mental basis for the third law is not discussed. The word "modern" in the title refers t o the inclusion of such concepts as the activity coefficient introduced by G. N. Lewis in 1901 and the osmotic coefficient proposed by Bjerrum in 1916. Fundamental concepts and important definitions are treated a t length and with much care. Precisian of thought is the dominant characteristic of the book. Especially fine are the chapters dealing with surface equilibria, equilibrium in the gravitational field, and electrochemistry. Students of thermodynamics usually find it desirable to read a t least two treatments of fundamental parts of the subject. Guggenheim's book will prove an excellent second book for those studying chemical thermodynamics. The differences in viewpoint and in some important deiinitions should amplify anddarify a number of subjects. Unfortunately, students will meet a serious obstacle t o their use of the bwk. Guggenheim's set of symbols differs from all others now in use. I n the reviewer's opinion the choice is unwise. The symbols of Lewis and Randall are now being used so extensively in the chemical literature of the world that, whenever possible, they should be adopted as the conventional made of expression. The special symbol used to represent the chemical potential is especially unfortunate. The reviewer can find no good reason for the adoption of a special symbol t o conceal the equality of the chemical potential and the partial mold free energy. There seems to he more reason for the departwe from the customary definition of the activity coefficient of the solute in an aqueous solution. The difference may be very instructive for alert students. Indeed Guggenheim's definition, which is consistent with Lewis and Randall's treatment of non-aqueous solutions might be generally acknowledged to be the best. It bas been the habit, however, for chemists to express equilibrium constants in units which are not compatible with this definition, and i t will, therefore, prove very awkward for application t o existing data. I n spite of some obvious defects, the b w k is a valuable contribution which the reviewer recommends for the library of every serious student of chemical thermodynamics. T. F. YOUNG TAEUIIIV&RO~Y OF Carcnoo CAICIGO. ILLINOIS
E L E ~ N T A R EE I N P ~ ~ E R ~IN N GDIE Q U A N T E ~ C H A N IDr. K. Karl K.Derrow, Bell Telephone Laboratory, New York City. Translated from English into German by Dr. E. Rabinovitsch. S.Hirzel, Leipzig. 1933. iii f 123 pp. 14.5 X 22 cm. Paper cover, Rm. 6. This little book presents the fundamentals of quantum mechanics in a way that should appeal particularly t o chemists. The author is well known for his ability t o remold the essentials of an abstruse subiect into a form that is for the average chemist. ahmicist. or eneiieer not onlv informative but actually usable. =-.Chanter n ; discussi& of the nature of wave; and the ---=--- i - ~-= ~--e with mechanical treatment of them, based on algebra, trigonometry, and calculus familiar to everyone. This is followed by a section on the way in which the wave and partide aspects of light lead t o a wave particle theory of matter. The chapter concludes with a few pages on the uncertainty principle and the meaning of a wave function. Chapter I1 takes up the features of atomic spectra which suggested the use of matrices for describing atomic behavior. I- t is shown how the auantum ~ s couoled .r i n c.i ~ l eare to the matrix calculus and a few examples are given of the use of this powerful but rather abstruse mathematical tool The book ends with a discussion of the hearing of all this on the nature of radiation. A chemist cannot help but regret that there was not space for telling about a few of the applications of quantum mechanics t o chemistry. However, this book is so good that we may hope far two things; tirst, that it will be published in the original Enelish: second. that i t kill be followed bv another like it dealina the chemical phases of the suhj&t.
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ZUR GESCAICHTE DER METALLE IN DEN A M n I C e E N DEUTSCHEN ARzNEmUcAERN. Dr.Sc.nat. Geor~Urdanc. Arthur NemaverVerlag. Mittenwald, Bayern, Germany. No copyright date. 138 pp. 15 X 22.5 cm. Paper bound. Mk. 5; Cloth bound. Mk. 7.
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The author of this specialized study in the field of chemistry is well known for his contributions to pharmaceutical literature. These have appeared in the German pharmaceutical journals. and several monographs have been issued by the "Gesellschaft fiir Gescbichte der Pharmazie" upon such subjects as: "Der Apotheker als Subjekt und Ohjekt der Literatur," etc. This present contribution is particularly applicable to the field of chemical education, for Dr. Urdang has covered a limited field of historicalchemical literature in an interesting manner. This field is that of the pharmacopoeias and similar official works in so far as the subject of metals and metallic compounds is concerned. The pharmacopoeias were the first common meeting ground of chemists, physicians, and pharmacists. Dr. Urdang has, in this particular study, traced the metals and their compounds, so far as their employment in medicine is concerned, from the Pharmacopceia of Valerius Cordus (Lyons edition of 1549) to the latest edition of the German Pharmacopr~ia,the "Deutsches Arzneibuch, 6 Ansgahe, 1926"; with a few scattering references to current literature as late as 1932. Now Valerius Cordus was the physician-pharmacist-chemist who first prepared and described ether, three centuries before it was employed as an anesthetic; and the German Pharmacopoeia of 1926 contains descriptions of many medicinal compounds of everyday use which Valerius Cordus would not even be ahle to identify, much less t o understand. The list of metals included in the author's monograph comprises arsenic, lead, iron, gold, copper, mercury, silver, bismuth. zinc, and tin. The author's study has been limited t o the official pharmacopaeias which have appeared in the territory now included in the German Republic. There are frequent references to Paracelsus, who, it will be remembered, first inspired the search for remedial substances of metallic origin by that famous admonition-"The business of alchemy is not t o make gold but to prepare medicines2'-which led to his being called the founder of the school of iatrachemistry. The work is both thorough and interesting, and to bath teachers and students of chemistry who have no contacts with either medicine or pharmacy, it will afford a new stimulus t o their interest in chemistry, for it takes the reader back t o the time when calomel was called "merarrius ddcis," oxide of iron "crocus mortir," and zinc oxide " n i h i l m album," and brings him down t o the period when we still call silver nitrate "lunar caustic." Pa,Ln,
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CHARLES H. LAWALL A N D SCIRNCB
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INTERPOLATED TRIGONOMETRIC TABLES WITH NONINTERPOLATING LOGS,COLOOS, AND ANTILOGS. Frederick
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W.
Johnson, M.A. The Simplified Series Publishing Co., San tables (unnumbered). 17.3 Francisco, 1933. vi f 44 pp. X 24 cm. Semiloose-leaf. without cover, $1.70; paper cover. 51.85; in leather-like three-ring binder, $2.45. Bound in flexible fabrikoid, $3.50.
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The lengthy subtitle gives a fair idea of the contents-"2% former supplied with tables of proportional parts that give every sixtieth of daerences for both natural and logarithmic functions, also with Logarithmic functions a t intervals of 1" for 0" t o 3" and for 87' t o 90'; the latter arranged so as to give fourand five-place logarithms and anti-logarithms and four-place cologarithms by mere inspection, without any calculation whatever; and both provided with thumb-indexes which enable the user t o turn instantly t o any value recorded in the tables." Instructions for use of the tables with examples are given in the 0. R. introduction.
