covery the identical words employed by Davy" (i. e., "Nothing exists hut thoughts! The universe is composed of impressions, ideas, pleasures, and pains!"). "Here, in the lecture, Mr. Gibbons again inhaled a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen from an 'analgesic apparatus' until he was insensitive to pain. He was pinched vigorously, and pins were stuck into him, without protest. A short film showing the modern technique of a minor operation on a smiling child was also shown." The second lecture ended by a reading from one of the lectures of Faraday's most famous Children's Series. "At this point the lecturer. . . . retired from the theatre for a few minutes. I n his absence, the lecture table was arranged with an elaborate display of candles of all shapes and sizes. While this was being done, pictures of Faraday were thrown an the lantern screen. The lecturer then returned, made up with white wig and side-whiskers t o resemble Michael Faraday, and wearing a Victorian frock-coat and stock. I n this guise he recited the remainder of the lecture in Faraday's own words." And he showed Faradav's own exueriments in illurtmtion. The lasr experiment of the series was onc in which the lecturer nnd two of the auditors, Jean Kcndnll and John Green, p a w d their hands to and fro through a stream of whitr hot lead. The six chapters are as follows: I. Humphry Davy; 11. Michael Faraday; 111. Some Young Organic Chemists (Perkin. Couper, KekuM); IV. The Chemistry of Space and of Solutions (Pasteur, Le Bel, Van't Hoff, Arrhenius) ; V. E l e m e n t d l d and New (Newlands. Mendelhev. Moselev. Curie): and VI. Some ~ i u n ;~ m e r i c aChemists i (~oodhau&, all, Langmuir). The hook is enjoyable reading, and it makes one wish that he
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F ~ A M E N ~ OFLCS E E ~ S T RAND Y APPLICATIONS. Charlolle A . Francis, A.M.. and Edna C. Morse, R.N., A.M., Instructors in Chemistry, Teachers College, Columbia University. The Macmillan Company, New York City, 1939. ix 542pp. 111 figs. 14 X 21.5 cm. $3.00 net. The authors have written a hook for use in connection with a service course designed for students in the applied sciences and arts such as physiology, cookery and nutrition, bacteriology, materia medica, and nursing practice. They have had in mind particularly the schools of nursing and some schools of home economics, the curricula of which call for hut a half-year of chemistry, or, a t most, one year. Somewhat more than one-half of the book (two hundred ninety-four pages) is devoted to the presentation of the fundamentals of chemistry, whilt the remainder pertains to organic and physiological chemistry. The method of oresentation of the fundamentals of chemistrv differs somewhat from the usual style of elementary textbooks. Oxygen is the only element discussed in detail, while water is the only compound similarly presented. Among the topics discussed are the fallowing: substances and same of their properties; physical and chemical changes; compounds, elements and some of their properties; oxygen; catalysts; combustion; chemical energy and methods for measuring it; atoms, molecules, atomic weights, molecular weights; symbols, formulas. and the use of the chemical eauation: radicals: vaIcnce; the structure of the atom and radimctivet.lt.menti; water. acids, bases, and MIIS, and thrir reactions; solutions, true and colloidal, emulsions; electrolyres, ionization, pll; oxidation and reduction. Since the material just listed is to serve as the foundation for work in organic and physiological chemistry, the choice of subject matter seems rather limited. Although the first few pages are somewhat reminiscent of SMITH'S COLLEGE CHEMISTRY, one saon ponders over the vast amount of space devoted to "substances." I n contrast "elements" and "compounds" do not make their appearance till pages thirty-two and twenty-nine, respectively, and the former term is neMr actually defined. Just why the authors find it necessary to discuss "oxygen, the substance" as well as
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"oxygen, the element" is not clear (Chapter IV), nor is it apparent whv , "suhstances" are discussed in connection with chemical rvnrtiuns (Chapter IX) while the more imporant terms "molrcult" and "atom" arc ncver dcfined, alrhollyh mtruducrd in this chapter. A rather common fault throughout this entire section of the hook is the use of illustrations and undefined terms with which the student is probably not familiar. Before any information is presented concerning elements, compounds, molecules, or atoms, four common types of chemical reactions are listed with examples characteristic of each (Chaoter 11). In Chaoter 111. metals and . nun-metals arc dcfined in terms of acids ttnd basrs, which are rlrtined later in thc szme chapter in terms ul melds and non-metals Chaptrr \'. "Catalysts," should be p:rrticulerly intrrcsting lo the advanced student because of the vast number of catalytically controlled reactions listed therein. However, a beginner can scarcely he expected to be familiar with the enzymes, maltase, lactase, sucrase, zymase, amylase, ptyalin, steapsin, pepsin, t m s i n .. erensin. . . and rennin or with their substrates and the products of their reaction. In Chapter IX, reactions hetwecn hydrogen and chlorine. zinc and hydrogen chloride, and phocphorus and oxygen are usrd as examples of molecular combinations. However, since oxygen alone has been discussed, the illustrations seem pointless. In the same chapter, the Avogadro number is introduced without name, comment, or explanation and thereafter assumed to be well understrod by the reader. A rather formidable list containing the names and formulas of twenty inorganic and five organic acids, five inorganic hases, three alcohols, and nineteen salts as well as a scheme for naming oxygen acids is presented in Chapter XI. These same compounds are again discussed in the following chapters dealing with valence and atomic structure. The discussion of the physical properties of water (Chapter XIV) and their practical applications is one of the best sections in the entire bwk. Less clear, however, is the discussion of the chemical properties of water. Colloidal and true solutions are presented in an interesting fashion, especially with respect to biological application. The latter half of the volume follows.~teusual scheme of an abridged texthook of organic c h e m i s i j and includes a brief discussion of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, digestion, absorption, and metabolism. This section should he very useful to students with an adequate foundation in chemistry who wish t o make a survey of the field of organic and physiological chemistry. However. it is-~~~~ not clear iust how a student trained onlv in the chemistry of oxygen and uatrr can really understand even the simple reacrions of halugens or hydrogen with the variouc typcs of hydrocarbons. Thc extcnsivc use of structural formula%,particularly for such substances as the saccharides, sterols, lecithins, peptids, and the various types of cyclic compounds, is of doubtful ~
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A L ~ M ~ & .D. B. Hobbs. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1938. viii 295 pp. 15 X 23 cm.
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$3.00. This handsomely illustrated hook is not primarily a chemical treatise. It does, however, contain a wealth of material on the history, metallurgy, fabrication, and uses of aluminum that many teachers of general chemistry will find invaluable. An unusual feature of the hook and one that should greatly enhance its value to high-school libraries, as well as t o amateur craftsmen in general, is the series of twenty-five handicraft projects of varying difficulty described in Part 11. The articles for the construction of which directions are given are all useful, and the general level of taste and artistry in design is exceptionally high for a collection of projects of this kind. &TO REINMWH
