book reviews scattering of rigid spheres, coulomb scattering, excitation by electron impact, ionization, charge-transfer, and the theory of hiomolecular reaction rates. This is not a b w k for the novice. It is mathematically concise and reasonably formal. In this respect it is more typical of a physics quantum mechanics text. The author takes pains, however, to describe and explain important points and as a result, the theoretical and mathematical development is frequently brought hack to the real world. An exposure to quantum meehanin that has greater emphasis on structure and spectra might he more desirable for typical upper-level undergraduate and beginning graduate students in chemistry, a n d many such students are not prepared to begin at this level of sophistication. It would be a mistake, however, to neglect the lead provided by this text. Students who are prepared to handle the mathematics and physics will benefit greatly from the insights provided by the author, and the scope of quantum mechanics will he much more real to him as a result of h a v m ~approached mportant dynamlc prublemc,of interrat tothr chcmmr. 'Jeff C. Davis. Jr. University of South Florida Tampa. Florida 33620
Elements of Quantum Mechanics wlh Chemical Applications
Jean Barriol, Nancy, France. Translated by J. Warren Blaker, Vassar College. Barnes and Noble, Inc., New York, 1971. xvii 377 pp. Figs. and tables. 24 x 17 em. $7.95.
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Except for their Level of sophistication, most texts in the general category of quantum chemistry rally around similar topics -the formaliim of quantum mechanics, simple models, the hydrogen atom, diatomic molecules, approximation methods, etc. This teat has a decidedly European flavor and may appeal to some in its treatment of these areas. The first part of the text considers the principles of quantum mechanics. The development is somewhat formal from the chemist's point of view and utilizes concepts such as current density and vector notation. Many familiar topics such as potential wells, nondegenerate and degenerate systems, and approximation methods are discussed. Because of the formalism, it is unlikely that newcomers to quantum mechanics will gain a very suitable physical picture, but those with some prior experience may perceive some generalities that are obscured in more elementary accounts. Part two reviews the one-electron approximation of atomic and molecular systems including complex atoms, the diatomic molecule, valenee-bond and molecular orbital approaches, hybridization, the MO method applied to conjugated molecules, and the free-electron model. The third part considers the problem of electron interactions and particularly the selfconsistent field method. Many-electron atoms and molecules are considered. Several mathematical topics are collectA258
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ed in the appendix so that the physical principles will not be confused by purely mathematical developments. Nevertheless, many students may find the going rough if they have never been exposed to the basic mathematieal and physical conventions employed by the author. For students or courses in which e prior intmduetion to quantum chemistry is assumed, this text may provide an effective bridge between the more qualitative chemical texts and many of the outstanding physies-oriented texts on quantum mechanics. Jeff C . Davis, Jr. University of Sooth Florida Tampa, Florida 33620
The Royal Institution Library of Science
Edited by W. L. Bragg and G. Porter. Halsted Press, New York, 1973. (11 volumes), 5563 pp. $195. It is hard to imagine a college chemistry professor who would not want to own this set. According to the dust jacket, every Friday between October and June, a wellknown authority is invited by the Royal Institution to review his subject hefore a general audience. The talks on chemistry and physics are contained in the present set, under the general heading "Physical Sciences." The dust jacket supplies the misleading subtitle "Applied Science," not found in the book itself, at least on Vols. 9 and 10, the volumes available to this reviewer. Those words replace the word Elsevier on the cover of the bwk itself. Halsted Press, a new division of John Wiley and Sons apparently is the U S . distributor. The dust jacket further states "No attempt has been made to select; all have heen included . ." This I find hard to helieve considering that only three 1932 lectures are given and four in 1935 of the 30 or more, presumably held each year. Were the physical sciences so underrepresented in an institution headed by Davy, Faraday, Tyndall, Sir William Bragg (and his son, the present coeditor), Dewar, Andrade, and the present director, George Porter? Further, we are surprised to find some discourses represented only by abstracts. The p e r i d covered, 1851-1939, spanned the great transition from classical to at least semi-modern chemistry and physics. Williamson, Odling, Frankland, and Crum-Brown present their early ideas on valence and structural organic chemistry; Arrhenius develops the theory of electrolytic dissociation; Freundlich reports on colloids; and Rayleigh tells of the new gas argon. On April 30, 1897, 3. J. Thompson in a discourse on "Cathode Rays" a t the Royal Institution made the first announcement of his discovery of the electron as a body smaller than and a constituent of all atoms. It appears in Val. 5. He had described electric discharges in gases three years earlier. There follow lectures by Kelvin, Lodge, Becquerel, Pierre Curie, Zeeman, Rutherford, Perrin, Saddy, C. T. R. Wilson, Blackett, Aston, Sidgwick (on the shapes of molecules, 1933), Bernal, and Born among others. Some titles are intriguing. According to the series brochure, Mendeleev spoke in
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1889 on "An Attempt to Apply to Chemistry one of the Principles of Newton's Natural Philosophy." Crwkes' famous "Genesis of the Elements" was delivered in 1887 and two years later Sir William Thomson reported on the Sorting Demon of Maxwell. Tyndall's "Faraday as a Discoverer" is included also. The articles are reproduced exactly as they appeared in the Royal Institution Pmeeedings. Only the pagination has been changed. Thus one suddenly has at one's fingertips the original presentations of some of the mast illustrious contributors to the sciences, papers that often are very hard to locate. The price, however, gives us pause. Few chemistry departments ere likely to obtain the set unless they are embarrassed with riches or are particularly concerned to strengthen their history of chemistry collection. The volumes cost close to $20 each and do not seem even to be available singly. Any one reader is likely to he interested in only a few of the lectures. There is an index volume hut eouallv , useful would have been a parapaph on each authur. At least it would have been ea5ier tu disrowr that the Sir William Hrapg whoaa I: iertures grace the last two volumes is not the same as Sir William Lawrence Bragg, the coeditor. The latter appears twice but only as Professor W. L. Bragg. He was knighted in 1941. Whether the project was a worthwhile expenditure of time and energy and a worthy use of paper is hard to say. Historians of science can locate the originals; how many others will find their way to the present set? Perhaps a few-and some of them may be sparked into new lines of questioning or deeper reflection by contact with a great mind of the past. May it be so.
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Otto Theodor Benfey Guiltord Coiiege Greensboro. N.C. 27470
Tables of Resolving Agents and Optical Resolutions
Samuel H. Wile% City University of New York; edited by Ernest L. Eliel, University of Notre Dame. University of Notre Dame Press, Natre Dame, Indiana, 1972. 308 pp. Many tables. 22 X 28 em. $5. This compilation serves as a supplement to the Chapter entitled, "Resolving Agents and Resolutions in Organic Chemistry," in Volume 6 of Topics in Stereochemistry (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1911). The literature was exhaustively surveyed for the 20 years prior to 1971. In addition to information on resolving agents and methods, critically evaluated optical rotation data on over a thousand compounds is included along with extensive bibliographies of literature citations. The above mentioned chapter is also available from the University of Notre Dame Press for $5 postpaid. WFK
