JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
108 a level of excellence throughout, but more careful editing of future volumes in this series would detect such phrases as "the equilibrium being shifted toward completion by the use of a catalyst" and could help to insure the high st,andards which the editors clearly had planned to maintain. Any eritioism of the present volume is directed a t only a portion of the work. Much of it is excellent, and parts of it are unique. The chapter an analysis of organic sulfur compounds (mercaptans, sulfides, disulfides, xanthates, thials, thiones, mercaptals, mercaptols, sulfoxides, sulfinic acids, sulfanic acids, and alkyl sulfates) represents the most complete review of the extensive literature on the determination of sulfur-containing functional groups that hss been published. Moreover, for the first time a comprehensive discussion of the analytical significance of diazomethane far determining the presence of active hydrogen and its position in a molecule is presented by the eminent author of most of the original papers. Although an excellent review of the chemistry of a- and 6-epoxides was published in 1950, the present very readable chapter on the quantitative determination of the a-epoxy group is a timely contribution. The material is well organized and lucidly presented, and includes unpublished dsta. from the authors' laboratories and a good critical comparison of rtvailable methods. Analytical and organic chemists can be grateful indeed that the authors and editors are planning a comprehensive and critical cornnilation of the multitudinous techniaues in the field of existing analytical methods. FRANCES BERLINER BRYNMAWBC O L L E ~ E BRTNMAW%P e ~ ~ a ~ w A h - l *
ESSENTIALS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY Arthur K. Anderson, Professor of Physiological Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State College. Fourth edition. John Wiley & Sons, 480 pp. 42 figs. 12 tables. 15.5 Inc., New York, 1953. vii X 23.5 cm. $5.
+
A WAT many undergraduate students intending to enter general chemistry, agriculture, bacteriology, premedicine, home economics, or related fields need some understanding of biochemical principles. Their requirements are not sa exacting and thoroughgoing as those of more advanced students and a brief, elementary text is really needed for them. This is the purpose of Dr. Anderson's text, now in its fourth edition. It will not be found a t all mitable far the student requiring critical knowledge of the subject. The text properly emphasiaes the chemical structure of biological compounds and it has been somewhat enlarged and modernized. A new chapter, Biophysical Chemistry, is a welcome addition. The chapters each terminate with a series of rather comprehensive questions which ought to prove useful for review by the beginning student. Reference lists are brief and indicate only the broad general works, an arrangement entirely suitable to the intended audience, who make little use of bibliographies. The author states in his preface that many of the subjects considered in the book are eontroversid but that he has purposely avoided presenting arguments pro and con because it seems unwise to confuse the student. While this concern for the student is certainly laudable, the result leaves something to be desired. It seems to the reviewer that no student has any need to be taught theoretical subject matter in a cueand-dried, plodding way as if it were factual, If this is the only way he can be taught the material, he has no business learning it at all. The reviewer is inclined to the view that an elementary text should confine itself onlv to those matters which can be adeaustelv . covered in the short spare permitrrd. This prinvipk oughr I m adhered t o w r n nr the ryxnec of omitting amp sul>jer.ts. There ia no rmsm ro ~~
~
~~~
.
believe that a student will be better off if he is exposed to much material inadequately discussed than he would be on simpler fare more properly digested. Where theoretical biochemistry is presented as if it were entirely factual the resulting picture of the science is a strange one indeed. I t presents an emasculated science, a muse with her teeth pulled. Despite such criticisms the book is a creditable one; it fills a real need and has a place i d the teaching of the elements of a complicated field. It will, like previous editions, find wide use in undergraduate courses. ELIOT F. BEACH Brocassrrc*r. L * s o n * ~ o n r M e r R o ~ a & , r *L ~ ~ F INSDR*NCE E COMP*NT NEWYORX.NEWYORK
.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. VOLUME 4
Edited hy G. K. Rollefson and R. E. Powell. Annual Reviews, Inc., Stanford, California, 1953. 493 pp. 16 X 23 Em. $6. THIS fourth volume in the widely acclaimed annud review series begun in 1950 establishes itself as au essential addition to any library used by professors and students trying to keep abreast of current status of, and new trends in, research in physical chemistry. Those familiar with previous volumes will recognize eighteen regular8 among the listed topics, one return of an absentee since 1951 ("Microwaves,"expandedtoinolude "Nuclear resonance"), and a new title ("Magnetism") written by the man whose name is synonymous with the field, Selwood. "Colloids" is again omitted, but many phases of the subject are inevitably included in the sections on "Contact catalysis and surface chemistryr' (omitted in 1952). "High polymers," and "IOU -~ exchangi." In a well established series of volumes of this type, it is appropriate that the authors chosen for each section should be new contributors. This policy results in a valuable variety of emphases over the years. The limitations are in most cases frankly stated and make most of the treatments accorded to various topics more authoritative and refreshingly free from being mere superficial listing of bibliographies for broad fields. This is true, far example, in Sutherland's confining his chapter on "Spectroscopy" to discussions of vibrational spectra. Another example lies in the "Reaction kinetics" chapter, in which Taube covers most thoroughly the topics of oxidation-reduction reactions and the kinetics of substitution at metal ion centers. The same is true of the chapter by Lumry, Spikes, and Eyring on "Photosynthesis," in which they choose to discuss pigments, energy transfer mechanisms, and the Hill reaction rather than to repeat the Calvin, et al., (1952) emphasis on carbon dioxide fixsr tion and quantum yield arguments. As has been true of previous volumes in the aerie?, the majority of the contributors are from American academic institutions or industrial la,borat,ories. The inclusion of the British authorities Weieiss on "Radiation chemistry" and Lennard-Jones on the "Theory of molecular structure" is most welcome. Canadian institutions are the base of operations far the authors of two other chapters, Thode on "Isotopes" and Steacie, et al., on "Photochemistry." The twenty chapters are based on reviews of the current literature concluded in the late months of 1952. The lists of references cited run into the hundreds for each topic. This fact further emphasizes the value of the volume as an authoritative, critical compilation. Some tables of numerical data are pre~ented. There are relatively few diagrams; slmost no discussion is devoted t,o apparatus or methods of measurement. A complete author index and an extensive subject index add to the usefulness of the book. WILLIAM F. KIEFFER
Comeoe oa W o o s ~ s n W o o a ~ s n Oaro .
