RECENT BOOKS E s s s N r r ~ ~oa s CHEMISTRY.Gretchen 0.Luror, B.A. Department of Nursing Education, Cass Technical High School. Detroit, and Florence Oram, B.S., M.A., R.N., Assistant Director, School of Nursing, Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago. Jean Broadkuml, Ph.D., Science Adviser, Professor of Bacteriology, Teachen College, Columbia University. Third Edition. J. B. Lippincatt Co., Philadelphia, 1938. xiv f 562 pp., including laboratory manual. Illustrations and diagrams. 13.5 X 20 cm. $3.00. The aim of this third revised edition is to present the basic principles of chemistry using practical applications from the nursing field, so that students of nursing shall have a foundation on which to build their other studies, and to give them an appreciation of the growing importance of chemistry in all phases of life. ~ l m o s half~of t the material is concerned with inorganic chemistry, while the second half deals with organic chemistry. There is an endeavor to present the material so that it will be usable for students who have had some chemistry previous to their entrance in the school of nursing, as well as for those who
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The reviewer feels that the authors have written an excellent textbook for nursing students and have accomplished their stated purpose. From the hright end papers with their reminder of modem chemistry's progenitor, alchemy, through the last few pages in the Laboratory Manual for the instructor's use, this book retains its appeal. I t is replete with aids for teaching, and facilitating the learning of students. The reviewer finds her students appreciate the "Personal Word" preface and the Preview of each Unit. It also seems t o her t o be a better plan to start with necessary definitive explanations concerning atoms, their structure, molecules, formulas, valence, and equations and then proceed t o oxygen, hydrogen, and other important elements and their compounds, than to begin with water, oxygen, and so forth, as many books do. Abundant dark-type topic headings should foster studying with a purpose and make reviewing easier. Other features which make this a good textbook are, simple, but comprehensive previews a t the beginning of each unit, factual reviews opening many of them, and detailed summaries,ending each unit, and these last, also, have emphasis placed on key words by darker t w e orintine. c There is an abundance of question material for self-testing and group examinations, both of the essay type and the newer objective type. This is a good textbook for schools of nursing for many reasons. (1) I t follows the suggested outline in the Curriculum of the National Leame of Nursing Education, which is trying to insure a t Least minimum standards in nursing schools. (2) The time allotted for chemistry in schools differs from a minimum of twenty to thirty hours fixed by the state to ninety or one hundred hours in university nursing schools, and I have found this book adaptable to these variations. (3) The emphasis throughout is on elements and compounds particularly useful in therapeutics with, in many cases, explanations of why they are being used and their effect. (4) Part I1 "Organic Chemistry'' puts less stress on memorizing of structural formulas and more emphasis on physiological chemistrv.. and the need for nurses to have a scientific basis for their knowledge about, and use of, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, anesthetics, and w forth. The reviewer has tried t o keep the teaching of Units Ten through Fourteen concurrent with the study of the digestive. excretory, and regulatory systems in anatomy and physiology and has been encouraged by the results of this, over previous programs.
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The illustrations and diagrams are clear, well placed, and valuable. The reviewer has, however, wished for more of them, finding it necessary often t o use other books as illustrative references. In our small school, we have found that the Laboratory Manual fits our situation quite well. The experiments are sufficient in number to demonstrate the concepts, and the equipment suggested is not too elaborate or expensive. The reviewer would heartily recommend this hook to be used a s a textbook in schools of nursing. She thinks it would also lend itself well to the teaching of home economics students. 1x1s A. JETTE,R.N. STDRDYM B Y O ~ AH I. O S ~ A L ATTLB~OXO, MASSACBUSBTTS
A
MANUAL
EnMIS TRY,
I.
and R, O, B,eurrUr. D. Van Nostrand Company,
New York City, 1939. Third Edition. 26 figs, 14 22 cm, 8,00.
xiii
+ 217 pages.
This manual is "suitable io spirit and content t o be used with" the senior author's I N ~ ~ O D UTO ~T ORGANIC I O N CA~MKSIRY, to which references are made throughout the bwk. I t is intended primarily for students of first-year organic chemistry who may have limited hours for work, and for this reason many of the exercises are of such character that they can be completed in one laboratory period. There are, however, some longer experiments, such as the malonic ester, acetoacetic ester, and Skraup syntheses. The two hundred eight pages of text are apportioned as follows. A oreliminarv section of fourteen vanes is devoted t o exercises on some eenerailaboratorv on he rest of the test oresents ~ -"~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ - oneration;. , succcssivcly one hundred thirty-wvcn exercises (one hundred SLY pages) in aliphatic chemirrry, scventy-eighr rxcrriles (,evenlyfour pages) in aromatic and heterocyclic chemistry, and finally a brief introduction t o organic qualitatiye analysis, occupying thirteen pages, of wpch six are devoted to tables of compounds. A three-page appendix gives directions for preparation of some special reagents, a table of densities and boiling points of some organic liquids, and an abridged table of atomic weights. The index occupies five pages. The experiments illustrate the reactions and methods of preparation appropriate t o an elementary course. I n any ordinary course it will be necessary t o include only a selection of the numerous experiments described, some of which present alternative procedures. To assist this selection there are given two lists of experiments, grouped into three-hour periods, and suggested as suitable for shorter and longer courses of thirty-four and sixtyeight periods, respectively. The experiments are on the whole conventional, most of them appearing in other familiar manuals. The number of brief experiments of the test-tube variety, including some rather special tests, appears to be relatively large. In earlier preparative experiments yields are not emphasized and are sometimes not mentioned; later experiments usually state definitely the yields to be expected. Several individual features may be mentioned, ois., the use of the modified Castellana decomposition preliminary t o the qualitative test for nitrogen; a test for peroxide in ether; the inclusion of a number of exercises on separations of mixtures and preparations of identifying derivatives, which serve as preliminary studies for the work in qualitative analysis; experiments illustrating various kinds of dyeing (direct, mordant, ingrain, vat, pigment); and the following preparations: ferf.-hutyl chloride, dimethylglyoxime (using in the second step an extemporized solution of hydroxylamine sodium sulfonatel. -~~~~~ , nrea-formaldehvde resin. iodobenzene from benzene by action of iodine and nitric acid, phenol-formaldehyde resin, benzophenone by Friedel-Crafts synthesis from benzene and carbon tetrachloride as an alternative to the preparation using benzoyl chloride, and quinone by hromic acid oxidation of hydroquin~~
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