An ingenious scheme is given whereby any question with its one t o twenty-four answers may be represented by only one letter. A tabulation of the correct answers to all the questions can be obtained from the author a t Brooklyn College, New York City. The excellent compendium of questions can be used economically by all teachers of general chemistry, and no department can well afford t o be without it. I t is also a valuable study help and guide for poor students as well as exceptional ones. 0. M. SMITH O K L A ~ O ~A, A AND M.COLCBOB SrILLwArEn, os,.*noar*
GERMANaon CHEMISTS. John H. Yoe, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, University of Virginia, and Alfred Burger, Dr.Phi1. (Vienna), Research Assodate in Chemistry, University of Virginia. Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York City, 1938. xiv 537 pp. 15 X 23 cm. $4.50.
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Under whose tutelage should science students be trained t o read professional literature in foreign languages? The modem language departments in our colleges, sua cuique ooluptas, are primarily interested in grammar, linguistics, and helles lettres, their courses are mainly designed t o train teachers of languages. This is hardly the atmosphere in which t o acquire the ability to read scientific literature rapidly, whose factual matter is usually beyond the scientific attainments of the instructor. The reviewer, like many other science teachers, prefers that Caesar's things be rendered unto Caesar, and that German for chemists he taught hy a member of the chemistry staff. What may be lost in neglecting fine grammatical points and so forth, will be more than compensated for by expert understanding of the subject matter. Goad students, after a. little practice and guidance, soon acquire sufficient Sprachgfzihl to carry them over many difficulties. The text under consideration will serve under either of these auspices, hut only rarely will a member of the German department have sufficient chemical knowledge to cope with some parts of the text. This rather advanced material, however, greatly increases the value of the book to the chemist. I n their preface the acthors write, "The student who wishes to read articles in German chemical books or ~eriodicalsshould have a background of at lcau one year and prcferal,ly two years of Grrmm, that is, a cornlrarativrly wide vocnlmlary of common words, a thorou~hknuwlrdge of l
