Nevertheless, it is safe t o say that those who will not trouble t o learn the general principles of the Beilstein arrangement lose time in the long run. The scheme is really not complicated, considering the great diversity of organic compounds, but i t needs some explanation. There are a t least three published guides to Beilstein's HANDs u c n hut only one, Huntress' pamphlet, is in English. I t can be read in an hour or less but will continue t o be useful for reference. I t is a very clear presentation, accompanied by helpful charts. I t might well be supplemented by the larger SYSTEM .DEROROANISCHEN VERBINDUNGEN by Prager, Stern, and Ilberg. The new edition of Huntress contains nine additional pages. the chief enlargement being in the section on the heterocyclic volumes and in the practice problems for locating compounds. Now that the fourth edition of Beilstein and its first supplement are so near completion, some training in its use becomes almost essential to students of organic chemistry who expect to become chemists. Their best help, unless they read German fluently, will he Dr. Huntress' hook. AUSTINM. PATTERSON A ~ r l o c aCOLL~OB YELLOW SPRrNOS, OHIO
MOLECULAR BEAMS. R. G. I. Fraser, Ph.D. Chemical Puhlishing Company of New York. Inc., New York City. 1938. ix 70 pp. 25 figs. 10 X 16.5 cm. $1.25.
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This short monograph aims t o describe the more promising fields of the work being done with molecular beams. The first chapter is devoted to the experimental technic involved. The other subjects covered in the rest of the book are gas kinetics, magnetic moments, and electric moments. The diffraction of molecular beams a t crystal surfaces and molecular scattering in gases are discussed, and space is devoted to the determination of molecular collision cross-sections as well as recent experiments on the gyromagnetic properties of atomic nuclei. The author has written a very interesting account of this important branch of research and has fulfilled his objective. The book can he highly recommended to advanced students in physics or chemistry and to teachers who wish to ohtain a survey of same of the work in this difficult field. ARTHUR A. VERNON RHODB ISLAND STATECOLLBOB
lining methods of determining the elements gravimetrically as oxide, sulfide, sulfate, phosphate, chloride, or silver salt, and also discusses the use of a half dozen of the newer organic reagents. The next fifty pages deal with volumetric methods, including acid-base, oxidation-reduction, iadometric and potentiometric titrations. Shorter sections are devoted t o electrolysis and colorimetry. The last fifty pages are devoted t o outlines of methods of analysis of a number of typical substances such as limestone, enamels, steel, brass, and bronze and with a discussion of the accuracy and precision of analyticsl results. The authors summarized their aims as follows: "(1) To furnish analysts with information concerning the behavior of all the elements in the more important reactions that are used in analytical chemistry; (2) to stimulate searches for more selective reagents; (3) t o enlighten chemists who holdchemical analysis in too light regard; and (4) to inform non-chemists concerning the complexities and difficulties that beset the analyst." They have succeeded in achieving these aims in a boak written in a clear and forceful style and showing the stimulating effect of the authors' wide personal experience with chemical analysis in theory and practice. They make effectiveuse of periodic charts in order t o show the properties which elements have in common, whether it be colored ions, volatility or insolubility of sulfides in acid solutions. These charts summarize in a helpful way the differences and similarities upon which chemical separations are based. The book could he read with profit by undergraduate students of analytical chemistry (and their teachers). It should he invaluable to those graduate students who want t o develop a sound hackground for analytical work, and t o practical analysts who are critically examining established methods of analysis, applying them to new materials or developing new procedures. The material is well indexed, and the outline contains a number of references t o the original literature and to detailed hooks on quantitative analysis. The authors state that they omitted more extensive references and descriptions of procedure already contained in the APPLIEDINORGANIC ANALYSIS of Hillebrand and Lundell. The present volume would he improved by the addition of specificpage references t o the older hook, t o which the reader could turn for details of the separations and determinations contained in the present stimulating outline. FRANKT. GUCKER.JR. NORTWESTBRN UN~VB~SITY EVANSTON, ILLINoz~
KINDBTON, RIODB ISLAND
OUTLINES OR METHODSOF CHEMICALANALYSIS. G. E. F. Lunddl, Ph.D., Chief Chemist, National Bureauof Standards. and James INin Hoffman, Ph.D., Chemist, National Bureau of Standards. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York City. 1938. xi 250 pp. 115 tables. 15 X 23 cm. $3.00 net.
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Probably the simplest step in a chemical analysis is the final determination of a particular element by means of a particular reagent. The capable analyst must know what elements are likely to he present in a given sample and how they can be separated, before he can finally determine each. The authors of this hook outline in a systematic way the methods of chemical separationethe general strategy of chemical analysis, rather than the detailed tactics of final determinations to which most laboratory manuals and many texts are limited. A few short chapters are devoted to the classification of materials and the elements each contains; sampling; and the preparation of solutions for analysis. The next seventy pages deal with methods of separating the elements, following in general the familiar scheme of qualitative analysis, with the additional discussion of groups precipitated hy ammonium oxalate and hy diammonium phosphate under different circumstances. This section closes with a discussion of the separation of the constituents of the groups and with special methods of precipitation. The third section of the hook devotes twenty-five pages t o out-
OUT OF THE TEST TUBE. Harry N. Holmes. Ph.D.. Oherlin College. New edition. Revised and Expanded. Emerson Books Inc.. New York City. 1937. x 301 pp. 101 figs. 15 X 23 cm. $3.00.
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David Dietz, science editor of the Scripps-Howard newspapers, has called Dr. Holmes's book "the best popular discussion of chemistry since the publication of Slosson's 'Creative Chemistry' some fifteen years ago." First published in 1934, the new edition shows considerable enlargement and revision. The four new chapters have for their titles, "Atom Smashing," "Chemistry and the Motor Car," "The Chemist in Crime Detection," and "Winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry." I n eight of the thirty-six chapters no additions or omissions have been made. Of the fifty-five new paragraphs over one half are t o he found in six chapters dealing with recent developments in atomic structure and industrial chemistry. The sixteen paragraphs dropped from the first edition are found in seven chapters of the older work. There arc twenty new figures in the revised edition. The size of the type has been reduced so that the number of pages has been decreased from 373 t o 301. An index has been added. JOHNR. SMPEY
