Gould, Robert F. - ACS Publications - American Chemical Society

The College of Wooster. Wooder, Ohio 44681. Dietary Chemicals vr. Dental Caries. Advances in Chemistry Series no. 94. Edited by Robert F. Gould. Based...
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book reviews cloning, and division and fusion. The second new ehzpter is devoted to antibody synthesis and includes discussions on the origin of antibody chains, specificity, site of antibody synthesis, and immunological tolerance, among other topics. The text is easily readable and is well illustrated. It contains a glossary of terms often encountered in molecnlar biology, thus making it very useful for the beginning student. Each chapter contains a list of general references which further increase the usefulness of the hook. In summary, the second edition of "Molecular Biology of the Gene" is an excellent attempt to present the newest topics in the emerging area of molecular biology, and in related areas, in an easyto-read and easy-ta-understand format. I t would be a valusblble addition to the library of any individual interested in these areas. CHARLESL. BORDERS, JR. The College of Wooster Wooder, Ohio 44681

Dietary Chemicals vr. Dental Caries. Advances in Chemistry Series no. 94

Edited by Robert F. Gould. Based on a symposium sponsored by the Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division at the 1966 Winter Meeting of the American Chemical Society. American Chemical Society, Washington, 1). C., 186 pp. Figs. and tables. 1970. vi 23.5 X 16cm. $9.

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Few sufferers from dental caries realize the complexity of the processes involved in its production. Each individual carious lesion represents an individual event. This is so because caries results from the interaction of the surface of a. tooth whose farm and composition were determined by the metabolic state of the bearer of the tooth a t the time of its formation with the particular fluids, foods, and bacteria present in the mouth at the time the lesion forms. Dietary factors while the toothis forming are thus of importance, since they determine the chemical composition and morphological structure of the tooth. Even more important are the local factors a t the tooth surface when the attack begins. These factors are the subject of this book. I t contains the papers presented a t a symposium held in 1966, hut they have been updated to early or mid-1970 and therefore present rtn excellent overview of the present state of this field. The authors are all authorities in their subjects. The papers discuss the effects of types of foods, vitamins, antibiotics, organic compounds, fluorides, calcium, phosphorus, and various trace minerals. all factors which have been shown either to reduce or increase the amount of caries or the rate of its production. The emphasis throughout is on the chemistry and biochemistry of the pracesses considered. The book serves as an excellent introduction to and general picture of the subject for a non-dental

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Journal of Chemical Education

scientist, while the extensive references open the whole field to anyone interested in going more deeply into the matters. If the book does nothing else, it reveals the great number of factors involved in this, the commonest disease of modern man. HENRYM. LEICESTXR SehDol of Dentistry University of the Pacific San Francisco, Calif.

Physics Demonstration Volumes I and 11

Experiments.

Edited by Harry F. Meinera. The Ronald Press Co., New York, 1970. 1493 pp. Figs. and tables. 28 X 21 cm. $30. Editor Meiners, owdirector Robert Resnick, a committee of six physicists and a considerable staff have produced a work that is encyclopaedic both in scope and in physical dimensions. The major part comprises over 1200 journal-sized pages describing s multitude of demonstrations involving concepts drawn from all areas of physics and of widely varying degrees of sophistication. The apparatus needed ranges from (literally) household csst-offs to some requiring s. considerable amount of careful construction. Full details for the fabrication of the mare complicated devices are provided, wisely, as an appendix. In compiling these volumes, the editor visited over 100 institutions in the USA, and others overseas. The existing literature and commercial equipment was surveyed. Given the comprehensive nature of the work, one imagines thst any teacher who uses physics demonstrations for classes at any level will want to have a copy available. Some lecturers will use these demonstrations a7 a point of departure for their own ingenious modifications. Others of us will be glad enough to have the kind of cook book we would not prescribe for our students. Even the latter group has an outlet far the imagination, however, for each demonstrittion must be integrated into the rest of the presentation. The teacher must find wavs to brine out rhc ron..rl.rs the exprriment is suppoivd to illuitrnlr liwe the dewripti, n- d !he euperlment>l u r e little toaby In.1 the bmrk opens with a series of essays directed to the purposes and methods of the lecture demonstration. This section presents many stimulating suggestions and by no means a unified point of view. Eric Rogers, in a careful discussion d different goals for demonstrations suggests the value of same experiments simple enough to be taken home. Gerald Holton, also advocating a departure from the "special" nature of most demonstration equipment, suggests the occasional showing of real, working research apparatus, even though the hesio physical concepts may not be so readily exposed. Sir Lawrence Bragg describes the long tradition at the Royal Institution of very carefully prepared lectures using special demonstrations built by a highly skilled staff.

The book is completed by s. series of essays on special techniques such as films, closed circuit television, shadow and overhead projection and stroboscopio effects. These articles and those on purposes should have an interest far beyond the physics community. Two quibbles might he made. I t was decided to omit experiments described in an earlier A. A. P . T. compilation, "Demonstrstion Experiments in Physics" (R. M. Sutton, editor; McGraw-Hill, New York, 1938) unless "significant modifications were made since publication in 1938." Since Sutton's book is now out of print same experiments of interest (perhaps the simplest have aged best) will not be avsilable to many readers. Components have often been specified as the particulsr product used by the institution that developed the apparatus. In the case of experiments designed overseas that usudly means products which may be difficult or impossible for an American purchsser to obtain. Such readers would find a designation of s. suitable domestic product very helpful. The experiments me illustrated by photographs and line drawings. It appears thst these and the instructions are clear and complete enough to enable the teacher to reproduce the equipment. That particular pudding, however, this reviewer has not yet had time to prove. These two volumes will doubtless prove indispensible to the physics teacher. Chemists will find the general essays and the experiments in the Heat and Atomic Physics sections of interest and use. Perhaps they will also take to their armchairs, leaf through the volumes and enjoy the enduring aesthetic appeal of a. neat experiment. CHRISTOPHER L. BOUNDS Department of Physics College o j Wooster Wooster, Ohio 44681

John Dalton and the Atom

Frank Greenaway, Science Museum, Kensington, London. Cornell University Press, Ithics, N. Y., 1966. viii 244 pp. Figs. 14 X 21 cm. $7.50.

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(48. A118, Recently THIS JOURNAL (1971)) carried a review of Elizabeth Patterson's "John Dalton and the Atomic Theory" (1970), whose title is practically identical with that of the book presently under review. Obviously these books duplicate much of the material but in the broad sense they supplement each other sinoe the Patterson book deals with the human side of Dalton predominantly, whereas the somewhat older Greenaway volume stresses pmticularly the chemical and philosophical sspects of his achievements. However, Greenaway in 1958-59 had already published "The Biographical Approach to John Dalton" and obviously saw no need to repeat himself unduly. The Prtttersan hook was directed at the general reader while Greenaway was in (Catinued a page A788)