EDITORIALLY S P E A K I N G
A
publishing enterprise which should be known to evwy teacher of college chemistry is the "Monographs for Teachers" series issued by the Royal Institute of Chemistry in London, England. The project was undertaken because . . . concise and authoritative accounts of selected well defined topics . . . artre needed . . . for the guidance of those who teach
chemistry s t the General-Certificate-of-Education-AdvancedLevel and above. [This is roughly equivdent to American underThis guidance is needed where there are class oollege counes.] difficulties in presenting B topic clearly in terms of simple fundamental principles and on a basis that would enable the pupil to go on to more advanced studies without having to "unlearn."
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The five volumes currently available in the series admirably fulfill the purpose. Three more titles are in preparation: Principles of Volumetric Analysis, Principles qf the Colloidal State, and Class$catim of the Elem a t s . The Educational Trust Fund of the Royal Institute has agreed to sponsor three new items each year. The low cost ($0.50 to $0.85 per copy in U. S. currency) makes them a phenomenal bargain that no college teacher should deny himself. The discussions, neatly packaged on specific themes, are essentially theoretical chemistry. The treatment is designed to answer the need of teachers to know fundamentals so thoroughly that new developments can be put in true perspective. This is the soundest approach to supplementing out-of-date textbooks we have heard of. Many teachers who finished their own course work years ago may have difficulty in deciding what to give their students so that their own situation will not he repeated a generation hence. These volumes can help greatly to keep such teachers "in step with modern trends," yet not let them go off with too great convic-
tion in only one direction on a controversial question. The pamphlets now available are: No. 1. P~inciplesof Electrolysis, by C. W. Davies, University College of Wales (30 pages, 3s. 6d., 50.50). This is the leest unique volume in the series. It is essentially a. chapter on electrochemistry in a standard physical chemistry text. No. 2. P~inciplesof Ozidalia and Reductia, by A. G. Sharpe, Cambridge (30 pages, 3s. 6d., $0.50). A supplement to No. 1, it develops redox as an electronic phenomenon. However, it goes on to interpret electrode potential data, in terms of general structural concepts and concludes with a look at processes in other than aqueous solution. No. 3. Principles of the Eztractza of Metals, by D. J. G. Ives, London (57 pages, 68., $0.85). This is one of the clearest expositions of fundamental thermodynamics (entropy appears as a necessary ides, not just a profound one) and its application to practicsl problems that we have seen. The illustrations from geochemistry and industrial operations could help to make any thermodynamics oourse live. No. 4. Przneiples of Metallic Garrosion, by J. P. Chilton, Cambridge (64 pages, 6s., 50.85). Truly s. monograph on the subject which blends thermodynamics and electrochemistry with the empirical information of practical metallurgy experience. Fifteen illustrative laboratory exercises (they are hardly "experiments") me interjected at appropriate places in the text. No. 5. Principles of Chemical Egilibrium, by P. G. Ashmore, Cambridge (49 pages, 4s. 6d., 50.65). The author claims that his . show that there is s. property ehartlcteri~ticof purpose is to each substance, and of P and T,the free energy which permits the computat.ion of equilibrium constants." The highest praise we can think of is that he accomplishes his puwose. This book is a little Denbigh.
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We eongratdate Dr. F. W. Gibbs, under whose editorial direction the series is taking shape, and urge readers to join in the effort by securing copies (postpaid a t the prices quoted; send check, bank draft, or money order) from the Royal Institute of Chemistry, 30 Russell Square, London W. C. 1, England.
Volume 38, Number 1 7 , November 1967
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