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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
OCTOBER, 1931
occurred, evidently in quartz veins, were worked by slave and prison labor with a ruthless disregard for health or life. The author deals a t some length with the achievements of the Muslim chemists and i t gives a human note t o cur science when we realize that Jabir, one of the great names in chemistry, was an attendant a t the court of that H a r m al-Rashid a t Bagdad of whom we used to read in the "Thousand and One Nights." This relationship between chemistry and the Arabian court may account for some of the stories in the "Thousand and One Nights" which involve the ideas of alUNIVBASITY OX C I N U N N A ~ chemy. m a t the western scientists Oaro CINCINNATI, really owe t o Muslim sources the author Makers of Chemistry. ERICJOHNHOLM- well illustrates by the following observaYARD. First edition. Oxford Univer- tion taken from a Spanish book written sity Press, 1931. 314 pp. 58 illustra- a thousand years before the classic experiments of Priestley and Lavoisier: tions. 12 X 18 cm. $2.50. "I took natural quivering mercury, free Erie John Holmyard (M.A., Cambridge) is an investigator in pure chemistry, a from impurity, and placed it in a glass vessel shaped like an egg. This I put teacher of experience, and author of various texts in chemistry. His interest in inside another vessel like a cooking pot the pedagogical side is shown by his book, and set the whole apparatus over an ex"The Teaching of Science." He has be- tremely gentle fire. The outer pot was then in such a degree of heat that I could come especially well known on account of his work in the history of chemistry bear my hand upon it. I heated the apwhere his investigations in the Arabic paratus day and night for forty days, after which I opened it. I found that sources of chemistry and in the Jabir the mercury (the original weight of which problem have been of very great value. Ih.) had been completely conMr. Holmyard has an advantage. as a his- was a red powder, soft to the verted into torian of chemistry, in his background of touch, the weight remaining as i t was scholarship and experience, wherein he originally." Mr. Holymard remarks: differs from some of the late popular "That no gain in weight was observed writers in this special field. is not surprising, as some of the mercury For the general student the most difwould probably have been lost by volatilificult part of the history of chemistry is the early period, and in this respect this zation, while the increase in weight of book is a very decided contribution. As mercury on oxidation is only about 8 an expert chemist, the author has evalu- per cent. The fact, however, that the ated the findings of archaeology concern- author attempted t o carry out the exing the technical arts of the ancient world, periment quantitatively is in itself imwhose development played such an im- portant, as indicating that he paid attenportant rAle in its political history. It is tion t o a fundamental chemical rule not a matter of interest to the student of universally observed until centuries later." Mr. Holmyard gives an account of the today t o realize that 3000 years B.C. the Egyptian Court had a monopoly of the contributions (with good perspective) of mining and metallurgy of copper, while Roger Bacon, Paracelsus, Van Helmont. the gold mines of Nubia, where the metal L h e r y (who was possibly the first writer
are largely ignored; definite citations to the literature could well have been incorporated in the body of the text. I n same eases the original German works are recommended although English translations are now available, a rather surprising condition if viewed in the light of the statement (p. 307) that "Nef's writings are hard to read, partly hecause they are published for the most part in German." This fault can easily be remedied in the next edition, for so useful a hook deserves to he brought up t o date periodically. RALPHE. O E ~ P E R
VOL. 8, No. 10
RECENT BOOKS
of a textbook that brought him a fortune in the way of royalties), John Mayow, who like Priestley failed t o interpret his experiments on "vital air" correctly, and other "Makers of Chemistry." He pays tribute t o G. F. Rouelle (1703-70), who is apt t o he sparsely treated in the ordinary history, and states that he "is one of the greatest teachers of chemistry that France or the world has produced . . . the first t o clearly define the nature of a salt and to give a systematic classification to this important class of compounds." The phlogiston theory and the cause which led to Lavoisier's great prououncement are well set forth. The last fifty pages of the hook are devoted to the classification of the elements, the rise of organic and of physical chemistry, and to the structure of the atom. . The hook is well printed and its numerous and well-chosen illustrations greatly enhance its interest. I n short, the volume is a most readable and accurate account, especially of the period before 1800, and one which the reviewer would gladly see in the library of every student of chemF. B. DAINS istry.
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TRB UNIVERSITY OR KANSAS
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There is nothing in the descriptive half of the text to offset the grimness of Part I . The authors have held to their intention not to popularize the subject; they state in the preface that "no historical material has been used, and references to industrial processes have been made as concise as possible." The only human touch in the hook is to be found in the eleven portraits reproduced from the Edgar F. Smith Memorial Collection in the History of Chemistry. The text is well adapted to the needs of the students who expect t o enter science as a profession, hut the reviewer wonders just how "practical and useful'' it has proved to the students pursuing the liberal arts course. The judgment which these students have passed upon similar required courses in chemistry during the last decade or two could hardly be expressed in such terms. Perhaps the syllabus of lectures, appended t o the preface, provides the means whereby a gifted lecturer can give material of more interest and value to this large group of students. JOHN R. SAMPEY now*no COI.LBDB B ~ ~ U I N D H A MALABAMA .
L A W R ~ N C B KANSAS ,
A Shorter Course in Organic Chemistry. J. C. COLBERT,Assistant Professor General Chemistry, Theoretical and Descriptive. THOMASP. M c C u ~ c n e o ~ , of Chemistry, University of Oklahoma HARRYSBLTZ,AND J. C. WARNER, a t Norman, Oklahoma. (The Century Chemistry Series, James KendaU, EdiSecond edition, D. Van Nostrand tor.) The Century Company, New Company. New York City. 1931. xvi 352 pp., diag. York City, 1931. xviii 533 pp. 43figs. 11portraits. 21.5 (Part fold.) 15 X 23.5 cm. S.60. X 14 cm. $3.50.
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I n the second edition of this text the authors have retained the division of the subject matter into theoretical and descriptive sections. The former has been enlarged, particularly in the treatment of the relations hetween atomic structure and the periodic system, and in the interpretation of the theory of solutions in terms of the electron theory. There is as much physical chemistry in the 221 pages of Part I a s is t o be found in any first-year text. The frequent use of mathematical formulas should early accustom the student t o think in these terms.
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Although entitled "A Shorter Course in Organic Chemistry," Colhert's text is by no means superficial or fragmentary in its treatment of the beginning organic chemistry. It is in fact generously full in its treatment of the fundamental concepts and the classes of compounds of primary importance. One of the chief merits of the text is that i t is very obviously written for the beginning student, with the limitations of such a student in mind. Large clear structural formulas are used throughout and the author is not afraid t o explain
