JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
50
The chapter on "Chemistry of explosives," by George F Wright of the University of Toronto, is iestrieted to developrnenta in explosives since 1943 or to information released from security regulations since that time. An introduction discusses experimental and calculated heats of explosion, the qualitative estimation of explosive types from the types of bands and different atoms involved. the sensitiveness of emlosives and exolosion
uitroguanidine and derivatives. As one would surmise from the title of the chapter "Reactions of organic gases under pressure,'' by W. E. Hanford of M. W. Kellogg Company and D. E. Sargent of General Aniline and Film Corporation, the emphasis is on industrial reactions and thus the majority of the references are from the patent literature. About onehalf of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of the polymerization of alkenes. The remainder of this section concern8 other reactions of dkenes, oxidation and substitution of alkanes, polymerization of and addition to acetylene, and a brief mention of the reactions of carbon monoxide and dioxide. In the chapter a n "Oxidation processes," William A. Waters of Balliol College, Oxford, considers all of the oxidizing agents of importance to organic chemists. The discussion centers largely on mechanisms of action of the reagents in the course of which the range of applicability of eaoh is delineated. HAROLD A. IDDLES HENRY G. EUIVILA ROBERT E. LYLE 01. NEWEAYPBBIRE UNIVERSITY DORBU. NBWH*YPBBI..
0
ATOMS, MEN AND GOD
Paul E. Sabine. The Philosophical Library, New York, 1953. x
+ 226 pp.
14 X 22.5 cm.
$3.75.
Tm+author of t.hia hook has ~. s, r nrohlem which he thinks mav be ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ a common one among scientists who have not put science in the place of religion in their lives. He states his problem thus: "Can I he intellectually honest in believing what as a Christian I profess to believe and a t the same time accept the teachings of modern science and psychology regarding the nature of man and God in the physical world?" He tries to show evidence of a spiritual evolution paralleliug the verv ~. nrahahle~ nhvsical . . evolution. He savs science and rrligion hxre ' w m m o n pound" in r n q and "comm~mu r i ~ i ~ ill i" the first reactions of primitive m m tuwunl hir en\ironrnent. A pattern of development of wirntifiv thought ia then truwl through seven chapters showing how the findings of modern science, which does not propose to explain first causes, serve to highlight the existence of an Intelligence directing nature. Science is seen from a religious point of view. In the final chapter the author endeavors to look a t Christian faith from a scientific paint of view by regarding it as a "mutation" in the spiritual evolution of man. The historic facts of Christianity, he says, are explained as an "extension of theideaof purposive evolution." In the soul of Jesus "there arose to bumau consciousness an Idea, a. spiritual reality. The expression in one perfect human life of the Idea of God in Mau is hoth natural and supernatural in the same way as are the origins of Life and Mind." As an alternative to a scientific approach to the prohlem "of the antithesis of the natural and the spiritual in the origin of Chi* tianity2' he chooses to examine the Gospels, which accounts he regards as "unfortunately ...tradition and legend." The fourth Gospel he regards as interpretative of events in the life of Jesus in t e r m of the prologue, "In the beginning was the Word(Logos) and the Word was with God and the Word was God....." By an act of rational religious faith, he says, one may identify the creative will of the evolutionary process with the Logos of John's Gospel, hut notes that in the evolutionary Will there are no ~
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ethical or spiritual implications. This act of faith, be says, can regard Jesus either as a perfect man or as the "uniquely divine Son of God." Therefore, he concludes, His teachings may he accepted as any well grounded theory would be. In the future evolution of society, he thinks, the great issue ia whether the unfolding is to be guided by Marxian materialism and Communism or by the ideds of Jesus. This reviewer found some parts not too clear. The following quotations would lead one to wonder what is the author's concept of God, if not the final, ultimate reality. Page 12:". . .we must think of Nature and God, not as two separate existences, hut as two aspects of a single final reality that includes hoth the natural and the divine." Page 216: "If that faith (in a loving Father and s world order ruled by love) should die out in human hearts then the story of the man of Galilee. . .would have to be relegated to the limbo of mvth and outmown sunerstition." 219:('. y. that re&ation (of the free. conscious Self)comes >am ~"~ -~~ only with the mytical yet -&lily ruriorbal experience thkt God wrd the atoms and the human wul 9re on* in essence, a spiritual rrirlity, three expressions of the utliry of the living soul of n liri~rp, universe." On page 212 there is s. misprint of "World" for "Ward" in the quotation from the Fourth Gospel. On the whole, the author seems to recognize that science haa tried to know only the world and remains ignorant of the most important trutha about it. The world is intelligible only in terms of hoth man and God. This understanding be would have strictly rational and scientific. He has accomplished his purpose in that he offers for consideration, to scientilically-minded scholars reared in the Protestant tradition who have s. "will to believe," such a solution of a common problem. He feels that he has offered a t least a detour around some bothersome difficulties, e. g., he gives substantial reasons for having confidence in the teaching of Christ even if one does not believe He is God. Far those who know science, hut have no faith, the book might be an incentive to search further. This in itself would make it well worth the writing. For those who have the gift of faith and who follow the direct road of revelation with no conflicts, Chapters 3 through 7 are a fairly comprehensive survey of the development of scientific thought and theory. Furthermore, they may iind it pleasant to have faith confirmed by science and to find illustrated the fact that truth is one. ~
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SISTER M. CONSILIA HANNAN SAINTJOBJPX COLLBQE WEBTHIBTPORD. CONNECTICUT
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0
GENEAKZ. BIOCHEMISTRY
Joseph S. Fruton and Sofia Simmonds, Rcdessor cd Biochemiahy and Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Miorohiology, respectively, Yale University. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1953. xii + 940 pp. Nustrated. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $10. Tars is a welcome arrival in the field of hioohemiatry. W r i t ten for the graduate student, it treata the subject of biochemistry at an advanced level, yet assumes no previous training in the field. A thorough grounding in chemistry a t the undergraduate level should, however, precede a course in which thirr text is wed. Although written primarily far the graduate student in biology or chemistry it should also serve as an excellent text for a medicalsrhool t,ioehemist~rourae. Thr authors have ,dopted n fresh apl,roseh to the prr*entation of l~iovhnnistrv. Thr first part of the hook is devof~dto an extensive discussion of the stricture and chemistry of the proteins, a subject on which the authors can write with considerable authority. This is fallowed by sections on enzyme chemistry and biological oxibtion. Then came sections on the chemistry and metaholiam of the oarhohydrates and the lipids. The metabolism of proteins and nucleic acids fallows, and the book concludes with a section on the role of inorganic ions, hormones, and vitamins in
JANUARY. 1954
51
metabolism. Quite properly for a text of this kind, the clinical implicatious of biochemistry are kept to a minimum. Recent developments in the field of biochemistry are discussed and recent references are cited. For example, the literature on a-lipoic acid iis reviewed to September, 1952. The recent developments are placed in a. proper perspective by a judicioua use of historieal material. For example, the authors lead up to a discussion of the chemical nature of enzymes with a. historical introduction in which work of van Helmont, R&aumur, Liebig, Berzelius, and others is discussed and which includes a statement by M. Traube indicating that he viewed enzymes as proteins as early as 1858. The reviewer queations whether some of the material which is included might not have been omitted. Considering that this text was written for the mature student, the materid on equilibrium and thermodynamics in Chapter 9 could have heen shore ened and covered by a reference to a standard text on the subject. Also it was surprising to find on page 22 an elementary discussion of the meaning of pH-surely not needed in a book for the graduate student. An impartant feature of this text is the inclusion of many references. some of these me to original papers--particular$ those which have appeared within recent years. In addition there are many references to review articles. The text is written in s. lucid and pleasing style and appears to he remarkably free from errors. This hook should prove to be an excellent text for graduate students in biochemistry and a. ready reference work for all who are working actively in the field of biochemistry. ARTHUR H. LIVERMORE REBDC O L L ~ ~ E P o n r ~ m oO . nnao~
book. To illustrate, he describes in detail eleven technique; for the estimation of alefinic unsaturation and in shstract farm autlinesnine more. Although the detailed techniques are not new in concept, recent modifications of the older methods are included. For example, among the procedures given for determining the bromine number of an alefin are included three modified procedures from the recent literature. As a further example, the new sensitive Schwarzenbsch and Wittwer (1947) modification of the Kurt Meyer method is referred to among alder methods for determining en01 content. When they are available, completely new procedures are added to the older ones. For the determination of active hydrogen the Zerewitinofl method on both a macro and amicro scale is described, but, in addition, detailed directions are given for the recently developed determination using lithium J. E. JOHNSON, AND H. W. aluminum hydride [J. A. KRYNITSKY, CARHART (1948)l. In addition to the table of contents, subject index, and author index, each section of the present volume is preceded by m outline of the methods to be discussed, which adds to the convenience of the user. The volume ie remarkably free of typographical errors. In view of the fact that the book is essentially aimed at the research worker, the author's inclusion of a common method for determining liquid densities or, far example, descriptions of the use of the Abbe and the Pulfrieh refractometer has puaeled this reviewer. Anyone unfmdisr with the use of rt refmetometer is not likely to be sufficiently enlightened by the present descriptions. The above is minor criticism indeed of a careful, thorough, u p iodate treatment of those aspects of organic analysis which fall within the scope of the author's intentions. The book will make a useful addition as reference work to the libraries of d l those who, in widely diversilied fields, are doing research with organic compounds. FRANCES BERLINER
ESTIMATION OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
BRVNM ~ w COI,LE~= a Bnrn Mhwa. P m ~ a n v m r ~
F. Wild, Fellow of Dawning College, TJniversity of Cambridge. Cambzidge University Press, New York, 1953. vii 29 figs. 14.5 X 22.5 cm. $5.
+ 239 pp.
DR. WILD has now produced a book dealing with methods for the quantitative determination of functional groups in organic molecules as a companion volume to his "Charttcterisation of Organic Compounds," which was published in 1947 and dealt with the qualitative aspects of organic analysis. The present volume appeared in May of this year and in great detail discusses quantitative methods (both macro and micro) of estimation of the groups: olefinic double band, alcoholic, enolio, and phenolic hydroxyl (with additional specific procedures far methanol), thiol, the earbonyl group in aldehydes and ketones (including special methods for formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, bensaldehyde, acetone, and methyl ethyl ketone), amino, nitro, cyano, nitroso, isocyano, isothiocyano, acetyl, bensoyl, methoxyl, etboxyl, propoxyl, hutoxyl, methyl and ethylimiuo, methyl and ethyl groups attached to sulfur, and methyl groups attached to carbon. As with the previous volume, this work is of greatest vdue far the research worker and is of more limited use to a beginning student. Although many procedures are described in detail, the thoroughness of Dr. Wild's approach to those groups which he has chosen to include has necessitated his presenting the less widely applicable methods in abstract form. However, the entire book is copiously documented, so that any lack of detail works no hardship on those using it. The chemical, biologiod, medical, pharmacological, agricultural, and food technological literature has been consulted through 1951. The author indicates in his preface to the book that one of his a i m is to bring to the general attention many of the new improved laboratory techniques which are rarely mentioned in te& hooks of organic chemistry, and which "remain unnoticed and untried; although often they would give better results." He fulfills this aim, and preaents a much more comprehensive survey of zvailable techniques than is presented in the usual laboratory
DATA FOR X-RAY ANALYSIS Volume 1: W. P a r i s h and B. W. Irwin, Philips Lahoratories, Inc., Imington-on-Hudson, New York. 100 pp. Volume 11: W. Parish, M. G. Eckstein, and B. W. I d , Philips Laboratories, Inc. 82 pp. Philipe Technical Library, North American Philips Co., Inc. 21.5 X 30 om. Paper hound. $2 per volume. THE?harts in Volum~I give graplli~ltlS O I U I ~ O ~ SU) 111e Brngg rquntiun. A = 2d ain 8. 1 ' 1 ~ymrhg d is plolrrd 11" x funrtiou (,I e and 28 in the ranee of 0 iron1 0' to 90" lor thr Kn.. Ko, a d Kn. wave lengths of m&ybdenum, copper, cob&, iron, and chromium. Routine cslculations in ~owderdiffraction malvsis mav rhue he simplitird *iwr rlie rpwky d may I,r ulminrd dirwtly f n m tlw vluxrrr, onw tlw arrlur d B lint I,rrn fwunrl from memtrements on the film. These charts are intended primarily for identification of powder samples from X-ray diffraction data, since it is not possible to use them with sufficient accuracy for the precise determination of lattice constants. Volume I1 contains tables for use in precise calculation of the lattice constant of cubic crystals. The tables consirrt of values of .\/ha kP t l2 for each reflection hkl for the Ka,Ka,, and Kaz wave lengths of copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, and chromium. From the experimentdly obtained d u e s of 0 for each reflection, sin e ie found from some good book of tablea and then the cubic cell length is found from ~
+
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o =
p + p + p
. h2- .-sin1d
The values of a thus obtained may be plotted against some function of 0, two of which are tabulated in this volume, and then extrapolated to 0 = 90° to give a precise value of the cell constant. The tables are attractively laid out and are easy to read.
