BOOKS
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topics. With each of his twenty-eight topics a summary is made, which is followed by an average of ten questions. The questions cover the subject-matter quite thoroughly, are good, but are such as the average thoroughly trained teacher of chemistry will ask his classes spontaneously during recitation or a t examination. By this i t is intended to imply that this Guide to Chemistry is applicable more to the use of pupils and insufficiently trained teachers of chemistry than to experienced ones. This is not intended t o detract from the usefulness of the book. There are twenty pages of laboratory exercises, fifty-three of the latter which could serve as an outline of a laboratory course in chemistry in many high schools, and also be useful to a teacher in formulating goad experiments. There are twenty-one pages of examination questions covering eleven examinations, each of these being divided into five groups from each group of which the pupil is supposed to select one or more questions. The relative values of parts of the questions are given an the basis of ten for the whole question. These questions can be of considerable value to all teachers, from the one carrying a teaching load of many subjects in the small high school to the experienced teacher of chemistry in the Guide to Chemistry. S ~ WINSTON, L large high school. All teachers are prone M.A., Boys' High School, Brooklyn, to use stereotyped forms of questions and N. Y. Globe Book Co., New York, this "Guide" will help them to vary both 96 pp. 12.5 X 18.5 cm. the subject-matter and the language of 1923. v Paper cover. Listed a t 34 cents; the question. postpaid 44 cents. The "Guide to Chemistry" condudes with seven pages of model answers. "This book is intended to mide teachers . There is a great deal of material similar and students in a systematic and complete review of elementaw chemistry as taught to that found in the "Guide to Chemistry," to be found in the summaries, questions, in our best secondary schools." The author rightly states that a course and problems a t the close of the chapters in chemistry should consist of numerous of modern high-school texts on chemistry. laboratory experiments performed indi- The reviewer and his colleagues use these vidually; this supplemented by lecture- when occasion arises and time permits. table demonstrations and a study of a t Perhaps the greatest value of this pamleast one standard textbook. His syllabus phlet lies in the fact that the guiding mateof topics conforms sufficiently to those rial of the chemistry textbwks is brought most prevalent in modern high schools. into a single booklet which will fit into teacher's and pupil's side-pocket. UndeniThe same may be said for his sequence of
(2) a longer course, (3) extra labmatory work, and (4) teacher demonstration. Questions are omitted from the lahoratory exercises but precise directions are given for observing results. "Specific instructions are given a t the close of each exercise far writing notes." The instructions are sometimes rather general as in Exercise 9, Hydrogen, page 23, and a t times consist of very specific questions as for Exercise 10, page 25. We doubt whether omitting questions from laboratory exercises, even a t the end, will result in more satisfactory laboratory work or more accurate records as claimed by the author. Our experience with high-school pupils is rather the other way. Much written work is required today in all studies in a modern high school and if the chemistry teacher expects high-grade written work, i t must be reduced to a minimum and answers to specific questions appear to be the most satisfactory for average pupils. We note as excellent features of this manual: many supplementary exercises for pupils and teachers, very clear directions, clear-cut diagrams. It will repay high-school teachers and others to examine this attractive new manual. A. P. MINSART
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ably great usefulness can he attached to "Guide to Chemistry" by many teachers. and by all pupils if they could be induced to follow it. J. HOWARD GRAHAM
A Laboratory Book of Elementary Organic Chemistry. ALEXANDER bwY, Ph.D., professor- of Organic Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, and WILMERE. BALDWIN,M.S., Imtmctor in Organic Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1926. x 182 pp., with 77 figures. 21 X 28 cm. Cloth, net, $3.00.
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This book is arranged to accompany "The Introduction to Organic Chemistry" by Lowy and Harrow and is intended for use in courses in organic chemistry taken by premedical, predental, engineering, and mining students, as well as by chemistry students. The purpose of the book, according to the authors, is "to acquaint the student with the important types of reactions, properties, and relationships of the various classes of compounds." The directions for the various experiments are clear and well written and the drawings of apparatus to be used are unusually attractive. The general make-up of the book is excellent and few errors were noted. The list of experiments is essentially that found in the current laboratory manuals The of elementary organic chemi&. reviewer noted nothing especially new in the types of experiments-chosen or the methods described. On the whole the purpose as stated in the preface is well fulfilled. A number of special features of the book may be noted. The pages are unusually large. Following each experiment is a page of questions so spaced that the answers may be written in. This leaf is perforated and is to be separated from the book and handed to the instructor for correction. At the same time space is left in the body of the directions of the different experiments for recording the student's experimental results. This leaf is not perforated. I t would seem that
this arrangement of two systems of keeping the notes is a clumsy one. Another feature of the book is the large number of illustrations of apparatus which are induded. These are taken from dealers' catalogs of chemical glassware and apparatus. Thus on page 21 are pictured the various types of distilling flasks and fractionating columns and on page 22 we find thirteen condensers of both the laboratory and the industrial types. There is, however, no discussion accompanying them, although some attempt is made to cover this point by means of questions. It seems to the reviewer that these illustrations can be of little value to the student without some discussion of the various types of apparatus and their uses. I n many cases the laboratory apparatus pictured is now considered obsolete in most laboratories and one wonders if this is not true also of some of the industrial types illustrated. Several schematic diagrams of industrial processes are shown as, for example, the refining of petroleum, p. 15, and the manufacture of ethylene, p. 34. The reviewer confesses that he finds difficulty in visualizing industrial processes from diagrams such as these and wonders if they will have any meaning for the student. The large number of illustrations included and the unusual size of the pages are responsible for the relatively high cost of the hook. $3.00. The reviewer does not feel that these special features are of sufficient value to justify the cost. FRED W. UPSON Chemistry. W. H. BARRETT,M.A., Oxford University Press, American Branch, New York, 1927. viii 148 pp. 21 figures. 12 X 18 cm. $1.75.
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"The main ideas behind the 'General Science' movement in schools are the broadening of the basis of school science and the bringing of i t into a closer relation with the facts of everyday life." With this in mind the author has presented some of the more important facts of cbemistry in a manner that should be readily
