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INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
Alexander Findlay, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of Aberdeen. Third edition. Revised by H.W. Melville, F.R.S., Mason Professox. of Chemistry, University of Birmingham. Long592 mans, Green and Co., London and New York, 1953. vti pp. 155figs. 13.5 X 21.5cm. $5.50.
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cussion of thermodynamics comes rather late. This introduces a difficulty, since the treatment of solutions uses some of the equations subsequently derived in the chapters on thermodynamiea; the difficulty would not be serious if there were sufficient cross references within the book,but equations are not numbered, and mch expressions as "it has already been pointed out that. .," or "we fihall learn later that.. .," occur frequently, and the reader has to hunt diligently to discover where. To add to the eonfusion, where cross references are given, they are sometimes in error. For example: On page 94 we read, "Reference has already been made (p. 93) to the transpiration method of determining vapour pressures . . ."; this method is not given on page 93; it is discussed in another context more than 100 pages further on. On page 203 a reference is given to page 46; it should be page 41. On page 221, reference is made to chapter XIX; it should be chapter XVIII. As nearly rts can be judged, these errors are due to carelessness in the revision; however they arise they make serious study difficult. The aspect in which this text differs most markedly from many others is the emphasis given to the history of physical chemistry. The historical approach has certain advantages as well as disadvantages. Historical emphasis helps the student to see physical chemistry as a constantly developing body of knowledge, and to avoid the impression, so easily obtained, that our present ideas are necessarily and finally correct; the student who studies this hook will see clearly that he is in midstream in an ongoing process. On the other hand, there are certain hazards to the historical method which this text does not altogether avoid. The historical approach sometimes causes the student to learn something wrong, which he finds difficult to unlearn; or it may lead him to a subtly false impression, which he never consciously recognizes as fake. An example of this is the misconception regarding the nature of solutions which was introduced by van%Hoff's interpretation of osmotic pressure as being due to bombardments by solute particles, and which emphasis on van't Hoff's work has helped to perpetuate. Furthermore, the student will probably gain the impression that there is something more fundamental about osmotic pressure than about the other properties of solutions; even electromotive force eqmtions are derived from osmotic pressure relationships (page 374). The first edition of this text, published in 1933, was reasonably modern and up to date in most respects, hut subsequent revisions have not kept up with the times. The chapter entitled The Law of Mass Action Applied to Solutions of Electrolytes was well done in 1933, with keen insight into changing points of view-and changes were rapid at that time. But now, 20 years later, mueh progress has been made, perhaps more in ways of clarifying ideas i. e., in teaching methods-than in the ideas themselves, yet this chapter is almost unchanged. In the chapter on Behaviour of Electrolytes especially there are out-dated interpretations which should have been corrected by this time; for example (page 224), in the electrolysis of aqueous sodium chloride solutions, sodium ions "on being discharged, give rise to sodium which
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of hydrogen," or (page 236) reacts m t h water with "The molecules of sodium chloride, NaCI, consist of sodium ions and chlorine ions in the form of electrically neutral 'doublets,' . ." Much of the third edition is identical with the first, but some changes have been made. A chapter entitled Molecular Dimensions and Configurations has been added; it is too brief and superficial to be of mueh value. Three chapters, Velocity of Cbemical Reaction, Catalysis, and Photochemistry, which were seattered through the text in the fimt edition have been brought together and completely rewritten as a single chapter entitled The Mechanism of Chemical Reactions and Velocity of Chemical Change. Logically, this is a great improvement; unfortunately, the new chapter is somewhat disjointed, not well integrated with the rest of the text, and marred by occssional careless misstatements. The title of the chapter on colloids has been changed to Interfacial and Related Phenomena; the chapter has been partly rewritten, and new material on high polymers has been added. This chapter and that on adsorption have been interchanged in order, and the latter chapter also has been largely rewritten; again, the revision is marred by occasional mistskeu. Among the best features of the book are excellent and rather detailed descriptions, often including diagrams of the appmatus, of many of the "classical" experiments in physical chemistry. Many of the explanations of difficult points are done with keen insight into the difficulties which students are likely to encounter. Examnles worked out in the text add ereatlv. to its value. and an adequate number of problems and exercises are given in the appendix, together with mswers to some of them.
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INORGANIC CHEMISTRY: A TEXT-BOOK FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS
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E. de Barry Barnett, formerly head of the Chemistry Department, Sir John Cass Technical Institute, London, and C. L. Wilson, Reader in Analytical Chemistry, The Queen's University, Belfast. Longmans, Green and Co., London and New Y a k , 1953. xiv 512 pp. 27 figs. 12 tables. 16.5 X 25.5 cm. $7.
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As INDICATED in the preface to this volume, the purpoae of the hook is to provide a text suitshle for students "reading for a university degree or similar professional qualification," and it assumes a. knowledge of inorganic chemistry covered in the usual intermediate course, as well as a familiarity with the essential principles of physical chemistry. The plan of the hook resembles in a general way that of Therald Moeller's "Inorganic Chemistry" (John Wiley 61 Sons, Inc., New York, 1952), in that the first part of the volume-seven chapters of s total of 2 7 d e a l s with the more theoretical aspect8 of the subject, whereas the later chapters deal with the chemistry of the individual elements considered according to their position in the periodic system. A preliminery section on inorganic nomenclsi ture is followed by a historical introduction (with special reference to the develooment of the oeriodie clctssifieation of the elements): ehnprrr, on thr dt~tcrminatiun of atomic a c i ~ h t s ;orr n.sturxl rrrdioac tiviry; on the xrtifit.id brrrkduwn of atoms; un isotopes and ir,bnrs; on rhr structure of the outer .iphrrr of the atom: and on stereochemiatry and crystal chemistry. A chapter on the isolation of the elements precedes the discussion of the inert gases and of hydrogen. There follow chapters ~
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