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JULY, 1953
summary of the present status of theory and experiment on the !3decay process by E. J. Konopinski and L. M. Langer fall6 into this category as do articles on angular correlations of nuclear radiations by H. Frsuenfelder and nuclear moments by B. T. Feld. The recent improvements in radiation measurement devices h m resulted in a marked increase in our knowledge of decay energies. A timely correlation of these decay energies for the 8decay process is presented by C. D. Coryell. Two articles in this volume deal with chemical effects of nuclear processes. One of these is s. review by J. Bigeleisen on isotope (mass) effects on chemicd reactions. The other, by G. J . Dienes, is concerned w i t h radiation effcets in solids. There can he no question that an annually issued hook such as this fulfills a. useful function. The research worker will find periodic critical reviews and hibliographiea of all phases of nuclear work. Those with a more casual interest in nuolear phenomena will find i t a, relatively painless medium for learning the present ~ t , a t u sof specific topics and the teacher of nuclear physics or chemistry will find such s volume a great time-saver in bringing up t,a date his lecture notes. I. PERLMAN
The major portion of the book is devoted t o specific techniques. for determination of the B vitamins and of amino acids. I n each instance, consideration is given to the test organism of choice, the bass1 medium, and the assay procedure (which includes preparation of the inoculum, preparation of samples for assay, and methods of calculation). Vitamins determined include the following: riboflavin, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, psntothenic acid, biotin, aneurin, folic acid, vitamin Brcomplex, inositol, choline, and paminobenaoic acid. The section on amino acids is devoted to assay procedures for the following campounds: leucine, isoleueine, and valine; lysine; phenylnlanine; histidine; swine, proline and glycine; arginine and threeonine; sspartic acid; u-alanine; methionine, cystine, and tyrosine; tryptophan; and glutamic acid. Author and subject indexes are attached. Usefulness of t h e manual is enhanced hy inclusion of appended information on culture maintenance and preparation of stock solutions. The book is well documented, but literature citations do not include material more recent than 1950. WILLIAM D. ROSENFELD C ~ ~ l r o n mR*~ s ~ A n oCno n ~ a n ~ ~ r o r L* H*en*, C*LIFO~N,*
THE ESSAYS OF JEAN REY HEAT TRANSFER PHENOMENA R. C. L. Bosworth. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New Yorl, 1952. xii 211 pp. 41 figs. 13 tables. 14.5 X 22.5 cm. $6.
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A faosimile reprint of the original edition of 1630 with an introduotion by Douglos McKie, Reader in the History of Science in the University of London. Longmans, Green and Co., New 144 pp. Illustrated. 13 X 19 em. $5. York, 1952. I m i i i
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DR. BOSWORTH'S hook was developed from a general paper '(THE Essays of Jean Rey, Doctor of Medicine," on the inpresented a t the Heat Transfer Conference a t Sydney, August, crease in eight of tin and lead on calcination is known to most 1948, sponsored by the Australian Branch of the Institute of chemists as the first publication in which the conversion of t h e Physics. As such the monograph is essentially a review of de- metals into the oxides is attributed to the action of the air. An velopments up to that time in conduction of heat in gases, radi- excellent English trandation of the preface by Rey and the 28 ative transfer, conduction in solids and liquids, forced and natural short essays and conclusion has been available since 1902 as convection, heat flow with simultaneous phase change, and the Alembic Reprint No. 11. But Alembic Reprint No. 11, valuable use of eleotrical and other model methods. as it is for students interested in the history of chemistry and in The basic concepts of heat transfer are clearly and thoroughly seventeenth-century thought, does not include the dedication presented. A particularly valuable aspect is the unified view- to the Prince of Sedan, An Ode on the Essays by Bereau, some point attained throughout the hook by considering heat Bow as verses on the rr-ark by Deschamps, and the. letter of Pierre Brun. a n example of a transport process. In this way the similarities Master-Apothecary in Bergerac, which, according to Rey, was hetween diffusion, fluid friction, electric current, and heat flow the occasion for the hours he spent on the experiments and those are continually hrought forth. he spent on building up by reason his explanation of the results. The book should be s. valuable reference to research workers The suhstsnce of the Essays can be had from Alembic Reprint and advanced students in the field. It is not likely to be useful No. 11, but the charm of the writing as it came from the pen of a s a direct text in this country because of the lack of problems or this early seventeenth-century physician, conversant with nlany illustrations. The emphasis is primarily on the theoretical as- aspects of the life and science of his time is leeking. Copies of pects of heat transfer. No experimental correlation of heat the original are veyy rare, there being only seven extant, one of transfer coefficients or description of commercial equipment is 'which is in the Smith~anianInstitution, Washington. found. Praotical points such as the magnitude of fouling facTo add t,o the value of this facsimile edition, Dr. McKie has tors, or scale resistance, are not considered in sufficient detail written a fine introduction which includes a life of Jean Rey and t o he helpful to students interested in industrial heat transfer short summaries of t,he contents of the essays; and has added an asork. appendix of six importrtntletters: two of Mersenne to Rey, two of Rey to Menenne, and two of Brun to Mersenne. In the letter. JOE M. SMITH dated January 1, 1632, to Phre Marin Mersenne, "the Minorite Punone UNIVERBITY fither, already entertaining correspondence with the savants of L*.*YETTE. INDIAN* Europe and shortly to ernhark on those weekly canfbrencea where the latest news from the scientifir front was regularly considered and disaussed," Rey describes the thermometer he has THE MICROBIOLOGICAL ASSAY OF THE invented (the ancestor of our present-day thermometer) to use VITAMIN-B COMPLFX AND AMINO ACIDS in his prartice of medicine. Of it he writes: "it is merely a E. C. Borton- Wright. Pitman Publishing Corp., New York, 1952. small round phial having a long and slender neck. For my use I put i t in the sun and occasionally in the hand of one with fever, x 179 pp. 25 figs. 30 tables. 14 X 22 cm. $4. having.filled it with wstar except for the neck, the heat dilating ANALYTICAL biochemistry receives s. useful tool in this succinct the water makes it rise: the more or less indicating to me great " yet comprehensive manual of assay techniques in microbiological or little heat. In t,he firat 15 essays, Rep, according to his own statement, chemistry. Beginning with a. brief history of microbial requirements for vitamins and growth-factor substances, the author lays the foundation in reason for the explanation that ia given outlines the principles of microbiological assay and presents sta- in the most, important essay, number 16: ((thisincrease in weight tistical procedures for computing and testing the validity of such comes from the air, which in the vessel has been rendered denaer. heavier, and in some measure adheaive by the vehement and determinations.
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