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the term seems justified for the purpose. This reasoning seems all the more valid when it is realized that we also have the term “amorphous” to indicate non-crystallized material. A. C. SHEMAN. Central Laboratories General Foods Corporation Hoboken, Kelt- Jersey
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Plant Viruses and Varus Dzseases. By F. C. BAWDES. Second editiQn. xi 294 pp.; 48 illustrations. Waltham, hlassachusetts : Chronica Botanica Co., 1944. Price. $4.75. This is the second and revised edition of Bawden’s book, which was first published in 1939. It will be welcomed as the only up-to-date publication bringing together information regarding the pathology, syniptoniology, serology, and chemistry of plant viruses. T h e author is chiefly concerned with those virus diseases which have been studied most extensively, and the discussion is limited largely t o studies made since 1930. The chemist will be especially interested in the five chapters on the preparation and properties of purified virus proteins. The author is n-ell qualified t o discuss this particular phase of virus research, because niany of the important contributions in this field have originated in his o v a laboratory. I t is a R-ell-recognized fact that the application of physical-chemical methods t o the study of plant viruses during the past decade has resulted in a remarkable increase in our understanding of the nature of these rather unique substances. On the other hand, the virus proteins have benefited the study of physical chemistry by providing suitable materials for studying those phenomena relating t o viscosity, sedimentation, diffusion. and the optical properties of anisotropic flon . Chapters S,9, and 11 deal with the methods of preparation and the properties of purified virus proteins. Chapter 10, on the optical properties of virus proteins, is presented in a thorough and interesting manner. Chapter 12 discusses studies on the determination of the particle sizes of viruses by such methods as ultrafiltration, diffusion, viscosity, sedimentation, and ultramicroscopy. The author takes the viewpoint that the molecular weight of tobacco mosaic virus has not been established conclusively. This conclusion seems to be well founded in vie\%-of the available evidence showing interaction and aggregation of virus particles in solution. In the final chapter, on the nature of viruses, the author points out that it is impossible to determine whether or not viruses are living entities because the distinctions betrveen animate and inanimate matter are not clearly defined The book is well nritten and the illustrations are especially good The reviener regards this book as a valuable contribution t o the study of plant viruses and virus diseases. CLAUDEH . HILLS.
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Systematic Inorganic C h e m i s t r y of the F i f t h - and Sixth-Group Soninetnllzc Elements. By D o s ?*I.TOST~ X HORACE D RUSSELL,JR., California Institute of Technology. XY 123 pp. S e w T o r b . Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1941. Price: $6.00. It has been a great pleasure to become acquainted x i t h this book and to note the niodern and even revolutionary treatment of topics in an advanced course in inorganic chemistry. The authors state, in their preface, “From these considerations it is evident that any discussion of a chemical element or compound is complete only when the spectroscopic, structural, thermodynamic, chemical kinetic, and nuclear properties have been consid-
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ered. In addition t o these more modern aspects of the subject, due consideration must be given to the older, humbler, but nevertheless important, chemical facts that one finds in simple experiments with test tubes, beakers and flasks.” As the part of the title given in smaller print will indicate, this book discusses the properties of nitrogen and phosphorus of the fifth group, of oxygen, sulfur, selenium, and tellurium of the sixth group, and of many of their compounds, including oxides, oxyacids, halides, sulfides, and hydrides. In order to give the readers of This Journal an adequate idea of the character of this book, the reviewer offers a summary of the treatment of nitrogen. After describing several methods of preparing nitrogen, the authors discuss its physical properties. From the fact that its magnetic susceptibility is negative, the conclusion is drawn that in its ground state the nitrogen molecule has no resultant angular momentum. The existence of alternating intensities in the rotational spectrum can be used to show that the nuclear spin quantum number is one. There is a mention of the number of symmetric and antisymmetric nuclear spin functions which leads (using Pauli’s principle) t o t h e conclusion that the nitrogen nucleus must consist of an even number of fundamental particles; thus the nucleus could consist of 7 protons and 7 neutrons, but not of 14 protons and 7 electrons nor of 14 neutrons and 7 positrons. There is a discussion of why in practice we do not observe specific heat behavior analogous to that of ortho- and para-hydrogen. Reference is made to the ratio of XI4 to ICl5in ordinary nitrogen and the use of the heavier isotope in biochemical studies. The authors give formulas for calculating the rotational and vibrational energy states. They note the N-S internuclear distance, the dissociation energy a t 0°K. and a t 291°K. Table 1 lists many of the physical constants of nitrogen, including melting point, boiling point, transition temperature (ato (3) and the corresponding A H values; also equations giving the vapor pressure of solid and of liquid, the surface tension of liquid, the density of liquid, the weight of one liter of iYz(g) a t standard conditions, and critical data. Included are heat capacity data for solid, liquid, and gas, the entropy (experimental and spectroscopic) a t 77.32”K. and a t 298.1°K., and equations for the viscosity of the gas. Values of pV for Nza t temperatures from -100°C. t o 400°C. and at pressures ranging from 1 atm. to 1000 atm. are presented in Table 2. Included in the tabulated physical properties of nitrogen is its solubility in water a t O”, 20°, 30°, 50°, and 100°C. Cnder the heading of chemical properties of nitrogen, the authors discuss its adsorption by charcoal, its reaction with a number of metals and compounds a t higher temperatures, the hydrolysis of nitrides of the metals, and the preparation and properties of “active” nitrogen. They include a free energy equation for the formation of HCIC(g) from C, Hz, and N2. Chapter I contains also a treatment of the oxides and sulfides of nitrogen, their formation, and their physical and chemical properties. Aside from data analogous to those already referred t o in the discussion of elementary nitrogen, equilibrium constants and rate constants are here presented in considerable detail. AH and AF values are given for reactions whenever they are known with sufficient accuracy. I t will be clear from the foregoing summary that the authors of this book believe that students of some degree of maturity who desire t o become acquainted with the properties of an element or of its compounds are justified in wanting to have at their disposal all the appropriate ?+sources of modern chemistry and physics. The reviewer thinks that the authors have done a very good job in the field to which they limited themselves. An equally skillful application of their method of treatment to other elements would certainly be welcomed. I n a somewhat hurried reading of this book, the reviewer has found few statements t h a t he would criticize adversely. However, he would like to call attention to the remarks on p. 103 about amine sulfonic acid. Referring t o experiments reported in 1896 and in 1901, the authors state that “conductivity measurements show the percentage ionization
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t o be 98% at 0.001 m and 79% a t 0.03 m a t 25O.” These percentages are undoubtedly conductance ratios and not, as the authors of this book certainly know, measures of t h e degree of ionization. A few typographical errors have been noticed. Thus on page 182, AH for the heat of formation of P401ois negative and not positive; on page 287, AE and AH for the dissociation of 02 should be positive and not negative. Altogether this excellent book can be recommended enthusiastically to the attention of all teachers and students of chemistry. F. H. MACDOUGALL. I n f r a r e d Spfctroscopy: I n d u s t r i a l A p p l i c a t i o n s a n d Biblzography. By R . B . BARNES, R . c. GORE,U. LIDDELL, ASD V. Z. WILLIAJIS.vi 236 pp.; 11 figures; 363 infrared transmission curves. S e w T o r k : Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1944. Price : $2.25. The purpose of this volume, and the limitations of it, are adequately stated in the preface: “This work is presented as a partial answer to the increasing demand for information concerning the industrial applications of infrared spectroscopy. It is not claimed t h a t this material represents a complete survey of the field or its literature or the ultimate in infrared techniques. Rather, the applications and the results discussed are based entirely on work done in this laboratory in order that a unified picture of a typical infrared research program could be available t o those who may be interested.” It will surprise no one who is acquainted with Dr. Barnes’s long experience in infrared spectroscopy and in the industrial application of this tool, to learn that he and his fellow-authors have turned out a n excellent book for this purpose. The volume discusses, rather briefly, the applications of infrared spectroscopy, the experimental equipment and techniques involved, the elementary theory needed t o understand the tool, and its present status in the industrial field. Both the advantages and the limitations of infrared spectroscopy are presented clearly. The book should appeal to the reader who is ignorant of infrared technique and applications, but who wishes t o gain some knon-ledge of them in order that he may appreciate the possibilities of this research tool. The volume can be heartily recommended to this group. The infrared spectroscopist who is already fnniiliar with the field viill find no new material in the text; he will, however, profit from, and perhaps find stimuli in, the discussion of the various applications of infrared spectroscopy. The “library of reference curves”363 infrared transmission curves of various organic materials-is of value for preliminary study of the spectra of particular compounds, characteristic bands of particular functional groups, and the like; its value is limited by the fact that the curves cover only the region from 5 t o 12 mu (in many cases only from 8 to 10 m u ) , by the absence of any numerical values for the band frequencies, and by the fnct that the appearance of a given infrared band does, alas, vary with the instrument used to study i t . The bibliography of 2701 references is perhaps the most valuable feature of the book to the specialist in the field. The material in t h e volume, with the important exception of the bibliography, was previously published in I n d u s t r i a l a n d Engzneering Chemtstry ( A n a l y t i c a l E d i t i o n ) ; its publication in book form is a distinct service to those working in and those considering the application of infrared spectroscopy. BRYCEL. CRAWFORD, JR.
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