CHEMISTRY CREATES A NEW WORLD Thomas Y. Crowd Co., New York, 1957. xii 321 pp. 15.5 X 22.5 cm. $4.50.
Bernard Jaffe.
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THIS is a sound and highly rcadable report on x variety of relatively recent d* velapments in chemistry which are having or will have major effects upon food, clothing, shelter., and health and power for p ~ o p l eover the world. These include: the discovery of new medicines such as the "solfa" drugs and antibiotics; developmrnts of synthetic fertilizers and insectieidrs for agricultural production of food; improvements in methods of production of steel and aluminum and magnesium, and of new metals such as germanium for transistors; chemicals from petroleum, and synthetic gasoline 11.om coal; man-made rubbers; the discovery of ncu films and of silicone and Ruorocarbon plastics: "modern alchemy" and ncw clcments: and nuclear power as R n*K SOIII~Pr? of energy. The hook is generally well prepared and well n.l.itten. Individuals may differ u-ith the mthor on some points, such as the relstiv~lyhigh emphasis a n fibers in the field of plastics; but in general the coverage is excellent. Few technical or typogrsphical ermrs xere noted. Pmfessol. Glenn Seaborg has contributed a thoughtful preface. The illustrations am pen-and-ink drawings by Ava Morgan. In one or two instances, such as the "elertlon micrograph" of tobacco mosaic virus on p. 87, one cannot help but emem em be^. the striking photographs which are svaihhlc; but in general the drawings are quite effective. They are carefully canccived and frequently imaginative. For chemists the chief criticism of the book is that it tells much of chemicals and praple and industry and history, and only iittle of chemistry. This is, of course, the ususl and very difficult problem inherent in the writing of any book of this type (one for whieh no ready solution ran be suggested). Tho author has made mom effort than most miters to give the nonehemist some insight into the science. There are three introductory chapters on the basic concepts and symbolism of chemistry and on same simple "kitchen" chemistry. The discussions of some points such as that of the structure of the momatie ring and of atomic stmrture and the new elements include some reflection of the intellertual asppets of the scicnce. Even so, t,he hook is primarily a news r e pot.t. I t tells much more of the new world elaxted by chemistry than it does of chemistry westing that world. The book is written primarily fat. nonchemists and ran be highly recommended
to them. It will also make an effective addition ta library shelves for beginning students and for courses for nontechnical students. Teachers, particularly in high school, will find i t an excellent source book for information on recent and interesting developments in the field. HORRIN C. U ~ m e n a molr~ Tmhs AUSTIN.T E X M
ANDERSON
SCIENTIFIC FRENCH William N. Locke.
John Wiley 8 Sons,
Inc., New York, 1957. 13 X 17.5 cm. $2.25.
x
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112 pp.
IN ELEYEN lessons and three appcndixea Professor Locke offers a, Freneh-toEnglish road map for scicncc and teehnology. As Head of the Modern Languages Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he knows the road blacks and detours which plague demee candidates coming up far language examinations. Very sensibly, Lesson 1 is on pronunciation, although the aim is to aid rending rather than speaking. Theirs not to reason why, readers of a foreign language can understand i t better if they can mentally follow the pronunciation, Minor deviations cause no embarrassment, so this book seeks to teach approximate pronunciation, not elocution. The lossons are progressive, with no attempt to make the routo to fluency in technical French look short or oasy. But there is some encouragement in the reminder that French is a closer relative of English than is Gennan or Russian, hence is easier to learn. Quite appropriately, d l three appendixes deal with verbs. The student who conquers French verbs o m say with Caesar veni, vidi, vincit. Tabulation of some language sspeets is commendable; they would fill dreary pages of running text. One of the best is Table 4, showing from a count made in 400,000 words of technical French, that the French equivalents and combinations of and, the, and a few pronolms take up 20.5% of the wordage, and 01 common words raise the count to 44.6%. The drudgery comes in mastering the other SSYo. Locke leads the student into sentence structure, idiom, and other aspects of French usage through actnal literature selections. Vocabulmy msstety, he teaches, means to use the dietiona1.y and read everlastingly. JULIAN F. SNITH L = a o r ~ - R nCOLLECE ~~s Hicronr, Nonrn C - ~ O L I N *
SCIENTIFIC GERMAN: A CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF THE STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF S C I E N T ~ C AND TECHNICAL GERMAN George E. Condoyannis. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1957. 164 pp. 13.5 X 17 om. $2.32. '
IN SPITE of the relntivcly recent war the number of German scientific and technical publications now probably oxceeds the prewar output. Combincd with the pachydermatous Beilstein and Gmelin handlmoks, the ability to read this mass of German material is a n e cessity for even the yomg chemist. The present hook seeks to be of help to the student who needs to learn how to read scientific German; speaking the language is of lesser importance. Thc arrangement of the lessons in the book is logicsl, and the examples of sentence canst].uction, grammatical difficulties, etc., are well selected. Tho only point with which this reviewer would disagree with the author is in suggesting that in scientific German festslvllen is more often eorrert,lp translated establish instearl of areerlnin.
T. E. R. SINGER Nrcw son^. N. Y.
PERSPECTIVES IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY Edited by Sir Alexander Todd.
Inter-
science Publishers, Inc., New York, 1956. x 527 pp. 16 X 23.5 cm. $7.50.
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THE book i~ dedicated to Sir Robe1.t Robinson, D.>I., F.R.S., on the occasion of his 70th birthday, as a tribute to one of the greet masters of organic rhemist1.y. The volume is a, collection of 18 essays covering subjects v i t h which each author is intimately associated. The essays do not propose to present subjects in iull dct,ail. Some h i s t o r i d background is included in many of them. The principal objectives, however, are to give the reader cleat. and concise concepts of our present knowledge and the recent developments in the special fielda covered. Definitions, theories, new tools and techniques, and speculations for the future m e included. Structural formulas and selected references are used quite freely. Subject matter of each essay is presented in s logical and interesting manner. The reader frequently has a feeling of regret as he approaches the end of earh story. The list of contributing authors is: Linus Pading, Paul D. Bartlett, Wilson Hnker, I). H. R. Barton, V. Pt.elog, A. J.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
Birch, R. B. Woodward, Karl Ziegler, E. L. Hirst, Sir Alexander Todd, L. Ruzicka, C. W. Shoppee, E. Schlittler, J. W. Cornforth, Karl Folkem, James Walker, Holger Erdtmsn, and A. Butenmdt.
GMPLlNS HANDBUCH DER ANORGANISCHEN CHEMIE. SYSTEM 28: CALCIUM Teil, A, Lieferung 2. Eighth edition. Edited by the Gmelin Institute under the direction of E. H. E. Pietsch. Verlaa Chemie, GmbH, Weinheim Bergstrarrse, 420 pp. 29 figs. Germany, 1957. xii 17.5 X 25.5 cm. $55.68.
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GMELINS HANDBUCH DER ANORGANISCHEN CHEMIE. SYSTEM 32: ZINK, SUPPLEMENT VOLUME Edited by the Gmelin Institute under the direction of E. H. E. Pietsch. Eighth edition. Verlag Chemie, GmbH, Weinheim Bergstrasse, Germany, 1956. xxxvi 1025 pp. 191 figs. 17.5 X 25.5 cm.
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$138.
THIS supplement volume presents the vast literature on sinc which has appeared from 1924 to 1949. The first volume of the eighth edition of the Gmelin Handbook, published in 1924, treated the element zinc and its compounds and alloys. The length of this volume and the scope of coverage makeit impossible to comment in any detail on any one part of this work. An entirely new 136-page chapter has been added on the geochemistry of einc, which helps to clear up much oontroversial material on the origin of eine deposits. The metallurgy of sinc, 132 pages, is fully presented. Included are the processes which precede the recovery of the motal itself, flotation, roasting, and the production of pwe einc by electrolytic processes. The preparation of the important zinc salts is presented in 40 pages. A chapter, 124 pages, deals with the physics of the hexagonal metal, the directional effect and its influence on the p r o p erties including deformation and recrystallization behavior. The material on the eleotroobemioal behavior is very complete. I t deals with normal potential values a t different temperatures, the Leclanchd and other primary elements, hydrogen and oxygen overvoltages on zinc and the behavior of zinc ss cathode and as anode in various solutions. An additional 49 pages are devoted to the elect,rodeposition of zinc. Included in the 68 page8 devoted to the chemicd behavior of zinc is s. discussion of the self-inflammability and explosivity of zinc dust, its behavior in different atmospheres in the presence of water, m d the corrosive attack on zinc by organic and inorganic acids. Other suhjects treated in this volume are: alloys, surface treatment, zinc ions, physiologied damages, detection and determination, and finally a 255-page description of zinc compounds. This volume is well written and arranged. By means of the 36-page index i t is possible to turn quickly to any topic discussed. I t provides a. complete and reliable source of information and should be a welcome addition to the library of any resoarcher int,rrcsted in einc. ROY I. GRADY cormoh3 OF WOOSTER WOOBTER.0°K
VOLUME 35, NO. 2, FEBRUARY, 1958
THE present section, A 2, dealing with the occurrence of calcium, elemental calcium and calcium alloys completes Part A of System Number 28. A 1 giving the history of calcium was published in 1950, and B 1 dealing with the industrial manufacture and uses of calcium and its compounds was published in 1956. The final section of .B, which will treat with the scientific findings relating to all calcium compounds in aqueous solution, is now in preparation. The 313-page section on occurrence deals with the geochemistry of calcium and shows its wide distribution and its importance. Calcium has much to do with the chemical, physical, and biological behavior of soils. The industrially important deposits of calcium are discussed in the economic geography section. More than 25% of all known mineral8 contain considerable amounts of the element. The volume contains a chapter on the physiological hazards of calcium and its compounds and another on calcium alloys. When section B of the calcium volume is completed, a comprehensive, reliable, char and systematic account of this important element will he available. ROY I. GRADY
CO,.L&.E 01 WOOSTER W o o s ~ n n Omo ,
COMPREHENSIVE INORGANIC CHEM-
ISTRY. VOLUME 6: THE ALKALI METALS. HYDROGENAND ITS ISOTOPES
Edited by M. Cannon S n e e d and Robert C. Brosted, University of Minnesota. D. Van Nastrand Co., Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 1957. viii 234 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 em. $6.
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THE PRESENT volume begins with a thoroughly satisfying survey of the descriptive chemistry of the alkali metals by John F. Suttle. Greater emphasis is placed upon the relationships of electronic and structural properties t o chemical behavior in this chapter than in its predecessors, and the resulting treatment of this group of elements is hoth scholarly and stimulating. The study further departs from the general pattern of previous volumes with the more extensive use of thermochemical calculations or data, illustrative or neeessary for the author's arguments. Following an introduction concerned with the chemical and nuclear characteristics of the metals, the comparative chemistry and methods of preparation, as well as the properties of the principal compounds of the alkalies, are taken up.
Generous inclusions of phas? and solubility diagrams lend distinction. The chapter is concluded with a brief r6sumd of the analytical chemistry of the metal ions. The second chapter, a discussion of hydrogen and its isotopes, is a. rather curious a l a n g e of material, some irrelevant, same outdated, and some beyand comprehension. A few examples should suffice: One table (2.9, p. 212), B listing of ten maximum flame temperatures of various combinations of materials, lends nothing to the text subject of the reactlon of hydrogen and oxygen and deals with hydrogen in only one case, the HZ - FI temperature. The half-life of tritium is given as 31 years (12.46 y. is correct). Another table (2.4, p. 201) lacks an explanation of the data it contains. This series, aided in part by this volume, will serve as a source of collateral reading in advanced inorganic chemistry courses. The practicing chemist in need of general information about m r t s of the oeriodic table msy profit from wad? access to these volumes. E D W A R D D GOLDBERG S c n r ~ I~ s~ s ~ ~ ~ OF u nOCEIYOBRISH? o n LA JOLT.*.CALLFORNIA
A DICTIONARY OF SCIENTIFIC TERMS
3. H. Kenneth. Sixth edition. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 1957. m i 532 pp. 15.5 X 23 om.
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$12.50.
T m s is the latest edition of the n-ork originated by I. F. and W. D. Henderson for terms used in biological sciences. The chief areas covered are anatomy, botany, cytology, embryology, genetics,physiology, and zoology. For some 14,000 terms, ranging from ahactinal to tymatic, there are included pronunciation, derivation, and a concise dehition. In the main the spelling is that used in Britain. American usage is not overlooked. This w o ~ kshould he in any chemical reference library which deals with the broad area of bibchemistry. M. G . AIELLON
Pnaoon Uh-wsnal~r
L&FAYETTE. INDIIY*
MICRORECORDING: INDUSTRIAL AND LIBRARY APPLICATIONS
C. M. Lewis, Chief Librarian, New York Times, and W. H. Offenhauser, Jr., Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1956. xi 456 pp. 16 X 23.5 cm.
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$8.50.
TEE preface says this book is intended to fill the needs of technical and nontechnical people dike. Accordingly, production aspects are presented broadly, not in detail. Uses and the problems of users get the full treatment. So, after discussing why people retain records, a whole chapter is devoted to the business and legal aspects of how to keep them. Microcopies enjoy the same copyright protection as originals: and a work issued
