JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
640
offectivo in all plants that purify the atmosphere. Other chlorophyll~,certain carotenoids, and proteinaoeous phycohilins that accompany chlorophyll a in some plants m e also effective in photosynthesis. Experiments with the sensitive adsorption method indicate that chlorophyll a and the other pigments that accompany it do not undergo chemical change during the utilization of the radiant solar energy by plants. Accordingly, the link between lieht aheomtion hv and the formation of or- ~iements .gmic mat& and oxygen may lie in the colorless components of t,he labile cellular noarts. Althoueh mare irrelevant facts are
combination with other parts of the living cells. In making Ingenhousz' publication more readily available and in correlating the early experiments with current results and interpretations, Dr. Reed has helped to cross-fertilize the materialistic and nhilosoohical asoects of science. Therebv. he has
a
POCKET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ATOMIC ENERGY
W t e d by Frank Gaynor. Philosophical Library, New York, 1930. (Printed in Britain.) 204 pp. IUustrated. 14.5 X 22 cm.
$7.50. The flyleaf of this book states that "the purpose of this book is to present a comprehensive collection of brief explanations and delinitions of concepts and terms in the field of nuclear physics and atomic energy to the scholar, researcher, teacher, librarian, student, and intelligent layman." There are individual entries for every element, indicating: chemical symbol, groups of the periodic table, atomic numher and weight, stable isotopes, radioisotopes, eto. Brief descriptions of the best known types of nuclear reactions are also given and there is an entry for every member of the known radioactive families, indicating: symhol, atomic numher, mass numher, type of radiation, and half-life. The book contains over 2000 entries, chsrts, tables, and illustrations and lids the Goman equivalents for a great many of the terms defined. TRATADO DE QUIMICA ORGANICA Enrique V. Zappi, Professor of Organic Chemistry in the Universities of Buenos Aires and La Plata. First edition. Volume I. Parts I1 and Ill. Libreria y Editorial "El Ateneo," Buenos 666 pp. 15.5 X 23.5 Aires. Argentina, 1949. Part 11, xvi 844 pp. 15.5 X 23.5 om. cm. Part Ill, xrr
+
+
I1 and 111 continue the diicussion of acyclic compounds Pa~m and oomplete Volume I of this treatise on organic chemistry. Part I1 is divided into eight chapters dealing with ether oxides and thiaethers; smines and their derivatives; dkyl derivatives of the metals and nonmetals in groups I to V of the periodic table (systematically discussed and with emphasis on the Grignsrd reaction); aldehydes; ketones; monobasio aoids; esters; and derivatives by substitution in the carhoxyl group. Part 111 is divided into twelve chapters dealing with glycols; acid-alcohols; amino acids, peptides, and proteins; monobasic acid-aldehydes and acid-ketones; dibasic acids; diiydmxy dibasic aoids; sugam (comprising close to 200 pages and including a systematic procedure for their identification contributed by Dr. Calderon); derivstives of cyanogen and of carbonic acid; and acidic and cyclic ureides. The high standards set by the previously published parts [cf. T ~ rJOPRNAL, s 10.98 (1942); 21,468 (1944); 22,519 (1945)l are
encountered here again. The presentation is generally advanced and up to date. As before, proofs of constitution snd structural formulas and diagrams are abundant and well arranged and add noticeably to the pedagogical objectives of the book. Typographiortlly the work is excellent, and the numher of errors and misprints is very small. An occasional pentavalent carbon, hydrogen with a coordination number of 3 or 4 (pp. 677, 781), and questionable structures for the carbonyls and ferrocyanides (pp. 1906, 1951) do not detract from the general character of the hook. Since Volume I1 of the present work appeared before Volume I, the task so oourageaudy initisted by Dr. Zappi in 1941 is here completed. The task has proven even greater than expected, and the four parts initially intended have become six. Physically, the "Treatise" consists of about 3500 pages of text, exclusive of very extensive and complete indexes, 224 tables in which properties, classifications, syntheses, etc., are outlined and systematized, and a larep numher of diaerams.
noticeable everywhere and arc very ~uccessful. The work is primarily of a descriptive nature, the subject of organic chemistry being systematically presented. Theoretical concepts are scattered a t the plaecs the author has considered most appropriate. This is well done, but one wonders whether in a text of the pmportions of the present one a more coordinated presentation of the theory should not have been attempted. Again, the lack of references to the original literature is much to he regretted. Dr. Zappi is to he congratulated for the successful completion of a first-class contribution ta the chemical literature in Spaniah. I t will find its place both a8 an advanced text and as a reference book. J. G ~ M E Z - I B ~ ~ E Z W ~ s L l Y a aUNNEnalTr M m o r a ~ o w n .Coanecrrcu.r
PHYSICAL SYSTEMS
CHEMISTRY OF HIGH
POLYMEFiIC
H. Mark, Director, Institute of Polymer Research, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklm, and A. V. Tobolsky, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Princeton University. Second edition. Vol. Il of "High Polymers," a series of monographs. Interscience Pub506 pp. 165 figs. 108 lishers, Inc., New York, 1950. d i tahles. 15.5 X 23.5 om. $6.50.
+
TENyears ago, I reviewed the hst edition of Professor Mark's "Ph,ysical Chemistry of High Polymeric System".(J. CHEM. E ~ u c . ,18, 200 (1941)). My review contained the statement: "Many of the methods which the author discussed have not yet been applied to high polymers, or else their application is still in the preliminmy stages; the inclusion of many snggestionsof probl e m yet to be investigated is one of the most valuable features of the monograph." The author and his collaborator have, in the new edition, fulfilled the promise made in the old one: early suhsections have grown to full chapters and "it has been shown. . ." appears instead of "it would be interesting to investigate . . in many places. This does not imply that we may consider the physical chemistry of polymers a closed subject; the present treatise still suggests new problem-problems which could not he forewen in 1940. and which reauired settlement of some of the -~~ 1910 pl.oh.rm Ihefow they wuld I,(. formu13ted. The rxpnnxiolr of the hook is a rnrasurr of the expausion of rhr firlrl in the la31 decade; the author index llrs grown from sir page ro tm. The f w r new pagrs rcpwwnt mure w w k by tht: P~OIIPPTSin the field l 1910. and many papera by nutlxm new to t he f i ~ l r slncr The general plan of the hook follows rhe ori~innloutline. Thc r first first 246 nnms of this edition arc rlowlr ~ n t t r r r m ~l f t r thc 206 pages oithe initisl version, with e x p a h m a t sppropriate intervals. These are the sections which deal with the structure of matter in general, with special attention to polymers. To econo-
."
~~
~
.
