time. I, MCMASTE~
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Organic Chemistry for Advanced Students. Jmms B. COHBN,Ph.D., D.Sc., R.R.S., Emeritus Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of Leeds. Fifthedition. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1928. 3 vols. vii f 427. vii 487, 440 pp. $6.00 per volume. and vii
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The first volume is on reactions and includes chapters on valency of carbon, nature of organic reactions, dynamics of organic reactions and abnormal reactions. The second volume is on structure and has chapters an physical properties and structure, color and structure, isomerism and'stereoisomerism, geometric isomerism. stereochemistry of nitrogen, isomeric change and the benzene theory. The third volume is on synthesis and contains chapters on carbohydrates, fermentation and enzyme action, purine group, proteins, terpenes and camphors, and alkaloids. The book begins with a historical introduction in which the development of organic chemistry is briefly but skilfully sketched. The headings of the chapters give little idea of the wealth of their contents. In fact each is a monograph in itself. Almost every topic one can think of, finds a place in some one of the chapters.
