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OCTOBER. 1950 the nonspecialist, the book is not an unmixed blessing, however. Among the more important reasons for this are the following: the introduction and repeated use of terms, notations, and classifications which are of questionable value; the relatively brief exposition of concepts, such rts the polaron and exciton, which are unfamiliar to the novice, while such familiar concepta as the difference between a substance snd s. nlaterial are considered in great detail; and considerable speculation by the author ooncerning the structure of certain specific luminescent centers and the mechanism of luminescence in these cases, which is not clearly indicated to be speculation. Other features which detract from the book are the author's style, which is replete with italics and boldface type and makes profuse use of parenthetical remarks; and the difficulty, in spite of extensive indexing, of finding where a specific property of a specific phosphor is dkcarsed in the text. There is 8. wealth of useful and illustrative data on d l the techI~~cHII? inlport~utp l ~ ~ ) s l ~Thh~wr ~arc . 1)l'mentrd in nulucnll~a t x l h iud exvrllrr~tgmplw. Thrrc is also 8 long biblioyrilphy with enqhit.iix the must rerent work on pLlobphom.
~ ro the 1 1 1 0 ~ 1p ~ a ~ I i cd: ~ l. n ~ f i o 0n1 ) s hydrudynnmio~; X I kinctiu lurnnws ilnd flamcholdcr~. 1ncvit:~hlythe), art; I U I I P V C in ~ (IUIIIily; I,ut r l t r r lrllection -c i v r i 3 f.xir mlllrcr~io~l of ullr kll~wlvd~e ill this field. I t should be emphasized that there are no "review" papers in the collection: tho= aro resemoh papers. A stranger to the field will find no connected introduction here. But the worker in this field will find a variety of current viewpoints drawn together in a stimulating, and ocoasionally contradictory, fashion. Every such worker will want this volume, and will feel indebted to the eommittee which saw the Symposium through the press.
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BRYCE
L CRAWFORD, dR.
Un~vrnslTmOF M ~ ~ E S O T & M I P W ~ A P MINNEBOTA OL~
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SUGAR, ITS PRODUCTION, TECHNOLOGY, AND USES
Andrew Van Hock, Professor of Chemishy, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. The Ronald Press Co., New York, 1949. ix 155 pp. 24 figs. 14 tables. 15 X 22 em. $3.
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THE USE OF CHEMICAL TESTS FOR ALCOHOL IN TRAFFIC LAW ENFORCEMENT Glenn C. Forrester, Manager, Intoximeter Association, Niagara Falls, New York. Charles C Thomas, Publisher, Springfield, Illinois, 1950. 91 pp. 2 figs. 14.5 X 22.5 em. $2. Tms little book discusses the problem of alcohol in traffic cases from three points of view. First, the author points out the difficulties in apprehending an alcoholic driver, indicating that other causes can appear as alcoholism. Secondly, he discusses the advisability of setting up a chemical test program showing the advantages in apprehension, for example, and indicating the difficulties with public opinion, eta. Finally, he outlines the legal aspects of a. chemical test program when installed. Forrester recommends the Intoximeter for chemical tests and goes into some detail to explain its use in the hands of the police officer and ultimately in those of the chemical technician. This discussion is accompanied by a diagram of the Intoximeter and au explanation of its mechanism, physical and chemical.
PROFESSOR VAN HOOK'Sbook is addressed to the cultivsted general reader. I t tells in attractive literary form the wonderful story of a substance that everyone likeesugar. I t describes the history of the substance, its chemistry and technology, its commercial and trade aspects, and the utilization of the by-products of the industry. The author has skilfully presented a vast amount of information in a short book that will appeal to a wide audience. I t is very properly a volume in the "Humanizing Science" series that is edited bv Jarrues Cattell.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY James Byrant Conant, President of Harvard University, and Albert Harold Blatt, Professor of Chemistry, Queens College. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1950. ix 413 pp. 14.5 X 2 2 om. $4.
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OF ORGASIC CHEIIISTRY" ''was first planned .'FCSDANESTALS a simplified and abbrcvistrd version of the third edition" oi the well-kuorn "(hmistrv oi Oraanir Com~ouuJs."but "somc thing more than an abridgmentbas req&ed for the type of student" who would use this book. I t is neoeasary for the premedical student, the biology or agriculture major, or, for that matter, the general student to know a good d e d about organic chemistry today. Yet mast colleges schedule only a one-semester course in the subject far these students. What is essential, then, is to present a clear picture of organio chemistry and its ramifiosr tions far the prospective doctors, biologists, or industrialists in the time allotted. The text for this course must be an unusual one. It must not be too long, yet it must cover the important details and give same applications of the subjeot. To this end the authorshave done a superb job. The problems of what to include, and mare important what to exclude, have been expertly handled. The result is a text for a brief course giving the main points, and in addition some excellent chapters on industrial and biological applications of organic chemistry. All this is presented in a most readable style. The brief introduction concerning chemistry is followed by the unconventional first tonic. Alcohols. an order whichis traditional in Conant's books. & have n i t completed a page before the concept of isomerism is introduced and a t once we find ourselves reading about formulas. In the first few chapters the important bases of organic chemistry are introduced. However, all of thisis not forbidding, and the student is not lost. In the second chapter on alkyl halides, various types of bonds are discussed. Here we learn about rates and conditions for chemical rextions. Only now as we go to chapter three and study the saturated hydro-
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THIRD SYMPOSIUM ON COMBUSTION,
FLAME.AND EXPLOSION PHENOMENA Edited by Bernard Lewis, Hoyt C. Hottel, and A. I. Nerad. Published under the auspices of The Standing Committee on Combustion Symposia. The Williams h WilLins Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 1949. xiii 748 pp. 688 figs. 193 tables. 18 X 26 cm. $13.50.
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Tms volume includes 100 papers which were presented at the Symposium held in September, 1948, a t the University of Wie cansin. They are grouped under the following headings: flame stsbilisation and quenching; flame propagation in explosive gas mixtures; flames of fuel jets; ignition of gas mixtures; kinetics and mechanism of combustion reactions; flame spectroscopy and radiation; burning and detonation of explosives; thermodynamies of flame gases and themachemistry; experimental techniques; combustion in engines and rockets; gss burners and furnsces. The numbw of papers, as well as their scope, reflects the increased amount of e5ort being put into this field; publication of the first such Symposium in 1928 took 59 journal pages, publication of the second in 1937-38 took 561, and this third requires its own weighty volume of 748 pages. The field has high scientific fmination and grest practical importance, and the latter has been emphasized by recent wartime developments in explosives and in fuel jets. The papers range from the most elegant theoretical studies in
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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
carbons do we find the Geneva nomenclature. Following the unsaturates is an entire chapter on gt~solineand rubber. There is also the usual listing of aldehydes, ketones, acids, and the remainder of the aliphatic series. A good chapter on stereoisomerism precedes carbohydrates, amino acids, and proteins. The next chapter is a most excellent introductory discussion of biological processes. Here the main and most recent topics of biochemistry are mentioned and explajned. Although only briefly covered-ach one could be a course in itself-the oonoepts serve to introduce the student to future and more advanced work. Five chapters, 80 pages, are devoted to aromatic chemistry. The four chapters, Polynuclear Aromatic Compounds, Alicyclic Compounds and Related Natural Products, Heterocyclic Compounds, and finally Natural and Synthetic Drugs complete the book. Throughout the hook the authors use the technique for emphasis of new words or ideas by means of italic or bold f x e type. The chapters are all subbeaded to permit the student to think in terms of definite units. The entire hook is well cross-referenced, thus avoiding needless repetition. In the entire book the reviewer found only a few points that need comments. Some of these are a matter of opinion or emphasis. For example, one may feel that the section on Directive Influence of Substituents should be in the very first chapter on aromatic compounds rather than in the second one. The only point for correction noticed is that the new svntbetic analgesic . now has the accepted name of .llcllndo,to; it is uo lon~erh w n as .4midorre. One 1 1 s the freling aitar wading this book that ir is well halanced. i t can br rrcomm~nded:IS o w of the best book$ of its kind today. ARTHUR FURST
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THE SCIENTISTS' READY RECKONER
T m s book is a well thought out collection of vdnable tables and constants for the purpose of chemical laboratory calculations. Not only does it wntsin the expected four- and fiveplace log tables, atomic weights, and higher multiples but also molar and equivalent weights are given with their logs so that wasteful leafing through pages is eliminated. This is also true of gravimetric factms and molecular weights. Other useful sections are those containing densities and temperature conversion tables. Any student or analytical laboratory worker will 6nd s copy of the "Ready Reckoner" a calculation time saver.
MODERN SCIENCE TEACHING
Elwood D. Heiss, Professor of Science, New Haven Teachers College, New Haven, Connecticut, Ellsworth S. Obourn, Head of Science Department, John Burroughs High School, Clayton, Missouri, and Charles W. Hoffman, Instructor in Physics and Physical Science, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 462 pp. The M a c d a n Company, New York, 1950. viii 60 figs. 14 X 22cm. $4.50.
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"Modern Science Teaching" is a revision of that excellent teaching aid, "Modern Methods and Materials for Teaching Science." . . ~ ... ~The nurnose of the resent edition is twofold: (1) . . to serve as a textbook for eourws in the methods oi reaching seierrcr and (2) to rrrvr as a source bouk for tmvhers and supvrvisord of srienr~. Th? material in the l,ook Li excrllrnt. The book i.i dividcd into three sections. Section one is devoted to the
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GRETA OPPE
HISTORIA DE LOSELEMENTOS Q U ~ I C O S Mary Elvim Weeks, Del Cuerpo de Investigation de Literatura Cientifica en la Kresge-Hooker Scientific Library, Universidad Wayne. Translated by A. Sanmmb Nicolau, Catedratico Numerario de Institub. Manuel Marin, Provenza 273, Barcelona. 523 pp. Illustrated. 17 X 26 cm. 300 Spain, 1949. xiv Ptas.
HISTORIA DE LOS ELEMENTOS ARTIFICIALES
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science such as science clubs, the science fair, the science museum, nature trails, and the science talent search. Teachers and administrators building new schools and maintaining old laboratories will welcome the layouts of the different types of laboratories for the various sciences including elementary science, the storage space suggestions, and the material on care and purchase of equipment. The third section troxts in detail visual aid and projection equipment of all kinds. There is an excellent chapter on photography and another on the use of community resources in science teaching. The appendix is itself a source book with lists of equipment for all the sciences and sensory aids. The selected references are well chosen and offer further reading to the science educator. These notable authors have written a noteworthy book in the field of science educat,ion.
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W. Roman, Chief Analyst of Petrocarbon, Manchester, England. Dr. W. Junk, Publishers, 13, Van Stolkweg, The Hague, Nether lands-Wm. Dawson 8 Sans, Ltd., 102, Wigmorestreet, London, 142 pp. 16 X 24.5 om. IS/-. England, 1950. viii
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principles of science teaching. Section two considew the pmhlem of science moms and equipment. Section three is concerned with a treatment of visual and other sensory aids used in teaching science. Section one discusses the major no& of science teachins. the methods and techniauea of sei&c~iinstruetion.the selee-
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A. Scmmm; Nicolau, Catedratico Numerario de Fisica y Quimica en hstitutos Nacionales. 117 pp. IIlwtrated.
DR. A. S A N R O NICOLAU, M~ Profesaor of Physical Chemistry at the National Institutes of Spain, has translated into Spanish the "Discovery of the Elements" by Mary Elvira Weeks, Research Associate with the Scientific Library of the Kresge-Hooker Scientific Library. He has also introduced some valuahle enlargements, especially concerning the newer elements. The "Discovery of the Elements" through five editions, the last one in 1945, has reaohed a wide and merited circulation. It is written to show scientifically the uwrk done by the men who discovered the elements. With the aid of biographical notes and selected transcri~tionsfrom orieinal documents the reader comr disvovery prellends the m:fignitudr of the prolrlrmo involved i ~ the of rnch element, :lnd nt rhe wmc timr nmrthinp about the life and per.wnslity of thc scieuti.itd. Tho b w h w 4 t s in very iw teresting and instructive reading. In this Spanish translation Dr. Ssnroms has introduced some additional transcriptions from original documents, particularly in the chapters about Spanish scientists. Dr. Sanrom6 includes also his "Historia de 10s Elementos Artificiales," divided into two parts, with a tats1 of eighteen chapters, following the same general plan of the translated book. The first part, in ten chapters, is 8 description of the process of development of the actual methodsin nuclear reactions. The second part gives the history of the elements 43, 61, 85, 87, 93, 94, 95, 96. Thetranslationof the "Discovery" is a very valuable contribution to Spanish scientific literature. The material on the newer elements contributed by Dr. Sanromh increases the value of this book.
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