BOOK REVIEWS identified by the title of this book. Every potential author would choose different topics. I was, however, disappointed a t the fact that a person having read this book, would still have considerable difficulty understanding the properties of ceramics, plastics, or met& unless he had considerable hackground, not only in the elementary chemistry, but also in the nature of these msterials a t a level camparable to that which is interspersed throughout the book. Like most authors, so here, the t e m p tation t o expand led to strange combinations. For example, the section on maragiug steels is followed by one on lasers. It is a little difficult to understand the inclusion of the latter topic, since this is normally not thought of as coming within the purview of the title of the monograph. I could recommend reading this book to a college teacher who wished ta fill out some of his ideas, and see some clever interpretations and expositions of ideas in this field. He will have a pleasant two hours. I find it difficult t o recognize a student audience that would find the book similarly pprofitable. The level of education of most students seems to fall between the "two stools" on which the majority of the materid in this book rests.
Leo Hendrik Baekeland
3. Gillis, University of Ghent. Paleis der Academien, Brussels, 1965. 139 pp. Photographs. 18 X 26 cm. Paperbound. 525 fr.
THISJOURNAL (41, 224 119641) carried a paper dealing with the life and career of Baekeland (1863-1944) by J. B. Gillis, who is professor emeritus of chemistry in the University of Ghent, Brtekeland's alma mater. Accordingly there is no need to repeat here the biographical details of this outstanding BelgianAmerican chemist, inventor and industrialist. Suffice it to say that Gillis is obviously in a most favorable position t o examine the documents, letters etc. that pertain t o Baekeland. The text is in Flemish but the author has thoughtfully provided French and English summarie~. An adequate biography (12 pages) is given and i t is followed by sections bringing together documents dealing with his parents, his student days, his early teaching experiences, his first experiments on photographic plates, his marriage t o the daughter of Theodore Swarts (who had directed his doctorate thesis), his journey to the U.S.A., his first ye& in New York, the invention of Velox paper (later sold to Esstmm for%million dollars), the invention of Bakelite (later absorbed into the Union Carbide and Carbon Company). The letters are especially interesting and give good insights into his J. A. CAMPBELL family life; many are in English, some in French. The information furnished t o Hamey Mudd College "Who's Who" gives a. succinct picture of Cla~emont,California
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his honors, memberships and achievements in the scientific. industrial and pditivxl fields. A rowplpt~bihliopwphg of his publixI.~dpapers is another wlunblr fwturr, HISO 3 1C.t of the publishrd hiographies authored by eminent chemists and industrialists. The crowning feature of this hook are the 76 photographs, many hitherto unpublished; they done make this volume a. valuable addition to the literature d d i n g wirh out.t:tt.diug r l w m i t . He alurals alwnl: a i r h Stni ; t t d :idvuy as grears pnducrrl I,? BJgiunt irl the chemical field. RALPHE. OESPER Uniwrsity of Cincinnati Cincinnati. Ohio Introduction to Stereochemistry
K u ~ t Mislmo, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. Organic Chemi s tM ~ a n o m a ~ hSeries. W. A. Beni& f93 mi;, Inc., g e w York, 1965. xii pp. Figs. and tables. 15 X 22 cm. Clothbound, $8.95; paperbound, $3.95.
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Professor Mislow's contribution provides, with the qualifications mentioned below, a text which will give the motivated student a n elementary hut sound fund* mental background for moving beyond the normal undergraduate presentation of stereoisomerism. Included among the topics not normally met in such presentations are symmetry and point groups; modern configurational nomenclature; ra(Continued on page Ad74)
