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Another quite useful scheme used by Siggia is the detailed summary evalua tion of available methods pertaining to the topics under discussion. Many ana lytical chemists and particularly those scientists at the boundaries will find these tables the high point of the book. If a student learns all that is in these summaries, he will certainly be able to speak a knowledgable game of modern analytical chemistry. Because the vari ous assessments in these summaries must be arbitrary to some degree, there will be no unanimity of opinion here. Nevertheless, this source of disagree ment is beneficial because such judg ments do stimulate thought on the reader's part. Despite a consistent high grade treatment of most topics, there are por tions of the book that are puzzling, however. Some of the data in tables given in the chapter on elemental analysis—particularly those on lines and bands used for visual spectrochemical analysis, the data on flame spectra of elements and polarographic data— are rather old, dating back to 1950. More recent tables of these data are available that would seemingly repre sent the latest information published. The section on radioactive elements is very short, only one paragraph in length. Such light treatment could pos sibly be rationalized but the absence of any suggested readings in this field cannot and is regrettable. Automatic analysis is rather summarily dismissed in a short chapter. In view of the tremendous impact that automated analysis is beginning to effect on ana lytical chemistry, a survey of this type seems incomplete without a more emphatic treatment. In this connection the omission of mention of computer processing of data and even computer control of analytical equipment is an oversight that should have been cor rected.
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The topography is excellent. I noted few errors, one exception was the use of the dagger symbol in Table 8.3 on gas chromatographic detectors with no explanation of this call-out being given. From the standpoint of one who has been involved in "big" analytical chem istry at a national laboratory for nearly 20 years, I recommend this book par ticularly to scientists who have a need for analytical chemistry—those who re quire an understanding of what goes on, what is used, and how it is used in solving the problems they generate. They cannot fail to be impressed by what they read. Inside the family among analytical chemists the book will be beneficial as a broad reference book to industrial analytical chemists. Those involved in training our pro
fessional analytical chemists of the future will make their own judg ments as to its use. Whatever their decision, I hope that all fledgling analytical chemists get a solid dose of this medicine on "how it really is" as told by Siggia. They will undoubtedly benefit from reading how analytical chemistry does function in real life.
Polarography. D. R. Crow and J. V. Westwood. χ + 174 pages. Barnes and Noble, Inc., 105 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003. 1968. $5.00 Reviewed by Louis Meites, Depart ment of Chemistry, Clarkson College of Technology, Potsdam, N.Y. 13676
Polarography is an extremely versa tile technique and one that has been in use for many years, during which it and a host of other techniques closely related to it have commanded the at tention of an extraordinary number of outstandingly imaginative scientists. Their sophistication and scope are therefore very great. More than one book about them has already suc cumbed to elephantiasis. Several smaller ones have appeared in the last year or two, but none has been greeted with much enthusiasm by its reviewer for this journal. The present attempt to provide a short introduction to this embarrassment of riches, though not entirely free from flaws, certainly deserves the serious consideration of those for whom it was intended. There are nine chapters. The first (5 pages) is an introduction; the second (15 pages) describes the diffusion and residual currents. The third (27 pages), entitled "Current-Voltage Relation ships," includes the equations of vari ous reversible and irreversible waves, as well as descriptions of maxima and of electrostatic repulsion in the double layer, and also, unexpectedly, outlines of the behaviors of limiting currents of catalytic, kinetic, and adsorption waves. The fourth (15 pages) deals with instrumentation and includes dif ferential, derivative, and "Tast" pola rography; the fifth (17 pages) sum marizes methods for investigating inorganic complexation, including the DcFord-Hume, Schwarzenbach, and Ringbom-Eriksson techniques, and also describes kinetic waves of complex ions and correlations of half-wave potentials with spectroscopic data. Chapter 5 contains more references (40) than any other and is the only one that contains references to the authors' own work. The sixth chapter (22 pages) covers organic polarography, including
