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NEW BOOKS
NEW BOOKS
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Glass, the Miracle Maker. B y C . J . Phillips. 6f x 9f in.; xii 424 pp.; 207 figures; 40 tables. Xew York: Pitman Publishing Corporation, 1941. Price: $4.50. The author of this book is a physicist with experience in both the scientific and the sales departments of Corning Glass Works, and also on the lecture platform. This background has enabled him to write a popular book which treats of the history, properties, manufacture, and uses of glass in an easy and readable style, and is free from the many technical inaccuracies which mar many popular books. The first chapter deals with the history of glass, and the second is a general discussion of its nature and properties. The third chapter gives a more detailed treatmentof the constitution and chemistry and the next two discuss the properties of glass. These three are the only technical chapters, and they are the most open to criticism in the choice of material and the placing of emphasis. The Presentation of the chemistry and physics of glass in non-technical language in less than hundred pages is a formidable task which the author has done well. The remaining chapters, dealng with the manufacture and uses of glass, are well and entertainingly written and contain much material not elsewhere easily accessible. This book can be recommended to both the technical and the non-technical reader. GEORQEW. MOREY.
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Optical Methods of Chemzcal Analysis. By T . R. P. GIBB, JR. 6 x 9 in.; xiv 391 pp.; 300 figures. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1942. Price: $5.00. This book is intended to serve the practical analyst and the advanced student in analytical chemistry. “The author has emphasized the design and manipulation of instruments rather than the theoretical aspects of the subject, but has endeavored to present whatever theoretical considerations are necessary for intelligent application of the method discussed.” As far as the design and manipulation of the various instruments are concerned, the author has succeeded in giving a concise and, quite generally, an up-to-date discussion, the reading and understanding of which are facilitated by a great number of photographs and diagrams. The book should be of good use to the practical analyst. It is a matter of debate whether the book will be a success as a text in a course on optical methods in analytical chemistry (we are dealing with optical analysis and not with chemical analysis, as the title states). Many teachers of such a course aim a t making the students acquainted with the various instruments available; to them the book will be a great asset. Other teachers, and the reviewer belongs to this group, aim a t giving advanced courses which are balanced as regards theory and its practical applications. Sucha kindof course seems more stimulating to the student and i t opens the path for further scientific development of the field. For such a course the present book is not satisfactory in all respects. The eight chapters in the book deal with the following topics: spectrochemical analysis; the spectrophotometer; the colorimeter, turbidimeter, nephelometer, and fluorophotometer; the microscope, elementary crystallography; the polarizing microscope; the refractometer and the polariscope. Chaptem IV, V, and VI, dealing with the microscope and its applications and occupying about one hundred forty pages of the book, are very suitable aa an introduction to chemical microscopy and the use of the polarizing microscope in particular. Excellent references to monographs and the literature are found a t the end of each chapter. The problems before the references are well chosen. In the discussion of the effect of monochromaticity on transmission (page 94) measurement, the author could have mentioned that in several cases the apparent failure of Beer’s law is due to the fact that the light used is not monochromatic. Problem 8 on page 178 is ambiguous, and any answer may be correct. I n the chapter on refractometry the interferometer might have been described. The print and appearance of the book are excellent, and it is a valuable addition to the literature of analytical chemistry.
I. M. KOLTHOFF.
