BOOK REVIEWS some question. There is no comment concerning this discrepancy in the "Comparison with other acids" subheading. The strength of this handbook is its function as a key to the literature. The chemist can quickly get an idea about t h e properties of the compound in question, but he must, go back to the literature cited to find the methods of obtaining and the limitations oi the data.
J. D. REINHSIMER College of Wooster Wwster, Ohio
Chimie G6nirale et .brig& de Chimie Minirole
P . Colmanl Masson & Cie, Paris, 565 pp. Figs France, 1960. xv and tables. 18 X 25 em. Cartonni. toile 45 NF.
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This is a complete revision of the author's 1957 text, "Introduction B la Chimie G6n6rale." There is no American textbook counterpart for this type of hook. It reminds the reader of an introductory physical ohemistry book an the level of Glasstone and Lewis uzith some inorganic divertissements a la Sienko and Plane. A %-page "AbdgB" does just that for descriptive inorganic rhemistry. Students who want to learn or practice
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their chemical French will he delighted t o find a book like this one. Abundant uncluttered figures and tables, liberal use of ionic equations, and pleasing alternation of bold face and italic types styles make it an appealingpr?sentation of interestingchemistry.
The Discovery of Bromine
Prepared by Lao. E. Klopfer, Harvard University, Cambridge. History of Seienee Cases for High Schools, Csse 3. Published in cooperation with the Department of School Services and Publications, Wesleyan University, Mid24 pp. dletown, Connecticut, 1960. 22 X 28 em. Paperbound. The Chemistry of Fixed Air
Prepared by Leo. E. Klopfer, Harvard University, Cambridge. History of Science Cases for High Schools, Case 8. Published in cooperation with the Department of School Services and Publications, Wesleyan University, Middlet o m , Connectiout, 1960. 28 pp. 22 X 28 cm. Paperbound. When James Conant returned to Harv w d from his wartime duties with the government, he set himself the tmk of re-thinking the science education of the future lawyer, congressman, and business man. His hook "On Understanding Science" wa? an early result of these
labors follomd by the Case Histories in the experimental sciences published separately and in two collective volumes by Harvard University Press. Leo. Klopfer of the Harvard Graduate School of Education has now carried the case history approach into the science currirula of high schools. The cases are new, not modifications of the Conant studies. They are brief, the narrative portions of the cases here reported, occupying 9 and 13 pages respectively. Each narrative page is paired with a page for ansuers to questions. The narrative is f o l l o ~ e dby ~xoerimentsand exercises. the former ucror reported in the text. Since these represent, in the cases under discussion, the usual laboratory experiments on the chemistry of bromine, hydrogen bromide, and the bromides on the one hand, of carbon dioxide, carbonates, and hydroxides on the other, these cases may provide a way of instilling new life into some of the most classical of descriptive laboratory oxperiments. The cases present the experiments largely as "open-ended" ones, not as cookbook prescriptions. The editor lists as the ohief interest in these cases, to find out as much as possilde about: "The methods used by scicntists; the means by which science advance8 and the conditions under which it flourishes; the role of scientists as people and the personal characteristics of scientists; the interplay of social, economic, technological
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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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Journol o f Chemical Education
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
