RECENT BOOKS L ~ B R A RGUIDE Y EOR THE CHEMIST. Byron A. Soule, Sc.D., Assistant Professor of Analytical Chemistry, University of Michigan. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York City, 1938. xiii 302 pp. 55 figs. 14 X 20.5 cm. $2.75.
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This exceedingly practical book is designed by the author t o train chemists in library technic and to assist them to acquire skill in the use of the available chemical publications. Since the book is a guide for the chemist in the library, the author states that he does not pretend to include a complete bibliography of source material but be wishes rather to emphasize the methods of using the more important books and journals. The first two chapters discuss the arrangement of a library and the card catalog from the standpoint of the chemist who uses them, and not that of the librarian who takes charge of their organization. A chapter devoted to biographical material follows. The next four chapters present methods of using in the most efficient manner the periodicals publishing original papers, the abstract journals, the review serials and monographs and the encyclopaedias. These types of pnhlication represent the gradual condensation of chemical information from the original through three stages of secondary source material. Patents and government publications are the subjects of the remaining chapters except for the last, which is an excellent discussion of the schemes for making literature reports. The outstanding contribution of the book is the assembly of ideas and devices which give definite practical assistance. There are fifty-five tables which indicate in compact form, summaries of the contents of the important chemical publications. There are suggestions relating to the evaluation o f , the literature, organizing bihliographical investigations, preparing accurate, concise reports and directions for the standard types of reference writing. The lucid explanation of the use of the keys t o such compilations, as formidable to the beginner as the International Critical Tables and Beilstein, is very valuable. The chapters on patents enlighten the reader not only on the problem of how to find a patent, but also on how much he should know about patents in the course of his professional career. Since it is approximatelv a decade since the nublication of a similar book, the ~~~hihliographical nmtrrial of Pmfrsor Soulr'~vulume hriclges the gap h a t e u that oldcr period and the prcwnt. This hook ic the outgrowth of a course in the use of chpmical literature which has given the author opportunity to ascertain what the students want to know. Therefore, he has been able to anticipate and answer the questions of chemists as a whole. There is no doubt that the hook is full of thoughtful advice and in the hands of the young research worker is an invaluable source of information. It is recommended without reservation t o chemistry students, chemistry librarians, teachers of the use of chemical literature, and t o all others who feel a t a loss as to how and where best t o begin to utilize the chemical library. VIRGINIA BARTOW U ~ r n a s r r u09 ILLINOIS URBAN*. IYlNOlS
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INTRODUCTORV GENERAL CHEMISTRY.Stuart R. Brinkley, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Yale University. Revised Edi731 pp. 'tion. The MacmiUan Co., New York City, 1938. x 176 figs. 14 X 21.5cm. $3.50.
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This book is strikingly different from most of the current introductory chemistry texts. Professor Brinkley presents several novel ideas in point of view and order of presentation of subject matter and weaves them into a well-organized plan. Every teacher who sees the book will want a copy for reference; he who plans to teach a rigorous and scholarly course will wish to examine it with a view to adoption.
The first third of the book follows the usual plan, but is somewhat more detailed than most introductory books. For example, under the determination of molecular weights we find descriptions of the Dumas and Victor Meyer methods and a discussion of Raoult's Law, with illustrative problems and diagrams. The chapter on the halogens (which are discussed as a group) occupies eighteen pages and that on the hydrohalides, thirteen pages. These chapters, and the following one on the alkali metals, furnish a background for the discussion of the periodic system which follows. This, in turn, is followed by chapters on Atomic Structure, Ionization, and Electrolysis. This sequence, while unusual, introduces the subjects in a logical and natural manner. Once introduced, they are used freely, and the latter half of the hook utilizes electronic formulas and ionic equations in large number. The author intends that the book shall serve as an introduction to qualitative analysis, and discusses the necessary theoretical concepts in some detail. The analytical behavior of the various metallic ions is touched upon only briefly, although the description of the metals and their salts is given marespace than inmost of therecent elementary texts-ahout one hundred fifty pages. The book is up to date in both theory and practice. The Debye-Hiickel and Br6nsted concepts are used freely, and recent exnerimental work. such as that on deuterium and atomic transmutation, is discussed. Several new industrial developments are described. Production figures for important chemicals are given for 1936. Several other features of INTRODUCTORY GENERAL CHEMISTRY deserve mention. These include the numerous full-page portraits of eminent chemists, the brief historical sketches with which the book abounds, and the many applications of chemisw to industry. Each chapter concludes with a group of study cxercises and references for additional reading. A section on organic chemistry, occupying fifty pages, is placed a t the end of the hook. I n this hook, Professor Brinkley has produced a scholarly, yet teachable, text which should receive wide attention. The printing and binding are splendid, and considering the size of the hook, the price is surprisingly low. JOHNC. BAILAR,JR. U N I " & R S ~ Y 0. ILLINOrE URBAN& I L I N O I ~
THE FINE STRUCTURE OP MATTER: PAKT11, MOLGCULAR POLARIZATION. C. H. Douglas Clark. Assistant Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry in the University of Leeds. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York City, 1938. lav 240 pp. 124 figs.
13.5 X 22 an. $4.50.
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This book is Part I1 of Volume I1 of a projected three-volume comprehensive treatise by the author on atomic and molecular structure. This part, which forms a complete book in itself includes references t o almost all of the experimental and thearetical papers published on the subject of molecular polarization up to 1935. The part starts with Chapter X on dielectric constants. This chapter contains a brief r6sum6, without discussion, of a few theoretical laws, and then proceeds t o summarize the results of some two hundred seventy experimental papers, to which references are given. The Debye Theory of Polarization is treated, with references t o thirty-five theoretical papers in Chapter XI. Chapter XII, on Molecular Refraction, deals mostly with experimental results, again quoting from approximately a hundred papers. Chapter XIII, on Polar Molecules, summarizes the methods determining permanent dipole moments, and lists many of the results. The Kerr effect is treated a t the end of the chapter. The
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