BOOK REVIEWS The Chemistry of Ynrivm and Scandium
R. C. Viekery. Pergamon Press, Inc., 123 pp. Figs. New York, 1960. vii and tables. 16 X 23 om. $6.50.
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This small volume is a logical extension of and supplement to the author's more comprehensive "Chemistry of the Lanthsnons" and in remarkably like its predecessor in approach, style, and coverage of subject matter. Much of what was said relative t o the earlier volume (J. &EM. EDUCATION,81, 443(1954)) 18, therefore, completely applicable to this one. The author treats in some detail the historical and mineralogical background of these two elements and then covers their separation and purification and the properties of the metals and their compounds. The treatment is essentially descriptive, with only minor emphasis upon any theoretical or semi-thearetical ooncepts. Although the coverage of the descriptive ohemistry of the two elements is extensive, it is by no means encyclopedic, and many aspects me handled more hy references to the original literature than by actual discussion. This ia particularly true, for example, of separations by the ion-exchange method and of the characteristics of many types of compounds. A full appreciation of the chemistry of yttrium and scandium requires that the "Chemistry of the Lanthanons" he consulted in conjunction with the present volume. Unfortunately, the author must again be critici~edto some extent for his carelessness in handlmg material from the literature, although such errors in this hook are far less frequent than those in its companion volume. For example, no distinction is made between H. C.Kremers and H. E. Kremers, both of whom have contributed extensively t o these fields, and the Pokras dissertation (page 97) was not submitted a t the University of Illinois. Furthermore, t o pick isolated items a t random, anhydrous nitrates are not ohtainahle by electrolysis (page 591, and the nomadic position of ytrrium in separations cannot be associated with the stability of its complexes (page 51). Unfortunate items of this type detract somewhat from the good points that the book has in bringing together the widely scattered information on these interesting and useful dements. The hook is entirely a reference and as such will be of primary interest t o libraries and t o workers dealing only with these and related elements. Interest in the hook would he hrosdened if it were more moderately priced. THERALD MOELLER University of Illinois U~bana,Illinois (Continued on pare AB70)
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Journal o f Chemicol Education
