It is unfortunate that on page 64 the authors define reaction velocity as, the time required (that is, the speed of the reaction). .,"and on page 72, where they apply the Law of Mass Action. they state: "The molar concentration of solvent water is t o be taken ar, constant and therefore omitted from equilibrium expressions." No quantity unless it is an infinitesimal of higher order is ever "omitted" from an equation. The second part of the book (The Laboratory Work) begins with an excellent description of microtechnique, hut no description of microequipment is included. The importance of an orderly and accurate notebook is stressed, and suggestions aremade as t o the best methcds of recording results and tabulating data. The following chapters include a brief but adequate outline of the chemistry of the various elements tested for in the scheme of analysis, preliminary experiments for each group, and then detailed directions for the analysis itself. The scheme of analysis used is quite conventional, and directions and notes appear to be adequate. The author makes the common error of stating that the red color formed by the reaction between Fe?"+ and (SCN)- is Fe(SCN)*---, whereas Bent and French have shown it t o be Fe(SCNVf in water soh-
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knowledge of chemistry and wrote for the chemi&l major who is especially susceptible to the problem method of learning chemistrv.
TEE CHEM~STRY OF POWDER AND EXPLOSIVES. Vohme 11. Tenney L. Dauis, Emeritus Professor of Organic Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Director of Research and Development. National Fireworks, Inc. John 298 pp. (pp. Wiley & Sons, Iuc., New York, 1943. ix 191489). 106figs. 14 X 21.5cm. $3.00. I n the preface the author states, "This second volume preserves the point of view of the 6rst volume and fulfills the plan which was outlined in its preface." The hook was written for the purpose of informing chemists, already well trained, concerning the modes of behavior of explosive substances and concerning the phenomena, both chemical and physical, which they exhibit. This the b w k does well. More of the chemical engineering such as included in the section treating single-base powder would have been welcomed by the average serious student of explosives. Since the author did not set out to include any chemical engineering aspects, the above is not offered as criticism hut as a lament. Current interest in explosives arises from the great military use of them. There are many tests that must be made upon military explosives and many others that are frequently made. A large number of these tests are chemical, and this reviewer would like to have seen a section of Volume I1 treat this very important topic. The chapter headings of Volume I1 are: V, Nitric Esters; VI, Smokeless Powder; VII, Dynamite and Other High Explosives; VIII, Nitmamines and Related Substances; IX, Primary Explosives, Detonators, and Primers. The index is exceptionally well done, there being twenty-six pages of subject index and four of author index. All of the useful explosives are treated quite thoroughly from a chemical point of view, frequently with the aid of structural formulas. The treatment of nitroguanidine and guanidine nitrate deserves special mention because of its excellence. In this reviewer's opinion this two-volume treatment of explosives is a "must" on the list of books for the library of any serious student of explosives. AUBI~ON T. BURTSELL
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TREESAND TEST TUBES. Charles Morrow Wilson. Hen Holt and Company, New York, 1943. xii 352 pp. lustrated. 14 5 X 21.5 cm. W.50. "Trees and Test Tubes" is Charles Morrow Wilson's twelf book and is based upon years of hst-hand experience in t American tropics where he lived on an experimental rubt plantation in Central America. Nowhere has the review seen a more comprehensive, dramatic panorama of rubt history than in this story of rubber from its discovery to t present day, with a full account of the rubber crisis and future solution, including a complete text of the Baruch repor There is an intriguing chapter on that tragic and gallant figu Charles Goodyear. "the greatest of all rubber inventors," w changed overnight an interesting curiosity to a vital substar of the modern industrial world. The chapter on "Fordlandi is an amazing story of Mr. Ford's rubber venture in Bra which found Mr. Ford with three million Brazilian rubt trees to the good in 1941 with a future prospect of twelve fifteen million pounds, thus bringing back to the Americ American-born rubber. There are interesting and informati chapters on synthetic rubber and elastomers, the rubber crir and the oresent war consumotion of rubber. Mr. Wils laments the~omplavencywhlrh ~ n s r e i p o n ~ ifor h l ~not p r ~ w d i for this contingrncy and condudri hi, rcmarkahlr. hook by lo< ing into the future, paying tribute to all men. brown, rcd, yello and black, as well as t o the white men who process our ti) in a rubber-dependent world, by saying, "I believe that t forthcoming Western rubber lands can and will be lands free men and private enterprise, that the growing of rubber v merxe - into a new and better order of hemis~hereapricultt and rrade a n order free o i inrernntionnl cdrtcls which profit s t the crprn.e uf tropical people;.'' Fur understanding and : preciatiou uf a drat+ material this book deservcs the attenti of every thinking American
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BALLH ~ SCHOOL A GALVBSTON. TBX&S
A MANUAL FOR EXPWSIVES LABORATORIES. Volumes 1 and G. D. Cliftand B. T.Fedorof. Leiax Society, Inc., Philad phia, Pennsylvania. 194243. 219 and262 pp. 7.7 X 1 7 . 7 ~ $2.25 per vol. The first volume of this manual describes the analyti. methods for the analysis of mined acids, oleum, and spent aci Other anal-,tical methods used in the ~roductionof mixed ac for T N T production. tests far toluene a i d TNT, also the purifi, tion of TNT and the separation and identification of impurit in T N T are mentioned. The nitration of toluene is treated the authors, who are experts in this field, with skill ana authori The production of glycerin trinitrate, cellulose nitrate, amat picric acid, nitro starches, tetryl, black powder, and primers ; well treated, but somewhat less extensively than the product of TNT. The second volume contains a descriptive list of explos compounds and allied substances which is welcome to eve body doing research and production work in the field of ploeives. Recently the American literature has been enriched by 1 publication of two volumes of the "Chemistry of Powder s Explosives" by Professor Tenney L. Davis and the "Manual Explosives, Military Pyrotechnics and Chemical Warf Agents" by Professor Jules Bebie. The twa-volume "Man for Explosives Laboratories" by Clift and Fedoroff is a vc valuable addition to these books. I t is written by experts a have broad practical experience in the production of explosi, Both volumes of this work are of importance. They cont the description of laboratory investigation methods for I materials, intermediate products, and final end products in field of explosives. They contain, furthermore, a very extenr bibliography. E. BBRI C A P N B DI~ m m s on TB-OLOCY Prrrseoaaa. PBNNSYLVANIA
