book reviews volume. The text has remained the same hut the other lmguage has been put into French in excellent fashion by Jack Jousset of Paris. These volumes should he of great aid to any chemist who wishes to become more proficient in these two languages. I n the present volume, the French and English texts are printed on opposite pages so that the reader can readily compare his translation. The text itself has been specially composed for this work and represents a tremendous expenditure of time and effort. So far as was possible, the subject matter increases with respect to complexity of the chemistry involved. The first chapters deal with the Daltonian atom and so are readily understood by the elementary student, the later sections take up material that requires s better knowledge of chemistry. The Tables or Appendixes provide atomic weights, mathematical expressions, French and English abbreviations. The text deals with subject matter drawn from practically the whole spectrum of chemistry; typical examples are coordination theory, qualitative analysis, organic chemistry, thermodynamics, and photochemistry. Although the type size is rather small, i t is perfectly readable and this choice enables the amount of material to be greatly increased without making the size of the book awkwardly large. This hook presents a distinct adventage over a. dictionary in thst it presents the meaning of the words and phrases within a coherent text. "Each expression is printed in italics in both the English and French text, and d l words designated thus will be found in the English or French index a t the end of the book." These indexes contain more than 10,000 entries and of themselves will prove most useful in numerous cases. A very useful Bihliography is provided. Although the price of this hook may appear high, its cost is minor in comparison with the cost of a course conducted by a competent instructor who ought to have a command not only of the languages involved but also the pertinent chemistry. The reviewer is enthusiastic about this text and recommends it for purchase both by libraries and individuals. RALPHE. OESPER University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio
Theory of Energy Transfers and Conversions
Federico Grabiel, Hughes Aircraft Co., Culver City, and LoyolaUniversity, Los Angeles, California. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. June, 1967. 217 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X xii 23.5 cm. $10.95.
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The author claims to "present a new unified theory of energy transfers and conirersions that includes thermodynamics as a. special case. I t uncovers new extensive parameters in physics and physical
)f Chemical Education
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chemistry. ." This reviewer, in spite of unusudly diligent and painstaking perusal of the book, is not convinced. I t is not a t all clear what, if any, significant extension of thermodynamics has been achieved nor whether thermodynamics itself has been put on a more general and rigorous foundation. True, the trappings of rigor are there (the excursions-ntirely correct in themselvesinto various mathematical disciplines, like topology; the stockpiling of theorems, corollaries and lemmas; the unfamiliar notations, remarkable in their opacity) hut this reviewer is skeptical as to the point of it-all. Indeed, in trying t o fathom the presentation, he has been insistently and disturbingly reminded of the old, unkind (and untrue) characterization of a philosopher as "a man who takes somet,hing that everybody understands and expresses i t in a way so thst nobody understands it." ERNESTM. LOEBL Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn New York City, New York
Clasricol Scienliflc Papers-Chemistry
Edited by David M. Knight, University of Durham, England. American Elsevier Puhlishine Co.. Inc.. New York, 1968. xxivU+ 391 pp. Figs. 21 X 26 em. $11.75. Here are facsimile reproductions of the important papers which demonstrate the 19th century struggle to accept atomism. (It was nearly 100 years between Dalton's 1807 proposal and the complete convincing of the last skeptic, Ostwald.) Section I, The Atomic Theory, contains the back and forth between Dalton, T. Thomson, Wallaston, and Berzelius. Section 11, Scepticism about the Value of the Theory, provides papers by Wollaston, Davy, Whewell, and Liebig. Section 111, The Boscovich Atom and the Theory of Matter, broadens the view with papers by Davy, Faraday, Dumas, Herapath, Mossotti, Babbage, Graham, and Maxwell. The Atomic Debates reveal the struggles of the careful thinkers, Odling, Brodie, Kekule, Williamson, and Mills. The final section, The Problems Are Resolved, starts with W. Thomson, Croakes (1880's) and concludes with Ostwald's Faraday lecture (1904) and Perrink "Brownian Movement and Malecular Reality" (1910). The editor has chosen judiciously, commented only briefly, but with helpful insight. Those who want to enjoy their chemical history straight will be delighted to explore this book. WFK
