RECENT BOOKS [GUIDE m Sown FILM.] "Sourn."
For use with the educational sound pictures. "Sound Waves and Their Sources" and "Fundamentals of Acoustics." By the Educational Resprch Staff of Erpi Picture Consultants, New York City, in collaboration with H a m y B. Lemon and Hnmann I. SchZeringer, The University of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 1934. iv 39 pp. 11 figs. 14 X 20 cm. W.35.
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The booklet is a study guide to aid the teacher in preparing the class before the showing of the film which is to he used with it. It may also he used to advantage as a guide or outline for the preparation of an exploratory quiz or for a discussion before the film has been shown. A list of eighteen specific objectives is followed by six pages of informational material which is intended as preparation far the material of the films. A short topical outline of study materials is followed by two pages of suggestions on the best methods of using the films and of coordinating the materials presented in the guide. Twelve pages of material explanatory to various portions of the film are given for each film. In addition, numerous footnotes assist in making clear the material given in the films and in the study guide. Two pages of study references complete the booklet. This study guide is the third in the series of booklets prepared by the authors. ["Energy and Its Transformations" and "Electrostatics" were described in %s JOURNAL, 11, 128 (Feb., 1934).] Like the others of the series, this hwklethas been very carefully prepared. I n remarkably clear and understandable language the authors desnihe and explain the important experiments, charts, and diagrams shown in the picture or in the study guide. Since the teacher will ordinarily not have seen the film (before it is shown before the class) these clearcut explanations are absolutely indispensable preparing the class for the showine The booklet can also he " of the a m . used to great advantage in guiding discussion afler the showing of the film, and all teachers of physics will find it a most valuable aid in taching thc fundamentals of wund and acoustics. J. 0. FRANK C l n c m s ~ xaox ~ BEGINNERS.E. J. Holmyard, Clifton College, Bristol, England. J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1934. x 223 pp. 8 plates and 62 figs. 13 X 19 cm. $1.00.
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This volume is one of Dent's Modern Sdeuce Series under the editorship of Prof. Holmyard. and was f i s t published in 1930. In the introduction, the author states that his purpose is to introduce beginners to chemistry and to "prepare them for the more serious progress represented by a &ool certificate course." W i l e this little book is designed particularly for students in England, it has a much broader field. In particular it should he one of the choice companions of every teacher of elementary chemistry. With his rich background of knowledge and experience, Prof. Holmyard presents with authority an informal and sympathetic yet exceedingly interesting introduction to chemistry. In each chapter the descriptive material is followed in order by directions for experimentation, a summary, a set of searching questions, and a list of additiouai demonstrations with notes for the teacher. An example of the last-named division (No. 3, p. 168) is, "Show the action of the three mineral acids on a piece of cloth. The old story of the man who fell into a vat of boiling sulfuric acid and was dissolved is worth telling as a horrible warning." (The reviewer cannot resist the temptation to include an American postscript to the effect that the sulfuric acid was marked "high in phosphorus" before being sold to the trade). The titles of the 10 chapters are as follows: 1. The Chemical Laboratory; 2. Chemical Changes, Mixtures and Compounds; 3. Combustion orBurning; 4. Oxygen; 5. Hydrogen; 6. Formulas and Equations; 7. Water; 8. Acids. Bases, and Salts; 9, Carbon Dioxide; 10. The Air.
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The chemical picture of plant and animal growth is excellent. as is the discussion of atoms, molecules, formulas, and chemical philosophy. The treatment however, is conservative. The American reader finds refreshment in such terms as "clock glass" far "watch glass" and "church warden pipe" for "clay pipe." And, looking through English bin&, we hesitate to demand expansion of (1) the statement (p. 94) that the commercial sources of hydrogen are limited to (a) steam plus red-hot iron, and (b) the electrolysis of water, or (2) the statement on page 83 that "soap is made by boiling mutton fat with a solution of caustic soda." Many unique and useful demonstration experiments are included, and the entire book is enlivened by anecdotes of famous chemists. The following quotations will indicate the author's very human approach: "The writer reerets - to sav that. seeine this eweriment in ororress one day, he frivolously and surreptitiously added some hydrogen to the oxygen in the tube. The master who afterwards tested the gas ~ i t h a glowing splint abrained a quite unexpected result." "It is an inexcusable mistake to say that plants 'breathe in' carbon dioxide and 'breathe out' oxygen. Such a statement is equivalent to saying that a man 'breathes in' roast beef and Yorkshire pudding." "Even those of us who have been teachinr chemistnr for more years than we care to remember, feel the same thrill of excitement in watching thc sodium dart about a n the water, that made the chemistry lesson something.to look forward to when we ourselves were boys a t school." R. A. BAKER Tan COLLBGE OR TBB GIN w Nnw YORE
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T~momnrsar. John W&hm Baker. D.Sc., Ph.D., A.R.C.S., F.I.C.. Lecturer in Organic Chemistry in the University of Leeds. D. Van Nostrand Company. Inc., New York C i e , 1934. viii 332 pp. 13.5.X 21.5 cm. $9.00.
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This book is not what its title might seem to i m p l y a n exhaustive review of tautomeric phenomena and theories relating to them. It is an application of the terminology and symbolism of Ingold, Lapworth, Robinson, et al., to a general discussion of tautomerism. The author states in his preface' that "in attempting to deal with theories which are in such a fluid state of development, it has been considered desirable to adopt a single-minded viewpoint in order to maintain a continuity of argument throughout this monograph." The result has been that the tail tends to wag the dog. A considerable amount of preliminary spadework on the Ingald theories is done before the author makes a serious attack on his ostensible subject. Throughout the monograph there are frequent digressionsfrom tautomerism for the purpose of discussing or e x t e n d i i the Ingold theories. A fourteen-page appendix by Professor Ingold himself concludes the volume. The reader interested in tautomerism per sc will scarcely find the monograph a convenient or comprehensive reference work. and the terminology will probably impress him as hoth cumbersome and obscure. On the other hand the reader who is primarily concerned with organic theories and who is already familiar with the Ingold terminology or is willing to make a serious &ort to understand it will find the hook interesting, though hardly light, reading. One could wish that somewhat greater stress had been laid upon comparisons between individual members of series of compounds. Thus, while hoth acetyl acetone and benzoyl acetone are mentioned in connection with keta-end tautomerism no comment is made upon their respective degrees of enoliratioo, and dibemogl methane is not wen discussed. OTTOREINMUTH ~~~
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