BOOK REVIEWS and psychological factors with the progress of science; the importance of accurate and accessihlerecords, constantly improved instruments and free communication." These aims are pursued in the text and a significant amount of chemistry (including an introduction to chemical formulas and equations in the second case) is transmitted as well.
0. T. BENFEY Earlham College Riehmad. Indiana
Sovid Research on Organo-Phosphorus Compounds, 1949-1956
Consultants Bureau, New York, 1961. viii 1208. Figs. and tables. 21 X 27 cm. Paperbound. Set $120.
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The articles in this collected work have been selected from previous translation publications of the Consultants Bureau, Inc., and organized hy Professor Alfred Berger, of Virginia, with the object of providing a convenient source of information on Soviet Research dealing with organa-phosphorus compounds. The subject matter has been arranged into eight categories and published in three parts, each part representing a volume which may be purchased separately. Exolusive of the tables of content, the set consists of 1208 pages. The arrangement follows:
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P a r t I. a ) Derivatives of organie phosphorus acids containing the C-0-P linkage (39 articles). b ) Derivatives of organic phosphorus acids containing the C-0-P-S or C-S-P linkages (32 articles). c) Effects of inorganic phosphorus compounds on organic compounds or resetions (21 articles). Part 11. a) Derivatives of organic acids of phosphorus containing the C-P-0 hond (81 articles). b ) Derivatives of organic acids of phosphorus containing the C-P-S hond (12 articles). Part 111. a ) Inorganic complexes of organic compounds of phosphorus (7 articles). b ) Phosphines, phosphine oxides, phosphonium compounds, and their selenium, nitrogen, sulfur, and halogen derivatives (9 articles). c ) Nitrogen-containing derivatives of organic phosphorus compounds (50 articles). The reviewer feels that this collection comes as a welcome addition to the literature and should find its way into standard reference libraries. In general the figures and tables seem to be accurately transcribed. The English however is quite variable and some translations are obviously the work of persons whose native tongue is not Enelish. Althoueh i t would seem thst s o m ~ i m ~ r o v e m e n ~ c o have u l d been n.mit. hy mr& wliting, fhr w ~ l t ~ n rIMVP ti rwt becn c d ~ t c dnor rhcir U ~ P ~ U I I W S I i m paired. Six articles were chosen arbitrarily and ~~~~
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checked for accuracy against the original publications. Four translations were excellent; one article contained a number of awkward English constructions; the sixth contained some mistranslations and omissions, but not of a sufficiently serious nature t o affect the scientific content. In one ease the reviewer was amused to find that notes, apparently made during translation, were dutifully incorporated into the text. While six articles out of 251 articles can hardly be called statistical sampling, the reviewer feels that the work has been well done; this was judged primarily from a careful reading of a p proximately onthalf of the translations. It may be of interest to the reader to note that the articles were taken for the following Russian language journals: Journal of Applied Chemistr~ Bulletin of the Academy of Science of the USSR, Divisim of Chemical Sciences; Collid Journal; Proceedings of the Academy of Science of the USSR, Chemistry Section; Journal of Gene~al Chemistry; and, Journal o j Analgtieal Chemistry (USSR).
E. CHARLESEVERS Univwsity of Pennsylvania Philadelphia
