RECENT BOOKS CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY. W. L. Badger, Manager, Consulting Engineering Division, The Dow Chemical Company, and E. M. Boker, Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan. Second Edition. McGraw-Hill Book 237 pp. 58 figs. Company, Inc., New York City, 1941. xi 15 X 23 cm. $2.50. The first edition of this book ameared in 1928. with 228 . Daees .. of text and ;vl figures. The authors state that about a third of the tllustrations in thc present edittun are new and that nnlclt of thc text hai hem rewritten. It is strongly cmphnsired in the preface that the hook is a textbook, nor a handbook. This emphasis is scarcely nccded, for the new edition, following the plan of the first edition, covers only a very small part of the broad field of inorganic chemical technology. It appears to the present reviewer that the book might well be twice its present size without danger of being considered a handbook, and with a considerable increase in its usefulness as a textbook. The authors state that the reason for the new edition is that much of the practice described in the first edition is obsolete. The present reviewer would add that some parts of the new edition describe practices which are as obsolete as a dodo's egg. Figure 27 and Figure 28 and the accompanying text are examples of this. and manv others mieht he cited. The author; modestlv, confess that thev are not ahle to soeak ex rothedm on w r r m t practicer in all Gelds but h a w had to dcpend on the hrcratur~. It i i not evident to the prcant reviewer, however, why the authors have chosen in so many instances t o disreaerd the literature of the past ten years. As an example of this, t h e electric furnace process of smelting rock phosphate, described on page 131, is based on articles which appeared in 1929 and 1932. when the art in this field was in its infancy. The book contains many erroneous statements, too many t o he pointed out within the Limits of a book review. As a sample. consider page 201, on which may be found nine errors of facthigh score,even for authors who do not claim to speak ez cathedra. Some parts of this book are excellent, particularly those parts in which the authors are able t o speak ez cathedra. I t is to be regretted that chemical engineers as ahle as the authors of this hook should he so careless in bringing forth a new edition of their textbook. Even the McGraw-Hill Book Company has caught the spirit of the occasion, as the title t o Chapter IV on page I X bears witness. HARRYA. CURTIS INORGANIC
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UNIVBRSITY O X MISSOUBI COLVXBI*, MlSS0U.I
OPTICSAND SERVICEINSTRUMENTS. Reprinted by Permission of the Controller of His Britannic Majesty's Stationery Office. First American Edition. Chemical Publishing Company. Inc., Brooklyn, New York. 1911. 128 pp. 112 figs. 13.5 X 21.5 cm. $1.75. I n a very concise manner, this hook explains the elementary principles of the science of optics. The topics included are: nature of light, rectilinear propagation of light, refiection a t plane and a t curved surfaces, refraction, total internal reklection, prisms, lenses, optical instmments, telescopes, binoculars, etc., testing and adjustment of optical instruments, the eye, and dispersion and color. The hook has explanatory and illustrative diagrams throughout. How TO SOLVEPROBLEMS IN GENERAL CHEMISTRY.Jmeph A. Babor, Associate Professor of Chemistry, and Chwler B. Kremer, Instructor in Chemistry, College of the City of New York. Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York City, 1941. viii 88pp. 14.3 X 21.7 em. $0.75. A handbook on solving fundamental chemical arithmetic prahlems.
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UNNEX~ITY Pnus~cs. F. C. Champion, M.A., Ph.D. (Cantab.), Lecturer in Physics, University of London. Blackie and Son, Ltd., London and Glasgow, 1941. (Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York City.) Part 111. Light-172 pp. 145 figs. 14.5 X 21.8 cm. $1.50. Part IV. Wave-Motion and Saund67pp. 42figs. 14.5 X 21.8cm. $1.65. Intended for a first- and second-year course in college physics, this book deals in the third volume with the fundamental properties of light, reflection, refraction, coaxial optical systems and thick lenses, defects of the image in optical systems, dispersion. optical interference and diffraction, double refraction and polarization, the emission and wave theories of light, spectra and color, optical instruments, velocity of light, and photometry. There are 75 examples, with answers and hints for solution, a t the end of the volume. The text is well illustrated, with the treatment mathematical in general. The fourth volume in the series, on wave motion and sound, deals with the fundamental properties of wave motion, velocity of sound, propagation of sound through gases, vibration of solid bodies.. the Droduction and detection of sound waves. measurement of frequency, inteniity of sound, and acou;tics. T r m t y five cxamplcs. with nniwcrs and hint* for solution. appear a t the end of the book.
