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Even those familiar with the technique will find i t profitable to study the author’s very practical recommendations. In addition to the technical information, there are several chapters showing how spectroscopy has become an important tool in the study of vitamins, cytochrome, hemoglobin, and lipids. Of especial interest is the summary of recent researches on lipid metabolism by the author and his associates. Another noteworthy chapter is that dealing with the quantitative spectroscopic analysis of binary and ternary systems. The discussion is illustrated by data taken from the author’s publications. However, this book shows too plainly that i t was finished in a hurry. Mistakes in spelling and grammar are too common. An occasional definition or explanation is not exact or complete enough to be of value to one who is not already familiar with the subject. These faults will no doubt be corrected in the next edition. JOEEPHVALASEK.
The Raman Eflect. By JAMESH. HIBBEN. 6 x 9 in.; 544 pp. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1939. Price: $11.00. The remarkable development in the study of Raman spectra of all types of substances since the discovery of this phenomenon by Sir V. Raman in 1928 can best be seen in the tremendous growth of the literature of this subject. The present volume gives one thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven references, compiled in two bibliographies which are arranged alphabetically. The second or supplementary bibliography (two hundred and thirty papers) is not used in the text proper, but i t brings the subject up to date. It is evident that the routine labor of systematizing and compiling this scientific material is a major effort, requiring great accuracy and perseverance. The author is to be congratulated on the execution of such a time-consuming task. By the same token i t is also obvious that the scientific community owes Dr. Hibben a vote of thanks for having undertaken this arduous labor. Workers in the special field of Raman spectrography owe a particular debt to the author, since the present volume is the only comprehensive compilation in English of this interesting field of research. The volume is divided into three parts. Part I gives a general discussion of the Raman effect in practice and theory and includes six chapters dealing with such topics as the nature of the Raman effect, the experimental methods used, the definition of terms employed, vibration and rotation of polyatomic molecules, the general theory of infrared absorption spectra and the Raman effect, the determination of Raman frequencies and factors which modify the vibrational and rotational spectra. The material is presented in a rather descriptive, narrative, non-mathematical style and should help the student to understand other more theoretical treatments. For the sake of simplification the author has employed a novel method of presentation by eliminating (in chapters IV to VI) most of the names of the scientific workers responsible for the development of the subject. Parts I1 and I11 are a compilation of the existing information on this subject of Raman lines, divided into organic compounds (Part 11, Chapters 7 to 19) and inorganic compounds (Part 111, Chapters 20 to 29). The material is arranged very systematically, and ninety-three tables and seventy-two figures help greatly in the presentation of the large amount of information contained in the book. I t will be evident to anyone reading thin treatise that a still much larger effort is before us for further improving and completing our knowledge of molecular structure by the use of this interesting phenomenon. In spite of the large number of scientific publications enumerated in the present volume, a great deal of work still lies ahead. In this sense the book contains hundreds of suggestions for further research.
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The book does not possess the usual type of index. Besides the two bibliographies mentioned there is an “index of compounds,” which gives a complete tabulation of Raman work up to the present time. A further section called “numerical index” is a helpful aid for cross reference. The printing of the volume is done with care and the tables are neatly arranged, but the draftsmanship of the figures could be better. Scientific libraries, physicists, and chemists interested in the general field of molecular structure will need this compendium in their work. GEO. GLOCKLER.
Molecular Spectra and Molecule Structure. I . Diatomic Molecules. By G E R H A ~ D HZRZBERG.6 x 9 in.; xviii 592 pp. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1939. Price: 56.50. This book is the English translation of the German version; according to the author a number of additions have been made and in several places the text has been improved to cover more recent developments. The table containing the molecular constants for the normal state of diatomic molecules haa been revised to date (July, 1939). All workers in this country interested in band spectroscopy and the structure of molecules will welcome this volume aa presenting this intricate field of physics and chemistry in their own language, with a clarity of style and a forceful directness which cannot be surpassed. Similar books have been written, b u t the present volume portrays the subject with just the right balance between theory and experimental material t o make its perusal a distinct pleasure. Every chemist and physicist and all students interested in these branches of physical science will want t o own this work. Beginning students will have to read appropriate texts in wave mechanics in order to follow the presentation, for the author has wisely refrained from extraneous mathematical derivations which would only serve t o confuse the issues involved in any given discussion. After a short r6sum6 of the elementa of atomic structure in the first chapter, the remaining chapters (2 to 8) cover the following topics: Observed molecular spectra and their representation by empirical formulae; rotation and vibration of diatomic molecules, interpretation of infrared and Raman spectra; general discussion of electronic states and electronic transitions and their finer details; building-up principle, electron configurations, and valence ; continuous and diffuse molecular spectra, dissociation and predissociation and, finally, examples, results, and applications. The laat three chapters (6 to 8) will be of special interest to the chemist, for there is presented the modern picture of valency theory, at least in its beginnings, and several applications to other chemical topics, such as free radicals and photochemistry, are touched upon. However, the important function of this review is perhaps to stress the fact that the chemist must know some band spectroscopy if he would understand the modern approaoh to his own science. The book contains thirty-eight tables and one hundred and eighty-one illustrations. They really are works of art. The draftmanship is superb. The whole makeup of the volume is most excellent. The reviewer considers i t a privilege to have had the opportunity of reading this book. GEO. GLOCKLER.
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