RECENT BOOKS T m SEARCHFOR TRUTH. Eric Tefnpk Bell, Professor of Mathematics, California Institute of Technology. Member National Academy of Sciences, Past-President Mathematical Association of America. The Williams & Wilkins Company, Balti279 pp. 14 X 21.5-cm. $3.00. more, 1934. x
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Another book from the pen of the author of The Queen of the Sciences. Before the Dawn, and Numerology will be hailed by that class of readers who like straight thinking spiced with racy humor. From Sam's mule in the Introduction t o Dean Wilshire's discussion of The Priesthood of Science in the final chapter Dr. Bell holds the reader with his skilful play of fascinating anecdote and trenchant wit. Many who h a w little interest in the history of exact thinking will he lured into strange fields by the author's style. If they then return to old haunts undisturbed by the serious undertone of the book, it will not be because the author failed to proclaim the message of the emancipation of the human mind in as hold words as have been written by one of his scholarly attainments. The purpose of the book is set forth after lengthy preliminaries in the following paragraph a t the close of chapter two: "In no sense are the following chapters intended for specialists in anything; they are meant only a s an appetizer for stronger meat which, when thoroughly digested, will make the consumer of i t as lusty as a lion and as independent as the proverbial hog on ice when told, even on the highest authority, to swallow any particular brand of bosh, even the most widely advertised. If only we can think for ourselves, and form a just estimate of our efforts, we shall be immrrne to all the m f t and subtlety of the half-cocked enthusiasts." Four towering peaks are delineated in the history of exact thinking. The first of these arose in ancient Egypt from the consideration of such mundane matters as the calendar, the inundation of the Nile, and the pyramids. The Greeks erected the second, but the spontaneous combustion theory of their brilliance is exploded by tracing the growth of their proofs by deductive reasoning from the problem of finding the volume of a truncated pyramid. The invention in 1826 by Lovatchewsky of non-Euclidean geometry gave rise to the third, while the fourth came from questioning in the present century of two of the three "laws of thought" which have ruled the world of reason since they were first formulated by Aristotle 2300 years ago. Exposing the "craft and subtlety of the half-cocked enthusiasts" is a major diversion of the author. Educators, philosophers, and theologians are each in turn bergtted without mercy. After ridiculing "the reverence and respect in which Euclid's allegedly rigorous reasoning was held by all educated men for well over two thousand years," Dr. Bell adds, "as nothing else even half so good is offered in the way of deductive reasoning in school, we must not he tw hard on what is actually handed out. The great miracle is that there are not a hundred million gullible boobies in America, eager to swallow a11 the Latest and craziest speculations, instead of the negligible few there are." Extrapolating philosophers and left-wing theologians come in for even more vigorous criticism. At the hands of the exotic characters, "Bluebottle" and "Toby," these respectable members of society are manhandled in a way that will hardly serve to postpone the coming of what Dr. Bell in a moment of pessimistic extrapolation calls the "Great Revival of Belief"; this he predicts will usher in eight or ten centuries of docile credulity as pliable as that of the Middle Ages, for "Science and reason have been tried before the tribunal of public opinion, both educated and uneducated, and the verdict is 'Guilty; hang them both.' " Bluebottle and Toby are as unconcerned over the approaching cataclysm as Sam's blind mule headed toward the telegraph p o l e t h e y "just JOHNR. SAMPEY don't give a damn." FURMANUNWBRS~IY GRBENVILLB, SOUT. CAROLIN*
RESEARCH. T. A. Boyd, Research Division. General Motors Corporation. D. Appletan-Century Company, Inc., New York and London, 1935. xv 319 pp. 13 X 20 cm. $2.50.
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When a man with the standing of Dr. Boyd writes a book on research, those interested in that field will feel an obligation to read it. But when on opening the volume one finds the author possessed not only of indubitable facts, which were to he expected, hut also of an easy and readable style and a wealth of interesting quotations and anecdotes concerning research and its accomplishment, the obligation becomes a real pleasure. From his own extensive experience and that of his associates, and from extensive reading. Dr. Boyd has compiled a systematic account of research-what it is, how it is done, and the kind of men that do it, using ihe word research in the broadest sense, as any search for new knowledge. One need hut read the provocative outline of the book to make one eager to read the definition of: Research, Pure Research and Applied, Evolution, Organization, Laboratories, Senses Supplemented, Paper Exploration, Observation, Accident, Re-Search Financing, Selling, Men of Many Talents, Training, Recruiting, Youth, Curiosity. Imagination, Experimentalism, Enthusiasm, Patience, Persistence, Faith, Courage, Common Sense, Honesty, Modesty, Products Improved, Industries Originated, Industries Destroyed, Dividends: Economic, Dividends: Educational, Dividends: Humanitarian, Truth, By-products, "Why Didn't I I Think of That?", Pythagoreanism, Remuneration, Penalties of Pioneering. Particularlynotahleis the wideappeal of this book. While it is written from the standpoint of the general reader, and requires little or no knowledge of science for its comprehension, there is scarcely a page that will not interest the professional research worker. Every one engaged in research or contemplating it as a career should read it to get new inspiration from the work of others so well related here. Every teacher of science should a t least read the book and if possible niake it available to his students. GUSTAV EGLOXF UNIVBRSAL
OIL PRODUCTS CO.
C"1"*00, ILLINOIS
E ~ ~ c r n oEw.;sruv x ~ h h p.~DSORPTIUN P I I I N O M L K A I .. H. de B,.w. Trnnslatcd h y . \ l ~ r . I t . . T . Cambridpe: l'hc llnweriitv I'ress: K e w YorK Citv: The Mncmillan Company, 1935. xi ' 398 pp. 150 figs. 14 X 22 cm. $5.50.
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The author states in the preface that the book is intended to present from the physicalchemical point of view the relation between the phenomena of adsorption on surfaces and those of electron emission and conduction. I n the minion of the rev i c w r , the rc*ultinr: work fulrills'this intcrrlion rwclkntly and conraim comprclwn%i\cdiscursion n d only of the nu~hrr'aown conrril,urions in this firld. which haw hrcn errmswe, but also 3 review of the work of Langmuir and other investigators. The fifteen chapters and 384 pages of tent contain an extremely interesting wealth of topics. The contcnts msy be grouped under four headings:
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I. Electron emission phenomena from metals and composite surfaces (Th-W, Cs-W, Cs-O-W, Ba-BaO, etc.). These are discussed in Chapters I, 111, IV, and XIV. 11. Adsorption phenomena. The nature of adsorption forces (Chapter 11), double layers formed by adsorption of gases (Chapter VI), and also a number of sections in the chapters on electron emission phenomena. 111. Photoelectric emission and related phenomena: emission after adsorption of electropositive metals on metal surfaces (Chapter V), absorption of light by matter in the gaseous state
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(Chapter VII), absorption of light by matter in the adsorbed state (Chapter VIII), the selective photoelectric effect (Chapter IX), photoelectric properties of alkali halides (Chapter X), and photoelectric cathodes of composite type, such as Ag-C%O-Cs (Chapter XIII). IV. Electronic conduction in lattices of alkali halides and similar compounds (Chapters X I and XII), and conduction in blacking layers (Chapter XV). I n t h e first chapter the author gives a list of references to recent reviews on the subjects of thermionic emission, the photoelectric effect, and the most recent developments in the theory of electronic conduction. Therefore, instead of duplicating, in a sense, the contents of these publications, he has described only the main features of the phenomena and has dealt a t greater length with the bearing of these observations on the interpretstion of the nature of adsorption forces. The discussion of each topic is accompanied by very clear diagrams which should prove of material assistance to the reader. No difficult mathematics is used in presenting the interpretation of the various types of observations. Chapters X I and X I 1 (dealing with electronic conduction in the lattices of alkali halides and similar compounds) contain a very fine review of a group of phenomena which will no doubt become of more universal interest in the future from both the theoretical and practical points of view. Perhaps the author has dealt more fully with his own views on some of the phenomena than with'those of others. But he has also attempted to present opposing points of view, as, for instance, in the chapter on the adsorption of caesium on tungsten surfaces. Since each chapter contains copious references to the literature, the reader is enabled to follow up each topic in further detail, should he desire to do so. For the chemist, the study of the contents of the volume will prove stimulating since they deal with that borderland in which the physicist and the chemist must ob\perate t o understdnd the nature of the phenomena observed. I t is a field in which the physical chemist or chemical physicist will continue to find many interesting problems for a long period of time. The reviewer feels that the work of Dr. de Boer will prove both nrofitable and stimulatine to all those who desire to keen abreast of thr dcvclopn~mtswhich have resulted from thr inwstigations in thcrmiunirc. photorlcctric, photoconduc~ion,and electronic conduction phenomena. SAULDUSHMAN
and to considerable advantage, with the use of aromatic compounds." This may be admitted in principle, but in view of the recent and contemporary growth of aliphatic chemistry the advisability of including only thirteen aliphatic experiments in a total list of over fifty may be questioned. Part I is introduced by experiments on the detection of the elements and on the manipulations of distillation, fractional distillation, determination of the melting-point, cryetalliwtion, and extraction. The experiments which follow are mostly preparations, for which the procedures appear to be excellent, and are carefully and clearly described. Among the experiments which present an aspect of novelty there may be mentioned the use of "dry ice" in the synthesis of a carboxylic acid through the Grignard reagent, the removal of water from a product (valeric acid) by azeotropic distillation, the reduction of acetone to pinacol and its conversion to pinacolone, the acetylation of an amine (aniline) by aceticanhydrideinaqueous solution, the preparation of benzophenone by decarboxylation of o-benzoylbenzoic acid, the photachemical reduction of benzophenone to benzopinacol by isopropyl alcohol, the auto-oxidation of benzoin, the Perrier modification of the Friedel-Crafts reaction, some good experiments on dyeing, a brief outline for identification of certain types of aromatic compounds, and a special experiment on Martius yellow. The last is a small-scale experiment involving eight steps, and is suggested as a test of skill and speed. The text of this experiment comprises four pages explaining the somewhat formidable chemistry involved, about two pages of general instructions, five pages of directions, and over a page of "notes." Considered individually nearly all the exercises in the manual are to be recommended. Considered as a course of instruction, however, the manual discloses a certain lack of balance and scope. I n addition to the great preponderance of aromatic experiments, attention may be called to the facts that there are described the preparations of two pinacols and the corresponding pinacolones, the (alternative) preparation of two acids by the Grignard reaction, three sulfonations, two preparations of phenols by alkali fusion, four quinones, and no fewer than six FriedelCrafts reactions. These duplications serve to emphasize a number of omissions of familiar and useful material, of which a t least a part is generally considered essential to a n elementary course. These omissions include a study of thecharacteristics of alcohols, the preparation of alkyl iodides i h d chlorides (not mentioned), the preparation of a simple aryl halide, the properties of aryl halides, the Ullmann reaction, the Cannizaro reaction, work on co. pentoses and furfural, study of aliphatic amines, examples of alkylation (other than by the Grignard reagent), study of intermediate reduction products of nitro-compounds, reactions of Louis F. Fieser, AssociEXPERIMENTS IN ORO~WIC CAEMISTRY. amines and amides with nitrous acid, saiyation of a double bond, a t e Professor of Chemistry, Harvard University. D. C. Heath introduction of multiple bond by ahstracfion of hydrogen halide. and Co., Boston, Mass., 1935. viii f369 pp. 42 figs. 13.5 X The Wurtz-Fittig synthesis, and theacetoacetic ester andmalonic 21.5 cm. $2.40. ester syntheses, are omitted. There are no experiments in either the alicyclic or the heterocyclic series (unless succinic anhydride, This new laboratory manual is intended for students of ele. mentary organic chemistry, and especially for those who expect succinanil, and phthalic anhydride are t o be regarded as true heterocycles). t o undertake more advanced work later. I t is divided into two Discussions of steam distillation and vacuum distillation are parts, of which Part I (pp. 1-280) presents 6fty experiments, some comprising several parts or alternatives, and Part I1 (pp. introduced a t appropriate places, and are excellent and relatively 281-359) consists of chapters on suggestions for advanced work, full, with figures representing various useful types of apparatus. solvents, reagents and gases, and a semimicro method for the The determination of melting points is perhaps less satisfactorily treated than other important operations. The student apparatus determination of carbon and hydrogen. The manual differs from many of its predecessors in a t least recommended, and also the modified Anthes apparatus shown in two respects. (1) Each experiment or each procedure is pre- Part 11, appear to provide insufficient certainty of uniform heat ceded by a n informative introduction in which the student is told transference, and no satisfactory means for estimating the correcsome of the things he should know about the methods available tion for exposed stem. The student is informed that the error and the ones employed, for the preparation, isolation, etc., of the due t o exposed stem may reach lo", but the question of stem product to be made, and in which the essential chemistry of the correction is dismissed rather casually (p. 289) in a manner which experiment is explained. This undoubtedly facilitates matters appears to condone a practice termed by Mnlliken "unfortunate for the student. and will mohablv lead to a better averaee state - - of - and unscientific." The chapter on Identification of Organic Compounds presents prrparednrss when each rxpcrimrnr is udrrtakcn, rhuuyh it may ir~clucrrume\tudrnts rorclv o r h l y upon r l t r ~ ~ c x p l a n a t ~ o n s a s a na brief scheme which provides for the actual or proximate identification of "a rather small group" of aromatic types (exclusive of hydrocarbons, halides, and phenolic ethers). The primary classification is essentially that of Kamm; the functional tests reactions of aliphatic chemistry can b i illustrated perfectly well, applied are those previously performed as parts of earlier experi-
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