RECENT BOOKS THE SERVICE MANUAL OX LABORATORY WORK IN ORGANIC explanation of the chemistry involved, the applicability of the
C~EMISTRY.Ed. F. Degering, Ph.D., Purdue University. West Lafayette, Indiana. John S. Swift Co., Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1937. Manual form, ring binder, planographed, v 97 pp.. one side, perforated. 4 3 figs. 21 X 27.5cm. $2.00.
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The purpose of the book is to 05- the student "(11 a set of experiments in which an approach has been made toward the use of semi-micro nrocedures.. (21 . . a duulicate note-book svstem. and (3) scli-meawing objective tests." The manual rcpresentr n uniquc adventure in the treatment of organic lahoratury work, and the author has gone far in achieving the purpose of his book. Thirty-three semi-micro experiments covering the conventional classes of organic compounds, followed by an introduction to qualitative organic analysis, with fortyeight objective tests, make up the main content. Preceding these is an excellent discussion of laboratory records and reports. The directions for preparations are clear and modern, and are followed as a rule by an excellent selection of property tests. The experiments include only those that have been perfected in the Purdue laboratory. Although there is a good choice, it is expected that more experiments will be added in the ultimate form, which will also contain more theoretical material. A few criticisms: Under carbohydrates, there is no mention of phenylhydraziue. In the detection of the element nitrogen in organic compounds the employment of a fusion mixture of magnesium powder and potassium carbonate* appears to be an improvement over the conventional sodium method cited by the author. The use of Drierite would facilitate some of the drying operations. The duplicate notebook idea (involving use of carbon paper) is probably goad, but one doubts the advisability of allowing hut one page for recording the experimental data in each exercise. Five of the first six objective tests review basic material in inorganic chemistry which has some bearing on organic chemistry; one or two such tests would seem t o be suficient. The author considers the manual as a preliminary draft t o be completely revised with the aid of a hoard of assistant editors before publication. I n its present form, however, the work certainly makes a real contribution to the field of undergraduate organic laboratory practice. C. S. A n m s AUSTIN M. PATTERSON Awnoca COLLBOE YaLLow SPruNDS, om0 VOLUMETRIC ANALYSIS. A. 3. Me. Chemical Publishing Company, New York City. 1937. vii 223 pp. 13 figs. 14 X 22 cm. $3.50.
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This hook is avowedly written as a text for the (English) student t o use in preparation for his College Examinations. After an introductory section dealing with apparatus, calibration, types of volumetric reactions, records, and calculations, there are detailed treatments of acidimetry-alkalimetry, permanganate, dichramate, ceric sulfate, titanous sulfate, iodimetry, hromate, and precipitation. These sections on laboratory work are fallowed by a list of over two hundred practical laboratory problems dealing with applications of volumetric analysis. "Hints" are given for the best method of attack. An appendix provides a description of an automatic buret and pipet, a short discussion of indicators and mixed indicators, and a list of reagents needed for the problems. A four-place logarithm table is given. I n general the treatment is quite elementary. Although each type of analysis is profusely illustrated with laboratory exercises, these exercises are given in "cookbook" style, with little
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Vnd. Eng. Chcm.. Anal. Ed.. 29,135-6 (1937).
process, the sources of interference, or the likelihood of error. The sections on theory are too brief, as are the stoichiometric calculations. The best feature of the hook is the list of problems; these are not the stoichiometric type of problem common t o American textbooks, but are practical laboratory problems designed to test the student's knowledge of analytical processes and his ability to apply these processes in actual practice. For example, a typical problem is: "A solid is an impure specimen of cuprous chloride. Make experiments with the standard potassium permanganate solution and solid ferric sulfate provided, with a view to discovering a method for estimating the purity of the specimen." If the student fails to discover a suitable method he finds in the "Hints" that cuprous chloride will reduce ferric sulfate. Outside of the problems, which appear to be taken from past examinations, the book contributes little not found in the widely used American textbooks, and it isinferior to these textsin theory, stoichiometric calculations, explanations of analytical procedures and sources of error, and in training the student for practical industrial analytical work. Moreover this hook cannot be used alone as a textbook, since i t has no discussion of the analytical balance or of the operations involved in selection and preparation of samples for analysis. W. C. PIERCE
TEE CARBON COMPOUNDS.C. W. Porter, Professor of Chemistry in the University of California. Ginn and Company, Boston. Massachusetts, 1938. viii 495 pp. 15 X 23.5 em. $4.00.
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"This hook constitutes an outline of an elementary course in organic chemistry. Its scope is limited to fundamental principles and general reactions." The book is organized under three general divisions; aliphatic compounds, aromatic compounds, and general organic reactions. The aliphatic compounds are subdivided in turn into the chapters: Hydroearhans, Alcohols, Alkyl Halides and ParaEin Polyhalides, Ethers, Aldehydes and Ketones. Manobasic Acids and Their Derivatives, Optical Isomerism, Polybasic Acids and Their Derivatives, Aliphatic Amines, Cyanides and Cyanates, The Carbohydrates, and Enzymes. I n the aromatic division a chapter is devoted t o each of the topics: Hydrocarbons, Hydrocarbon Derivatives, Aromatic Amines. Phenols, Alcohols and Aldehydes and Ketones, Aromatic Acids and Their Derivatives, Orientation and Steric Iduences of Substituents, Free Radicals, Dyes, The Proteins. Vitamins. Purines and Pyrimidines, The Alkaloids, and the Essential Oils. The last division of the hook contains chapters on Hydrolysis, Oxidation, Reduction, Conjugation and Resonance, Condensation Processes. Structural Rearrangements, Appendix, Questions and Problems, and the Index. The use of over twenty tables of physical constants tends t o correlate t o some extent the relation between structure and physical properties. A limited amount of space is devoted t o mathematical developments. Graphical formulas are used wherever the clarity of the topic might demand more than constitutional formulas. The text is sufficientlywell organized and the pages adequately broken by equations which are interspersed with the reading material, so that a packed appearance is avoided. The author gives k s t consideration t o the chemistry of the various homologous series and then illustrates the series by giving detailed consideration t o some of the more important members of the group. Nomenclature is stressed, although perhaps not adequately. The "ine" ending for the alkynes has been carried
