APRIL, 1955
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ticular clarity of organination and exposition. The index could have been improved by including certain intermediates of interest that do not appear in the section headings, such as sulfur mouobromide and anhydrous stannous chloride. The diagrams, printing, and paper me good. The binding, however, is too light for s book that will inevitablv have as much use as this one. A. F. CLIFFORD
PURDUE UNIYERBITY LAFAYETTE, IIIOIAN*
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ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
I. L. Finar, Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemisky, Northern Polytechnic, Holloway, London. Second edition. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1954. xv 731 pp. Figs. 16 X 25.5 cm. $7.50.
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THEauthor's aim, as expressed in the preface t o the first edition, is "to describe the fundamental principles of organic chemistry." The accomplishment of this aim is realized in the pres; ent,stion of a comprehensive treatment of organic chemistry in terms of modern concepts. Another important objective is found in the value of the book t o the student in his study for the General Honours degree in chemistry of the London University. Dr. Finar has succeeded nobly in presenting, in dear, concise style, fundamental organic chemistry in the traditional pattern (atomic structure, aliphatics, alicyclics, aromatics, and heterocvolics) in the light of electronio interpretations and reaction mechanisms. The bridging of the aliphatics and aromatics with a well written e h a ~ t e ron alicvclic comoounds merits commen-
on nomenclature, publications of organic chemistry, and infarmation on searching the literature. The description of Beilstein's "Hsndburh" is very instructive and useful. The questions at the end of each chapter are very good, and the references to the literature are pertinent and up to date. One finds so comprehensive a text wanting, a t least in the areas of proteins, fats, soaps, rubber, sulfa drugs, and high polymers. The author, in his preface t o the second edition, faces this problem with the statement: "Since I do not consider the chemistry of natural products fundamental chemistry hut rather the applications of fundamental principles, I have excluded almost completely the study of natural products." The beauty of
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ucts which are familiar (i. e., proteins, fats, plastics, rubber, drugs). This text, as a whole, is well written, and the suthor is consistent in his usage of good formulas and illustrative examples; furthermore, the author and publisher have succeeded well in preeenting 8. book relatively free from errors. The British usage of nomenclature may be confusing a t certain points, to the American student. This fact is psrticularly true in the positioning of numerals used in the enumeration of subfitituents (e. g., butan2-01, for 2-butanol, or butanol-2, etc.), and the practice of using the prefix iso- in the I. U.C. system (e. g., isopropanol, isohutene, etc.). This tent will be of great value as a reference to the beginning graduate student of chemistry in the American university, especially for review purposes and extension of his knowledge of modern concepts in organic chemistry. Although i t will find limited consideration for adoption as a n introductory text in the traditional undergraduate course in this country, i t should serve a8 xn excellent reference far every library of chemistry.
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PAPER CHROMATOGRAPHY
Friedrich Cramer, University of Heidelberg. Second edition. Translated by Leighton Richards. St. Martin's Press, Inc., 124 pp. 68 figs. 4 tables. 16 X 2 3 New York, 1954. xii cm. $5.
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IT SEEMS to be characteristic of paper chromatography that each worker develops his own laboratory methods, and that his modifications which neld excellent results in his hands mav urove to be unsatisfact0ry;n the hauds of another. This has iidAtoso many modifications of modificat.ions that it would be inadvisable, if not impossible to describe them all in a practical laboratory manual. Considerable judgment must have been necessary t o achieve the balanced selection of typical techniques found in this book. The author commendably states: "Attention is here expressly drawn to the tendency shown by beginners in this field to apply amounts of substance which are nearly always too large.. .. Paper chromatography is a thorough-going micro-method, and those unaccustomed to working on this scale are very prone to the errors of the novice." The author then proceeds to recommend the application of amounts of substance which, in the reviewer's opinion, are too large. The bibliography seems particularly lacking in references from the United States, hut perhaps this makes it all the more valuable to the American student, since most of its 362 references w e derived from European sources and hence are less familiar. Among substances considered are amino acids, proteins, sugars, alcohols, phosphate esters, nuelensides, nucleotides, nucleic acids, flwins, phenols, organic acids and bases, vitamins, antibiotics, pprphyrins, sterols, steroids, and dyestuffs. Paper elertrophoresm is also briefly touched upon. Most valuable is the detailed description of general and special techniques, with many diagrams snd illustrations of the clever little gadgets with which paper chromatography is so replete. This is a good hook which every paper chromatographer should have. I t has also been translat~dinto Italian. A. R. PdTTON
C o ~ o n ~ oA.o & M. Co~r,:ae COLORADO F o n ~COLLWB,
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PRACTICAL PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
Alexander Findlay, Professor of Chemistry,University of Aberdeen. Revised and edited by J. A. Kitchner, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London. Eighth edition. Longmans, 364 pp. Nustrated. Green and Co., New York, 1954, xiii 14.5 X 22 cm. $3.50.
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Tnrs is the most recent edition of a laboratory manual of physical chemistry that was first published in England nearly half a century ago. The revision is conservative and well written. The emphasis is on relatively simple laboratory demonstrations of physical-chemical l a m and concepts. Most of the experiments seem easy to perform, although American undergraduates would probably find the explanations difficult. There is little effort to introduce methods that would he used in practice today or to train the student in experimental or research teehniques. There is no discussion of the design of experiments and little on treating data. It seems improbable that this book will be widely used in this country. Many of the teachers and a few of the students in laboratories of physical chemistry may, however, be interested in reading it. I t should be of especial interest to anyone seeking experiments for demonstration lectures in this subject.
ROY G . BOSSERT Olrro WGSGEYAN UNIVBRBITT DEGAWARE, OHIO
CARSTEN STEFFENB S ~ a w m n oR n s ~ ~ n I~snmwm ca s ~ * n r o n o .C n n ~ r o ~ m r
