isotopes, another limitation appears. This method is based on the assumption that radioatoms behave exactly as the corresponding stable stoms except for the emission of radiation and the admittedly small radioisotope effect. However, recent investigations on organic compounds tagged with radioisotopes have shown that radioactive atoms change their place within the molecule due to the development of eleotric charges, ionisation, radical formation, and reconsititution, especially if the radioatom is held only by weak chemical bonds. More research in this field will be neeessary before we can draw definite conclusions on the structure of the original or metabolic product from the place of the radio atom in the degradation or metabolic end product. In spite of these limitations radioisotopes have become a powerful tool in biochemical research and it is, therefore, essential that chemists, biochemists, and biologists familiarize themselves with the fundamental principles of its application and the most outstanding results so far attained. To all of them the book is warmly recommended, although the concentration of an enormous amount of material in a slender volume makes for difficult reading. The conciseness of the presentation also posed a most difficult problem for the translator which he has solved satisfactorily.
Radioactive Isotopes in Biochemistry
Engelbee Broda, University of Vienna, Austria. D. Van Nostrand Co., Ino., Princeton, New Jersey, 1960. x 376 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23 cm. $11.50.
+
In view of the rapid expansion and significance of radioisotopic methods in biochemical research, it is necessary to acquaint hoth student and research worker with the principles of radioisotope applications t o living and non-living biologiesl systems and to review the most outstanding results of this new methodology. In an attempt t o meet hoth requirements the author has produced a mast valuable work that unites the features of a textbook with those of a review, but suffers unavoidable shortcomings which such a synthesis brings. The chapters dealing with radioifiotope methodology which comprise about one third of the vohme are a good introduction, but do not supply adequate knowledge t o biologists and biochemists who wish to apply these powerful but extremely intricate methods to their own research problems. The main part of the book, applications of these techniques to biochemical problems, is best oharacterised by the f x t that 3380 pertinent references are critically evaluated along with quotations from 81 hooks and 108 collective volumes. This very comprehensive synopsis of an enormously large field constitutes the main value of tho present volume, but also requires concise and condensed treatment. It will be diffioult reading far those who have no more knowledge of radioisotopes than the author offers in the introductory chapters or who do not have complete familiarity with the eomplex biochemical problems under disoussian. There are unsolved problems in radioisotope application i n vih-o and particularly i n v i m The suthor makes the generally accepted distinction betu'een "radioehemistry" and "radiation chemistry"and thensayys that "within thecompass of the book radioactive atoms will he used as labels only, and the radiation emitted by them will he used for their analytical detection only. Hence, in this book it will always he tacitly assumed that the rays produce no disturbing cffects on the materials investigated." Is this assumption justified? Such effects have been definitely established with tritium which tends to induce polyploidism in plant cells. Whether radioisotopes of higher atomic weight such as CX4,Pa', or Ss can affect a sensitive nuclear emulsion, as in the case of autaradiography, without affecting the biologicd matter through which the emitted radiation must pass in much greater strength, only future research will tell. This limitation, however, should not exclude the use of radioisotopes as tracers in "bulk" metabolic studies and it is here where their greatest value lies and to which the suthor has devoted the largest space and greatest emphasis. However, if we wish to elucidate in greater detail the intricacies of the metabolic mechanisms by way of radio-
536
/
Journal o f Chemical Education
FRANCIS JOSEPH Wmss Scknee and Technology Diuisim Lzbmry qf Congress Washington, D.C .
Molecular Distillation
'
G. Burrows, Associated Electrical Industries, Ltd , Manehester, England. Oxford University Presa, Kew York, 1960. viii 214 pp. Figs. and tables. 14.5 X 22.5 cm. $5.50.
matically operating repetitive or fraetionsting still. Chapters 4 and 8 deal with supportive technology, the kinds of pumps and gauges required, how t o degas raw feed material and calculate the anticipated quantity of gas to be rsmoved, and how to design for gas removal. The book is unique and as far as mathomatitical treatment is concerned, almost exhaustive. However, the reader (lecturer) wishing to present a rounded story to students, will want to consult Perry and Hecker, both in articles in Weissherger's "Techniques of Organic Chemistry, Val. 3"; Howatt's review in "Chemical Age" and earlier reviews by Feweett, Burrows, and associates in "Chemistry and Industry" and Hickman's article in "Chemical Reviews." If the teaching is to extend to chemical engineers, the finest source material is in the Search Room a t the Patent Office, Department of Commerce, where in Class 202 can be found in a few packed folders the whole psnorama of vacuum stills and vapor pumps from the turn of the century to the present, including the U. S. equivalents of Geoffrey Burrows' own English patents. Here, rather than in the textbooks, are the pictures and diagrams for lantern slide^. The molecular still was horn in Sweden and Britain and it was C. R. Burch a t Metropolitan Vickers who enunciated and applied the principles to organic chemistry. Much of the development has been done by Burrows in the Metropolitan-Vieker~ laboratory and it is appropriate that the first book should spring from this locale. If the treatment tends towards the mglocentric, this is regrettable only where other approaches fail to find space in just 200 pages. Two copies, please, of this book in eaoh chemistry department, one for the library, one for the work bench. KENNETHHICKMAN Rochester, .Yew York
+
Although addressed to engineers by a professional engineer who has been associated with the development of the open-path still for 30 years, this book could well serve as a standard college text, particularly if the preface of background material were rewritten to interest the novice. The teachers of physics and more advanced physical chemistry will find all calculations and formulae neeemmy to make the qualitative operation of lahoratory stills quantitative. An example is the separation of a binary mixture in the batch still which is presented graphically as well as by the Itayleigh equation. Chapter 1 deals with the gas laws as applied to evaporation per se and evapors, tion into an atmosphere of refiidual gas. Chapter 2 presents the Lsngmuir equation which connects the vapor pressure(s) with rate(s) of unobstructed path distillation ilnd the various factors, grouped as the evaporation coefficient, which reduce the rate below the maximum calculated. Chapters 5 and 7 deal with a p p a r a t u s laboratory and industrid stills and designs that have aimed a t making an auto-
Tables of Thermodynamic a n d Transport Properties of Air. Argon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen a n d Steam
Joseph Hilsenmth, et al., National Bureau of Standards, Washington D. C. Pergamon Press, Inc., New York, 1960. xiii 178 pp. Figs. and tables. 20 X 26 cm. $20.
+
Perhaps the best way to review a. book of this sort is merely to describe its contents without comment. The tables include compressibility factors, densities, specific heats, enthalpiepies, entropies, specific heat ratios, sound velocities, viscosities, thermal conductivities, Prandtl numbers, vapor pressures, and coefficientsfor equations of state. This material was originally published as National Bureau of Standards Circular 564 by the United States Department of Commerce. In its present form it is reprinted with revisions to 1960.
W. F. LUDER Northemten Unive~siil, Boston, Mmsachvsetrs
(Continued a page A7661
