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TEIEC n e m s ~AT WORK. Roy I. Grady and John W. Chittum. Professors of Chemistry, College of Wooster. Wooster. Ohio, and others. First Edition. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION,Easton, Pa., 1940. xv 454 pp. 51 figs. 14 tables. 13 X 19.7 cm. $3.00. The purpose of the book is to give the reader a representative picture of the chemist a t work and t o senre as a vocational guide to the opportunities in the field of chemistry; t o aid the teacher with his guidance problems and t o help the student in arriving a t a decision regarding his life work. The book is made up of a series of 53 articles by successful nractical chemists in various fields. The oreface is bv Dr. R. E. Rose. Chapters I t o XXXV were collected and edited by Professors Grady and Chittum. Chapters XXXVI l o XLII include relevant articles collected and edited by Dr. Otto Reinmuth, retired editor of the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION.Chapters XLIII to LIII include articles collected and edited by Dr. Reinmuth and comprise the Symposium on the Training and Opportunities for Women in Chemistry conducted by the Division of Chemical Education +t the ninety-eighth meeting of the American Chemical Society a t Boston. A 32-page appendix contains a chart, or trade analysis, of the chemical technician indicating what he does, what he uses, and what he must know. The editors have prefaced each of the first 33 chapters with a brief statement of the experience snd training of the contributors. Each contributor then discusses the general nature of his field, following this with the details of his typical daily laboratory activities and often indicating how problems confronting him are solved. The writers conclude their articles by discussing the personal characteristics and training essential for their type of work. The advice given t o prospective chemists is sound, frank, and practical. For intelligent vocational guidance both the teacher and the student must become familiar with the industry, its social implications, and its demands upon the chemist. THECHEMIST AT WORKis one of the first books to make a serious attempt to help the student and teacher with this problem. The authors have included a wide variety of occupations. The contributors are experts in their fields and include some who have been out of college but a few years +% well as many who have spent their lives in the profession. Sixteen chapters are by successful women chemists and will be found invaluable in dealing with the guidance of women chemistry majors. A few of the early chapters of this book are rather brief and sketchy, the contributors failing t o do full justice to their opportunities; otherwise the articles are well written and stimulating. The value of the book could have been enhanced by a more adequate discussion of salaries and employment opportunities. but the reviewer appreciates the difficultyof treating these topics. The book should be read by all of those students who contemplate majoring in the field. I t will also be of cultural interest to the layman. C. S. ADAMS
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The first English edition of QUALITATIVE ANALYSISBY SPOT TESTS,which appeared in 1937. is well known t o chemists. The second English edition is a translation of the third German edition. I t contains many new results of the author's work in the field; in addition, corrections of the first edition have been made. The book is indispensable t o all those engaged or interested in qualitative analysis, both in organic and inorganic fields. WARRENC. JonNsoN UNWBRSTTY OF
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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
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A COLLEGE COURSEOF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY.I. R. Partington, M.B.E., D.Sc., Professor of Chemistry in the University of London. Oueen Marv Colleee. First Edition. Macmillan and Co., itd7. London. i939. 658 PP. 243 figs. 13.8 X 21.4 cm. $2.50. This book represents a condensation, with considerable rearrangement and revision of subject material, of Partington's "Tent-Book of Inorganic Chemistry for University Students," now in its fifth edition. The general plan and method of treatment of the larger book has been followed. I n the first ten chapters an elementary introduction t o the general principles of the subject is given; Chapters X I to XVI deal with oxygen, hvdro~en,the haloaens and their com~ounds. Followine three c&t& & electroiytes, molecular weights in solution, cgemical equilibria and the law of mass action, Chapter XX discusses the Periodic Law; and the final fifteen chapters describe the chemistry of the elements according .t+ their group positions in the Periodic Table, beginning with the alkalies and ending with the inert gases. The history, occurrence, preparation, and properties of each element and of its compounds are presented; suitable accounts of industrial processes and of the uses of the more important substances are included. Numerical exercises are larerlv omitted from the book, since the author has dealt with this'phke of the wl,ject in a xparatc volumc, entitled "lntermediatr Chemical Calculations." reviewed el$ewhcrc. An euten.iive set of cxamination questions is given as an appendix, arranged to cover the subject matter chapter by chapter, and an adequate index completes the volume. Printed clearly on paper of g w d quality, with a n ample supply of illustrations and diagrams, thqbook makes a pleasing impression uoon the reader and should Drove both interestine and infonnativc to the student of freshman chrmistry. l\%ilc the author has succeedcd in giving the modern point of vicw in treating such subjects as ionic equtlibria. it seems remettoblc that he finds it a t all necessary to give two explanations of the phenomena of electrolysis of solutions of sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, copper sulfate, or barium hydroxide. The first explanation, outmaded, is given prominence, whereas the more madern interpretation is brieAy presented a t the end of the chapter (ware 209). l'he smaller compass and modcrate price of the prcwnt textbook should find for it a demand in introductory courser of college rhemiptry which may well exceed that of the earlier, larger volume, which for years has had a popular appeal among teachers of more advanced courses in inorganic chemistry. WALTERC. S c m s
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QUALITATIVE ANALYSISBY SPOTTESTS. Fritz Feigl. Director of the Research Laboratory, SociM Belge de Rkcherches, Gand.; Emeritus Professor of Analytical and Inorganic Chemistry of the University of Vienna. Second English edition translated from the third German edition by Jand W. Matthnus. Nordemann Publishing Co., Inc., New York City. 1939. xv 462 pp. 27 figs. 15 X 24 cm. $7.00.
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