interest by the readers of this one. I t is to be hoped, however. that the new volumes will contain much more discussion of the validity of some of the fundamental equations, and of the sign& cance of some of the newly defined variables. Final judgment of the whole method of attack will depend not only upon its success in correlating experimental facts but also upon adequate justification of the equations, some of which are presented in this Book of Principles without proof and with but little argument. This first book is not in itself either complete or convincing. T . F. YOUNG UNIYBRSITY 0 s
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"When America was discovered by the Spaniards they found the natives using primitive rubber articles, balls, shoes, etc. The natives even seem to have succeeded in vulcanizing them. by adding occasionally sulphur or gunpowder t o the latex." I wonder where the natives obtained their gunpowder before the Spanish discovered America.
HENLEY'STWENTIETHCENTURYBOOK OF TEN THOUSAND FORMULAS,PROCESSESAND TRADESECRETS. Edited by Gardner D. Hiscox, M.E. 1937 Revised and Enlarged Edition by Prof. T. O'Connor Sloane, Ph.D. The Norman W. Henley Publishing Company, New York City. ii 923 pp. 14 X 22 cm. $4.00.
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GENERAL CHEMISTRYa o ~COLLEGES(REVISED). B. Smith Hopkins. Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in the University of Illinois. D. C. Heath and Company. Boston. 1937. 758 pp. 58 tables. 264 figs. 15 X 22.3 cm. $3.72 (List Price). This handy reference work is too well known to require deLABORATORY EXERCISESAND PROBLEMS IN GENERAL CKENtailed description. For many years HENLEY'S TWENTIETH ISTRY. B. Smilh Hopkins, Professor of Chemistry, University FORMULA BOOKhas been a standard book of formulas. CENTURY of IUinois, and M. 3. Copley, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Illinois. Third edition. D. C. Heath and processes, and recipes. I t is intended for theuseof anyone having Company, Boston, 1937. 243 pp. 29 figs. 16.5 X 24 cm. the remotest connection with a laboratory, workshop, or kitchen. More than ten thousand formulas are offered. $1.76 (List Price). The new edition is the ninth revision, and much new material The new edition of this well-known text has been thoroughly has been added. New special features are a classified buyer's revised. both in organization and content. The treatment of guide, and a glossary of chemical terms with their corresponding atomic structure has been moved up t o the second chapter, and common names. this is followed immediately by a discussion of the periodic table. Many chapters of the book have been enlarged and thoroughly In the preface the author states, "The great advantage of this revised to bring them up to date. This is particularly true of order of presentation is that it furnishes a more logical and more the sections on Adhesives, Cosmetics, Lacquers, Paints, Photogcomprehendible approach t o the difficult subject of valence." ranhv. Po1ishe.s =-, , and . .-~ A new chapter has been added on electrochemistry. The Numerous formulas and processes of questionable merit of the theory of solutions is presented from the modern point of view previous edition have been discarded. However, it is the humble but in non-mathematical form. New topics, new illustrations. opinion of the reviewer that the editor did not go quite far enough and new references are used throughout t o modernize the text. in this direction, as some obviously obsolete and &less material Dr. Hapkins makes the significant observation, "It is still evident has unfortunately escaped his surveillance. The few pages on that the first essential in teaching chemistry is to create interest." Pyrotechnic Magic should unquestionably be omitted in the I n this third edition of the LABORATORY EXERCISES there are interest of human safety. Biting off a piece of red-hot iron hy one hundred nine experiments under parts one and two, and one "grasping the broken end in your teeth, being careful not t o let hundred fifty problems under the section headed "Chemical it touch your lips or tongue," or lowering a flaming candle wick Arithmetic." The bindine of the laboratom manual oermits the saturated with kerosene in the mouth, "while exhaling the ready removal of the blank pages a n which the student records breath freely." seems like a sure fire method of obtaining major hir observations. Roth the teit and thc manunl show the carc- injuries for anyone sufficiently foolhardy or gullible to attempt ful attention to detail that is characteristic of Dr. Hopkins' these "miracle" effects. teaching. Despite these abjections, the book contains enough valuable
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data to make it a worth-while addition to any laboratory or work
THEC m s n s m y oa RUBBER. H. Frcundlich. The Chemical Publishing Company, New York City. 1936. xi f 73 pp. 10 X 16.5 cm. $1.25. The name is entirely t w short for such a little book. The title would be more descriptive of the contents if i t were "Some Problems in the Colloidal Chemistry of Rubber." The book is not critical. It merely sets forth observations by various investigators and the deductions drawn therefrom. Where there are differences of opinion, both sides of the controversy are treated impartially. The colloidal problems of rubber latex are treated separately from those of coagulated rubber, as, of course, they should be. This appears to be the best section of the book. The X-ray studies of rubber are reviewed. as is the Joule effect in comparative detail. A third section of the book is devoted t o botany and history of rubber. I t is distressingly short. The book would certainly be of interest and value t o highschool students as an accessory to general readimg in the field of chemistry, but scarcely as a text, since organic chemical considerations and technological practices are almost completely absent. The data is far from up-to-date or novel and in some cases slightly inaccurate. The following two sentences under the heading "Some Historical Remarks" will exemplify this last statement.
LABORATORY MANUALIN CHEMISTRY. R. E. Horton, Seward Park High School, New York City. D. C. Heath and Company, New York City, 1937. xi f 99 pp. 42 figs. 14 X 20.5 I n his preface the author states he is providing, by demonstrations and individual laboratory exercises, a program of activities which will teach the understandina of chemical orinci~lesthrouxh the observation of facts, and a t the same time givi training& scientific methods. The b w k contains introductory exercises in the use of laboratory equipment and in glass working, followed by one hundred thirty-one experiments and fifty-five projects. The experiments and projects cover a wide field of information and give opportunity to learn much laboratory technic. They are conveniently grouped into a set of general tests, tests for food preservatives and adulterants, cleaning and sanitation, study of textiles, inks, and dyes, and some chemical processes and products of daily life. The directions are in general clear and concise. Occasionally one meets vagueness, which should not he found in high-school experiments as, "Heat same copper turnings with some moder-
