J
Recent Books
Experiments in General Chemistry. H. W. STONE,Assistant Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, University of California, and M. S. D m n , Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of California a t Los Angeles. First edition. McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York 107 pp. 12 figures. City, 1929. xii 14 X 20.5 cm. $1.00.
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According t o the preface, "this baok is designed for the non-technical university student who desires general chemistry as a part of a liberal education." The authors state also that the book has been used in mimeograph form a t the University of California for four years, and the experiments have been tried over a seven-year period. The assignments are designed to be covered in a one-year program of three hours per week. The book is divided into five parts as follows: Part I. Generd E*fierimnts-Bunsen Burner, Glass Working, Density, Factors Influencing Rate of Reaction, Temperature Changes in Liquid-Gas and Liquid-Solid Transitions. Part II. Weight Relatwns-Water in a Hydrate, Combining Weights. and Formula Determination. Part Ill. Volume Relefions-M. W. of Oxygen and Sulfur Dioxide, and Equivalent Weights. Part N. SolzUions-Effect of Temperature on Solubility, Fractional Crystallization, Ionization, Properties of Acids, Bases, Salts and Volumetric Analysis. Part V. There are 13 assignments in this seclion. Examples of these are: Chemical Equilibrium, Analyses of Baking Powders, Fractional Distillation, Hardness of Water. The appendix is only three pages and dws not include any of the usual tables. Among other things it includes an illustration of the graphic representation of data and brief first-aid instructions. Each assignment is followed by a series of problems, usually six or seven in number.
It is difficult t o understand why the authors chose the particular order for their material. The first experimental work is on glass bending, assuming no previous knowledge, and then Assignment 3 involves the use of acids of certain normality. I n order to understand the third assignment, the student must have some knowledge of normality. Then later on, in Assignment 13, we find a simple experiment, as 6nding the solubility of a salt. The baok does not include the usual experiments given t o study the properties of the common elements. The experiments are well written and for any one who desires a small manual on special topics, this should he an excellent book. C. E. WHlTE UNIVBRSITY OI
MAIIYLAND
COLLBGB PAR=,MARYLAND
Oganic Chemistry for Students of Pharmacy and Medicine. A. H. CLARK, PhG., B.Sc., M.S., Professor of Chemistry, University of Illinois, School of Pharmacy; Member of the General Committee of Revision of the Pharmacopeia of the United States; Past President of the American Conference of Pharmaceutical Faculties (American Association of Colleges o l Pharmacy). D. Van Nostrand Company, New York, 445 pp. 21 X 13 cm. 1929. ix $3.50. It is the purpose of the author of this treatise to produce a text on the subject of organic chemistry that will adequately mpet the needs of the student of pharmacy and medicine and also the prospective student of medicine. With this end in view, the author has included elaborate discussions of the chemistry of those products which are used medicinally and purposely omitted or touched on very
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VOL.6, No. 10
RECENTBOOKS
lightly, many of the dyes and other industrial substances which have little or no hearing upon the practising of these medical sciences. The hook is divided into three parts. Part one deals with open chain compounds; part two treats of the aromatic communds, alkaloids, volatile ails and related products; part three includes the synthetic medicaments and certain other substances which do not properly belong in part one or two. The textbook could in no sense of the word he looked upon as a philosophical treatise upon organic chemistry; on the other hand, it serves mainly as a descriptive text of organic substances used as medicines. Many of the theoretical considerations underlying the typical organic reactions are not found in this treatise. The descriptions and common names of such a vast number of organic substances as is included within this volume are indeed commendable and valuable to the student of pharmaceutical chemistry. The synthesis of many important pharmaceutical products which are of paramount importance t o students of pharmacy and easily available in the literature of chemistry are omitted from the text. Notably among these are epinephrin, henzocaine and hexylresorcinol. Many of the equations are not written in the generally accepted molecular form. Thus on p. 43, we find in an equation the term 81; on p. 119, the terms 4 N and 2 N, whereas on p. 146 and 147 we find the terms Nas and C2. Typographical errors occur in the h w k in several places, the spelling of iodine on p. 2, of rennin an p. 131, and of toluene on p. 170. Finally, the hook suggests itself t o the mind of the reviewer as being commendable as a descriptive treatise of medicinal organic chemicals. I n this respect i t fulfils in part the purpose of the author. From the standpoint of academic chemical education, the b w k is incomplete and fails t o adequately correlate related reactions and properties of organic comJR. JOHNC. KRANTZ, pounds. UNnrsPSKTY
0s MABYLAND, BU.I?YOBB,
MD.
1839
Cases in the Administration of Guidance.
JOHN M. BREWER and twenty-two associates, members of research classes in the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University. First edition. McGraw Hill Book Co., Inc., New 304 pp. York City, 1929. xvi 21 X 14.5 cm. $2.50.
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The authors, using the case system, have selected "sample procedures in educational and vocational guidance" which mould "give a comprehensive picture of the status of the movement." The first six chapters discuss educational guidance, the next six take up vdcational guidance, a third group of five chapters considers counselors and their equipment for guidance, while the seven chapters of the fourth part discuss plans for various kinds of vocational and educational work, both in and out of school. Thirteen of the co-authors are connected with public schools, three with private schools, and five with colleges and universities. The book is well adapted for use in schools of education and with study groups of persons interested in guidance work. Personnel problems in industry have been excluded. Doctor Brewer disarms partisanship with his disclaimer that "debate on educational principles will probably continue and will divide various groups into opposite camps representing various theories of life and education." While the co-authors have realized their purpose fully, the reviewer feels that they have said a t least ten words for the old educational scheme of academic high school and arts college to one for the vocational side of the problem. There are no applications t o the field of chemical education. The hook purposely avoids conclusions but leaves the cases cited open for discussion. We must count the teeth of the horse, rather than take Aristotle's word for it. "We must stop making human junk" and i t is unfortunate that too many "guiders" have had little or no experience with industry. Peter Cartwright once told a
