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years have been put out for the use of students doing their second year of college chemistry. If this appraisal is just it is certain &at the h&k cannot -he used effectively with heterogeneously composed groups. It is much more likely to fit in where through selection the class is composed of students who have more than ordinary backgrounds in mathematics and physical science and who a t the same time possess mental maturity of the sort which engenders real interest in the philosophical aspects of things. These considerations, together with the comprehensiveness of the materials offered, would seem to make a use of the term pandemic quite inapplicable; panckemic might he a more accurately characterizing word. Aside from all comments such as the above the fact remains that the hook does organize the funhmentals of chemistry in a different way which not only is refreshing, but which should exert an influence upon textbook writing in the future. Every teacher of chemistry should read it with interest, whether or not he may find it suitable for classrcom use.
F ~ s n v m 1931 .
of questions without final answers. T h e improvements over the &st edition consist of a much enlarged section on organic chemistry, the introduction of more historical and descriptive material, and a revision and simplification of the treatment of a number of topics. The appendix, in the form of a tabular summary of properties of inorganic cornpounds, is a noteworthy addition in itself. Written specifically far the student who has had a high-school course in chemistry, it is not given to the use of artificial means of stimulating interest; there are no "trick" ways of solving problems. On the contrary, it pays the student the compliment of assuming him to have a measure of common sense and healthy good judgment. Its treatment of theoretical topics is sound and, an the whole, simple and interesting. Many readers will miss the wealth of illustrations which are to be found in most modern textbooks; some will feel relieved st this omission. More diagrams and line drawings might have helped in places. The second edition contains more of these than did the 6rst and those which do 0.F.STAETORD appear are pertinent and well chosen. UNIVBRUTY 0. ORBCON Its treatment of the kinetic-molecular EUOBNE, OBBGON behavior of gases, as well as the properties General Chemistry. H. I. SCHLESINGER,and structure of liquids and solids, is Second edi- especially strong. University of Chicago. The mathematical tion, Longmans, Green and Co., New relations have been emphasized here, as York City, 1930. xi f 847 pp. 47 elsewhere, to a sufficient extent to make figs. 14 X 20.5 em. $1.00. the student realize the value of matheMost teachers of chemistry are aware matics as a tool in chemistry. In an excellent chapter on ionization that we are on the eve of a revolution in the methods of teaching the science. the modern theory of complete dissociaThis hook foreshadows that event, not tion of strong electrolytes is fitted in so smoothly that one does not recognize so much in radical departures in its own make-up as in its implications, in the it as a recent development. This skilful suggestions which may be read between transition of the recent into the orthodox the lines, and in its fmad-looking points is characteristic. One muld wish that the same had been true to a larger exof view. The second edition has adhered to the tent in dealing with recent developments fundamental policy of the first in furnish- in atomic structure. The author missed ing students who have studied elementary an opportunity to do the same with chemistry in the high school a diffemt simple quantum concepts and spectrum approach to the subject and in pre- farmation by atomic radiation. Several points of specifc interest might senting i t as a growing science, s t i l l full
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be noted: a good discussion of hydrates, with their logical relation to complex compounds in general; a dropping of the term "water of crystallization," and a partial (unfortunately not complete!) submergence of those two old bogeys, "efflorescence" and "deliquescence"; a thoroughly up-to-date discussion of isotopes, with recent additions to the list; an excellent treatment of the topic of molecular and atomic weights. On the 0th- hand. a rather unsatisfactory section on supersaturation mars an otherwise good chapter on S0lutions; the handling of hydrolysis seems needlessly cumbersome; the introduction of the important subject of valence as a subsidiary to the discussion of hydrogen does not seem to give i t sufficient emphasis. Without a doubt, the book should prove useful to teachers who do not want to introduce radically new methods and sequences but who wish to take full advantage of modern progress.
mental side of things and states a number of the important conclusions in a way that can be understood without a knowledge of the mathematics of waves or matrices. The book represents the substance of lectures delivered a t Cornell on the George Fisher Baker non-resident lectureship. 1, the words of the author usthey are an attempt to state the principles and applimtions of the new wave mechanics in so far as these concern electrons not forming part of an atom, using the minimum of mathematics. This is the more important as i t seems likely that the method of electron diffraction will find many applications in the neat few years in physics and perhaps also in investigations commercial interest: The hook opens with three chapters on the general theory of waves, de Broglie's wave mechanics and the theory of wave diffraction by crystals. These are brief and exceptionally clear, and may he recommended to any one who wishes to NORRISW. RAKESTRAW make his first plunge into the new physics Bx-OWNU N I V & ~ ~ ~ Y and is not afraid of elementary calculus. PaovrolNcs, R. I. There follows an excellent presentation of the experimental evidence for the wave Wave Mechanics of Free Electrons. nature of electrons. This is a subject G. P. THOMSON, Professor of Natural on which Professor Thomson is parPhilosophy, University of Aherdeen. ticularly qualified to write since he is one McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., of the chief contributors to it. Following New York City, 1930. 172 pp. 53 several chapters which take up special figures. 15 X 23 em. 8.50. cases of the interaction of electron streams Although the subject of wave me- and matter, the book eoneludes with a chanics promises to he of such great description of the application of electron interest and significance to chemistry, diffraction to the study of physical it has so far been a field into which only a problems such as adsorbed gas films, solid h s , and polycrystalline surface very few chemists have dared venture. I n perusing the dozen or so books which layers. The large number of plates which have been written on wave or quantum mechanics the average reader soon finds illustrate the nature of the effectsobtained himself rather hopelessly lost in a bog with electron beams, add greatly to the of mathematics, and he is apt to feel that interest of the book and emphasize the the gulf between the very theoretical reality of the results. The line drawings physics and the very real test-tube of apparatus and crystal structure also chemistry is one that cannot be bridged amplify the text in a way that makes the for some time to come. It is therefore line of thought unusually easy to follow. cheering to find a book like Professor A reading, either hurried or careful as Thomsan's which emphasizes the experi- the time permits, ought to repay any one
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