Also included is s. well-illustrated chapter on "currently" available cammercial instruments. Even though i t is useful to describe some representative spectrometers in dotail-in order to illustrate the functions of components and to permit a discussion of the interactions that various components may have on each other, i.e., a treatment of the spectrometer as a "system" (for example, the tradcoffs between slit width, scanning speed, noise level, costs, etc.)-this reviewer feels that a n attempt in a textbook to provide a guide to current instrumentation simply accelerates its ohsolescence. In view of the fast-growing field of instrumentation, such tasks are better left to the current literature. E. D. MOORHEAD I n Part Three, the chapters on group Haward University frequencies and qualitative analysis are Cambridge, Massachusetts quite sketchy, but quantitative analysis is handled in a rather scholarly fashion, with considerable depth. A fourth chapter deals with reflection and polarization measurements and, briefly, with micratechniques. Part Four discusses some specific groupAn Introduction to Infrared frequency applications, mostly to organic Spectroscopy compounds, including high polymers. The last chapter very briefly presents W. Briigel, Badische Anilin- und Sodasome assorted topics, among them hydroFabrik AG., Ludwigshafen a.Rh., Westgen bonds, rotational isamerizatian, therern Germany. Translated from the modynamic calculations, etc. German Original by A. R . K a t d z k y , Brilgel's book is neither a how-to-do-it Churchill College, Cambridge, England, manual nor an easily readable introducand A. J . D. Katritzky. John Wiley and tion that provides the novice with much 419 Sans, he., New York, 1962. xv feel for the suhlect. I t is, however, a pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 24 em. valuable bird's-eye view of the field and $9. has abundant references to guide further I t is curious that, in spite of the popularstudy. ity of the subject, there has been for years WALTERJ . LEHMANN no general English-language textbook on Aerospace Corporatin the theory and application of molecular I m Angeles, Calijomia or infrared spectroscapy-and then the year 1962 brings us three, viz.: an introduction to the theory, but not the practice, of molecular spectroscopy hy G. M. Barrow, J. CHEM.EDUC.,40, A56 (1963); Fachw'drterbuch der Chemie: Eina textbook emphasizing the practice and rchlierrlich Verfahrenrtechnik und den applicstion of absorption spectroscopy by Grundlagen der verwondten WirrenR. P. Baumm; and Briigel's book in Engschaften (Dictionary of Chemistry inlish translation, covering bath theory and cluding Chemical Engineering and application. Briigel limits himself to Fundamentals of Allied Sciences) Volrotation and vibration spectra, while ume 1, German-English Barrow and Baumm include electronic Rieha~dErnst and Zngeborg Ernst "on spectra. Brandstetter Verlag. Morgastern. The intent of the three authors is Wiesbaden, West Germany, 1961. 727 basically the same-to provide an introduction to the field for the worker with pp. 12 X 19cm. $10. little or no previous background and ta Dictionnaire de Chimie: Fachwb'rterenable him t o make use of more advanced buch der Chemie: Chemical Dictionary and more specialized monographs and the current literature. Jean Fouehier and F m n d Billet. Part One of Briigel's hook, onvibrations 2nd ed. Netherlands University Press, and rotations of small molecules, is 370 pp. The Hague, 1961. 472 basically an abstract of corresponding 429~~. sections of Henberg's well-known, twoIn addition to their common purpose of volume "Molecular Spectra and Molecular linguistic aid to chemists, these two Structure,'' even containing many of the dictionaries have some other characterissame figures. Like most abstracts, i t tics. I t is plain that the compil~rswere captures the essence of the original, hut not native to English, and learned it from does not present this material in a more graphic and more easily visudimhle British sources. Both make some allowance for differences between British and fashion-which should be expected from American terminology or spelling. They an introductory text. Part Two embraces succinctly the basic give much attention to applied chemistry, even into the chemical process industries elements of instrumentation and of sample where some terms have no ohvious rihandling. The copious references to lation to chemistry. This encourages the current-literature articles should prove trend away from narrow "pure chemistry" quite helpful. The laboratory exercises are oriented t o a special set of instrumentation (described in Supplement 1) designed by the authors in collaboration with the Heath Company, Benton Harbor, Michigan, and readily available from that manufacturer. It would seem to the reviewer that the many exercises employing this special apparatus could have been segregated t o a supplementary working manual. This is a minor point, however, and does not detract from the general usefulness of the textual material which, in the reviewer's opinion, is a highly recommended compilation and working guide to the many electronic circuits frequently encountered in the laboratory.
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336 / Journal o f Chemical Education
dictionaries, a trend in which the first (1953) edition of Fouchier-Billet lays just claim to leadership. Both dictionaries are liberal in entering synonyms under terms, hut are notably less liberal about entering the synonyms in their proper alphabetic places. There arc also notable differences beyond the respective bilingual and trilingual characters. The Ernst dictionary (familiarly so-cdllled because Dr. Ernst has compiled s. series of specialty dictionaries of which this one is not a part) has considerably the larger vocabuIary, about 45,000 terms. I t suffers somewhat more from the infection, so difficult to avoid even among professional translators, of too-literal rendition into English. No lass in clarity has been observed from this minor defect, and a compensating feature is that Ernst exposes himself more to this risk by giving more detail in many of his definitions. Ernst is not quite as meticulous as Fouchier-Billet in chemical nomenclature, especially in that Ernst concedes more than seems needful to old terminology, such as sulfuret for sulfide. Simply as a German-English vocabulary, Ernst is clearly superior; but Ernst's Volume I1 (English-German) must be included for a comparison with FouehierBillet. This leaves to the trilingual dictionary the advantage of a FrenchEnglish and English-French dictionary in the same volume, with the disadvantage A of having a smallw vocabulary. particular merit of Fauehier-Billet is the liberal use of chemical formulae to illustrate names, often with space-eonsuming hut helpful structures indicated. Misprints are uncommon throughout; without any actual comparison, they sewn to occur a bit more frequently in the trilingual dictionary, where the hazards are greater. Captious criticisms aside, both dictionaries are substantial contributions t o interlingual chemical 1exicogra.phy and each serves well its ohiective as set forth in its introduction. Chemists interested only in help with German literature will refer Ernst for its lamer vocahularv:
lary needs are unusudly extensive
JTILIAN F . SMITH Lenoir Rhyne College Hickory, North Carolina
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Historical Studies in the Language of Chemistry
.l4uurice P. Crosland. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachu406 pp. Figures. setts, 1962. xvii 15 X 22cm. $9.
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The great Lsvoisier wrote in 1789 of the "impossibility of isolating the nomenclature from the science and the science All phyaical from the nomenclature. science is necessarily formed of three (Continued on page A468)
...
BOOK REVIEWS things; the series of facts which constitute the science; the ideas which recall them; the words which represent them." A history of chemical language can provide a significant portion of the history of ehemistry itself, and M. P. Crosland in this book has provided historians of science with a well-written and long needed study. At the same time the book will be of interest to the practicing chemist and educator. The problems of systematic nomenclature are still with us today, and this excellent survey of similar if simpler difficulties of the past provides mueh illuminetingreading. The hook is divided into five parts, the central one devoted t o the development and acceptance of the first systematic nomenclature of 1787. I t was this new svstem which inse~arablvaccomoanied and in part madepoisible the chemi&.l revolution of Lavoisier and his rontemporaries. Earlier sections are concerned with the language of alchemy, and early chemical terminology. Characteristically, alchemical terms were as often designed for secrecy as for information. Akhough the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw an end t o deliberate obscurities, no systematic method appeared in the absenre of a viable system of chemistry itself. Prior to 1787, names of substances were often arbitrary and generally gave no hint of composition. Several names for the asme substances were in simultaneous use, and the same name was sometimes used for entirely different materials. Our modern nomenclature for inorganic chemistry derives directly from the neh- system of 1787 built on the principle that a name ought to express composition. There is a fourth section on chemical symbolism, beginning with the astrologically basedsymbols of alchemy, andending with the introduction of modern literal ones by Berzelius about 1815. This section thus complements the mueh earlier hook (1928) of Caven and Cranston "Symbols and Formulae in Chemistry" which is chiefly concerned with the topic after Berzelius. The final section of Crosland's hook is devgted t o the language of organic chemistry, concluding with a. brief account of the Geneva. Congress of 1892. As a survey of a large topic, the book does not contain as mueh anecdotal material as a general reader might like. Kor does the broad scope allow the author to analyze the chemical problems behind the changing nomenclature as thoroughly as the historian would like. But these limitabions do not detract seriously from the interest and usefulness of the hook as written. Rather they emphasine the need for smaller but more intensive studies in this area, for which this book will provide the background. The utility of the book is further enhanced by the extensive indices of both proper and chemical names. ROBERTSIEGFRIED Uniuersit?l of Illinois CTrbana
(Continued on page A470)
A468 / Journal of Chemical Education
