NEW BOOKS
Gmelins Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie. 8 Auflage. Herausgegeben von der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft. System-Nummer 25: Cesium. Lieferung 1. 26 x 18 cm.; 104 pp. Berlin: Verlag Chemie, 1938. Price: 12.00 RM. The present section deals with the occurrence of cesium, the production of its compounds from the minerals, and the preparation and properties of cesium metal. Cesium occurs in useful amounts in some varieties of beryl, but pollux (pollucite), an aluminosilicate of cesium, is still the only rich source. This mineral occurs in Elba and in some parts of the United States, and contains about 30 per cent of cesium. The metal has now a very considerable technical interest in the production of photo cells and radio tubes, and the American deposits of pollucite, it is stated, are now being worked. Considerable quantities of cesium compounds are also produced in Russia. It is stated that the import of cesium compounds to the United States is probably only from Germany. The physical properties of cesium, which are rather fully known, are dealt with in full detail, with tabulation of numerical data and spectrum diagrams. The photoelectric properties receive particular attention, since these are a t the basis of television outfits, and the present section is, therefore, in the center of modern interest. The whole presentation is full, critical, and up-todate, and is likely to appeal to wide interests. J. R. PARTINGTON. GLmelins Handbuch der anorganaschen Chemie. 8 Auflage. Herausgegeben von der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft. System-Nummer 22: Kalium. Lieferung 5 . 26 x 18 cm.; pp. 933-1074. Berlin: Verlag Chemie, 1938. Price: 19.50 RM. The compounds of potassium dealt with in this part are the acid acetate, oxalates, tartrates, silicates, and compounds with phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth, including oxy salts. The compounds thus include a number of salts and double salts with organic acids which are of considerable technical interest. The treatment is based, whenever possible, on modern physicochemical foundations. Many good phase-rule diagrams are given. In this way much of the confusion in the literature, e.g., that concerning the oxy salts of antimony and bismuth, is cleared up. Technical progress is adequately described and very full accounts of physical and chemical properties are provided. The treatment is critical, and attention is frequently drawn to outstanding difficulties, such, for example, as the discrepancy between the crystallographic results and well-established physicochemical conclusions relating to the ion BFC in KBFI. In the section on hypophosphates the recent work establishing the formula HIPIOs for the acid is mentioned only, with a reference to the volume on phosphorus, and alternative formulas for the salts are still given. J. R. PARTINGTON. Outlines of Biochemistry. By Ross AIKEN GORTNER.Second revised edition. 23 x 15 cm.; xx - 1017 pp. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1938. Price: 58.00. Since the publication of the first edition of the Outlines of Biochemistry nine years ago, old fields of biochemistry have greatly expanded and new fields have been opened up. The author has brought into the new edition so much of this work that i t has been newssary to enlarge the book by more than two hundred pages. The one thousand seventeen pages have been kept in one volume, a very desirable feature. Three chapters have been added and many of the topics have been largely rewritten. A total of more than twelve hundred new references, dated since 1929, has been included; the number of figures has been increased from one hundred thirty-three to one hundred sixty-five and the tables from sixty-seven to eighty-six.
NEW BOOKS
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The new book is divided into the same general parts found in the first edition: I, the colloid state of matter, 348 pages; 11, proteins, 226 pages; 111, carbohydrates, 138 pages; IV, lignin and the tannins, 17 pages; V, plant and animal pigments, 35 pages; VI, the lipids and essential oils, 66 pages; VII, the biocatalysts, 122 pages. The three new chapters are: V, oxidation-reduction, written by H. B. Bull; XXXI, the flavins; and XXXVI, the hormones, written with the cooperation of L. S. Palmer. Oxidation-reduction is given the usual treatment for chemistry students, with little attempt a t biological application. The relation of the flavins to vitamins and enzymes is discussed in five pages. Chapter 36 gives a good brief review of both plant and animal hormones. Among additions t o the colloid section are Svedberg’s molecular weight studies, much new electrokinetic data, surface film work, and new terms like thixotropy and coacervation. The protein section is greatly changed with the switter-ion treatment of amino acids, the new amino acids and their value in nutrition, new studies on protein structure, intermediates of amino acid metabolism, etc. The newer formulas and proposed structures of carbohydrates are included in section 111. The discussion of lignin is entirely new. The chief addition to the lipid section is extensive new data on synthetic glycerides, fatty acid structures and nutrition, and antioxidants. The completely rewritten chapter on vitamins is one of the best. The discussion of the chemical nature of the enzymes greatly enlarges t h a t chapter. T o avoid undue length the author has limited the more strictly physiological subjects like photosynthesis, respiration, permeability, etc. In certain fields, such as resistance of plants t o drought and cold, the author may sometimes give wrong impressions by limiting his discussions to purely biochemical studies. Physiologists are generally in agreement that resistance t o drought and cold is dependent on so many factors, including structure, that no one measurable characteristic is likely to be proved “all important.” This edition is a distinct improvement over the first and should be even more widely used than that very popular volume. GEORQE0. BURR.
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Chemische Spektralanalyse. By W. SEITEAND K. RUTHARDT.20 x 14 cm.; vi 103 pp. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1938. Price: 7.50RM. This is the best textbook on practical spectrochemical analysis t h a t has yet appeared in the German language. Arranged in a series of twenty-two practical lessons or exercises, the various sections follow each other in easy and logical progression. The necessary apparatus, test pieces, and reference books required are listed a t the commencement of each lesson. The instructions are concise, complete, and clear, and particulars of some representative modern methods are included. Absorption spectrophotometry is dismissed in one short lesson, but qualitative and quantitative spectrochemical analysis, both visual and photographic, are adequately dealt with in so f a r as they are practised in the author’s country. Some use is made of the nomenclature and of the energy level diagrams of modern atomic spectrum theory, but the space devoted t o this is necessarily very restricted. The book suffers from one grave defect,-it ignores with a completeness unique in publications on this subject all information t h a t cannot be referred t o German sources; otherwise i t might have been the best introductory textbook on the subject t h a t has yet appeared in any language.
F. TWYMAN.
