NOVEMBER, 1953
597
uar," "Alkaloids," "Amino acids," "Nucleotides, nucleosides and purine and pyrimidine bases," "Vitamins," "Antibiotics," and "Other biochemical and biological applications." hi^ book should be very useful as a general introduction the field of ion exchange, particularly for analytical chemists. Also, it provides for those working in this field an excellent reference source for nearly all publications through 1951 on the applications of ion exchange for separations. EDWARD R, TOMPI(INS
IT. S. NATAL
R A D I O L O ~ I C A L DEFBNBE
LABORATORY
SAW ~ n ~ ~ c ~CsAc~oP. O ~ N I A
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PHYSICAL CONSTANTS OF HYDROCARBONS. V: PARRFFINS'OLEFINSr AND OTHER ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
Gustav Egloff, Director of Research Laboratories, Chicago, Dlinois. American Chemical Society Monograph Series. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, 1953. ix + 524 pp. 15,s X 23.5 cm. $20. AN EXTENSION, as well as occasional correotion, of the data in Volume I. Lists such constants as melting and boiling points, densities, refractive indexes, and critical constants for aliphatic hydrocarbons. Data are drawn from a wide variety of literature sources. Only a few of the isomers of the higher hydrocarbons are listed.
IDENTIFICATIONAND QUALITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF MINERALS Orsino C. Smith, Superintendent of Vinvale Refinery of the Richfield Oil Corporation; Vice-president of Pacific M i n e d Society, Bell, California. Second edition. D. Van Noshand Co., Inc.8 New York, 1953. ix 4- 385 PP. 3 7 figs. 28 plates (color). 15 X 23 cm. $7.50. THIS is an excellent handhook for any educational chemical lsboratary that gives even a little attention to the identification of mineral specimens. Over 2000 minerals are listed and clsssified in tables according ta hardness and specific gravity. Directions are given for simple chemical tests by means of which identification may be confirmed. Detailed attention is given to experiments with the blowpipe on various materials, and the results are shown in colored pictures. This second edition gives more attention to blowpipe andysis than did the fist edition. A histary of the art of blowpiping is included. Bead tests are also described and pictured in color. Detailed directions are given so that the amateur can construct a portable chemical laboratory. In fact, many sections are wrie ten so simply that aperson without muchformal chemical training can perform the operations. Far this reason, the hook will be especially welcomed by mineral enthusiasts, including those at the secondary-school level. A chapter on the use of ultrnxiolet light and mineral fluoroof L~~ ~ ~ was written by Thomas S, This chapter is illustrated by sttractive color plates. The critical comments of Alonzo Quinn of Brown University 24. 311 (194711 were not incorporated in the [THISJOWNAL, revision to any great extent. One may still wish for a more complete description of the crystal form of the mineral. This lack is not as serious as it may seem because an entirely &equate description is given with the mineral to assure its identification. The detailed descriptions of identification procedures, the generous use of color plates, and the comprehensive scope of the aontents all heartily recommend this book. Here indeed is a hook that fulfills its purpose. ELBERT C, PXLLZIPB ACAIIEUT A ~ o o v ~ M*ss*oao%m~s n,
CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY OF CONTRACTION IN BODY AND HEART MUSCLE A. S ~ e n t - G y ~ r g y The i , Institute for Muscle Research at the BiolWical Laboratory, Woods Massachusetts. Academic Press, Ine.. New York* lgS3. xxi 135 Pp. 29 figs. 23 cm. $4.80.
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THEpresent bookis in part a new edition of two previous books by the famous author; however, it contains so much new material as to deserve the speoial title selected. An introductory chapter acquaints the reader with the histology of mnsole; it is illustrated with good electron-microscope photographs on three plates. The main body of the book consists of three parts, each subdivided into several short chapters. The first section bears the title, The Molecular Mechanism of Motion. I t deals with the chemical entities of the contractile substance, especially myosin which in turn consists of two different meramyosins, actin with its integrated ATP, snd actomyosin formed by the interaction of the two above-named substances. An attempt is made to analyze the arrangement of these components t o give functiond units (on the molecular level the autone, followed on the microscopic level by the protofibril and on the macroscopic level, the fiber). ~ l ~ ~ t i ~ i t ~ ,themodynamios, and other factors are ~~nsidered.The second part, A Study on the Heart Muscle ~ i h ~ ~ the , great the heart muscle has over the body musoles for the analysis of regulations and adaptations, or in terms for attempts to "fit the contractile matter into the cellular framework." A wealth of material on the action of various substances, such as drugs, hormones, and others, is presented. The experiments summarized in this pert have been done mainly with physiological rather than biochemical methods. Apparently, changes in membrane permeability are of great importance in regulations. The validity d this view, developed primarily for the heart musole, has been checked by confirmatory experiments on the uterine muscle. The last part, Interpret* tions, sums up the author's views on the mechanism of muscular contraction. At the nerve ending s. local depolsrization of the muscle membrane occurs. I t is followed within milliseconds by actomyosin formation which is the beginning of contraction. The of depolarisation down the muscle gener. and this is Btes an electric field (window-field the essential triaer of the contraotion. The chapters stress the importtlnce of ions and temperature influences, The book is very vividly written and easy to read; it will he of interest to physiologists, biochemists, and biologists alike. It, contains 167 references distributed at the end of the various chapnor subject index, ters, hut it has neither an THEODORVONBRAND NATION*^. I ~ s m ~ o r OF esHEA~TS BETHEBDA, MAA~LAND
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SYNTHETIC ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Romeo B. Wagner, Former Assistant Professor of Chemistry, and Harry D. Zook, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania~State College. ~ lJohn Wiley ~ 6r Sans, ~ Inc.., New York. 1953. d i + 887 pp. 118 tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $11.50. Sumriaes information, selected as most imT~~~ portant and representative, on "methods of organic syntheses in the of mono- and dimost frequently functional compounds." Twenty of the world's most important journals reporting organic research have been covered page by page over the period 1919-50, and numerous other publications have been consulted, resulting in highly body labOratary information. Incidentally, "Organic Syntheses" and ' ~ ti^^^" ~ have ~*ightly been ~ listed~where they i belong. ~ namely among journals making original contributions ta knowledge. While 887 pages, tersely and effectively written though they be, cannot tell the whole story of 31 years of research, this is a decidedly worthy npwcomer to put on th? shelf where Lassar-
