BOOK REVIEWS out the book one is very much aware of the extensive contributions made by Dr. Garn and his colleagues in these fields. This is indicated by more than 60 crass references to his published work. Interesting parts of the book for new investigators are the sections on Recording, Control and Power Equipment., Apparatus Design, and various types of electronic gadgetry whieh e m be used for detection and control of physical changes. The strength of Dr. Gam's contribution lies in his extensive cataloguing of apparatus designs and technique developments. The principal weakness of the hook is its failure to present an interpretation and an assessment of the results he reports. The various experimental measurements are, in s. sense, treated individually. No substmtisl effort is made to unify them by citing underlying principles. Nor is there any significant attempt to carry the conclusions of one group of
reader. I n some places the book is incorrect and misleading. For example, when referring to Figure VI-15 on p. 218, the author comments that the activation energy for the decomposition of calcium carbonate varies greatly with the composition of the atmosphere (partial pressure of COz in Nd. The author is apparently unaware that rate measurements must he normalized for partial pressure effects before an activation energy is ealcnlated. As an example of a failure to carry concepts from one part of the book to another, the author refea to the w o ~ kof Murray and White and of Holt, Cutler and Wadsworth to elicit the principle that. observed rates of reaction depend upon the surface area of the samples exposed for reaction. He fails to develop the point that this area changes contin~~ously during a reaction. If he had appreciated and developed this point then his readers would expect to obtain a. new set of apparently significant constants for every shape of pile of powdered sample they examine hy DTA, TGA, or EGA techniques. Without this assessment, many unwary readers will continue to attempt to wad significance into experiments which have not been normalized for pressure and interfacial area changes. Many industrial chemists and metallurgists who measure sctivstinn energies of processes to determine how the throughput of their plant may be increased by iniluencing the temperature coefficient of the reaction rate, will not agree with the typically flippant comment of Dr. Garn that "the determination of activation energies is a popular pastime." Some readers will consider this to be an irresponsible and patronizing attitude on the part of the author. I t is evident in other parts of the book also and it detracts from the normally healthy relstionship between the author and a studious reader. Nevertheless, the strength of this hook in assembling the creative designs of apparatu builders outweighs its de-
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Journal of Chemical Education
ficiencies and most active workers in the field of thermortndyticd methods will wish to have a. copy of it available. The list of aver 800 references with paper and hook titles is particularly useful for obtaining a specific entry to the rapidly expanding literature a n thermoanalytical methods.
presentation of information for the practical m n l y ~ t . I n spite of the unususl organization Volume 3 will he used as a source of authoritative information and can be recommended as such.
T. R. INGRAHAM Departmentof Energy, Mines, and Resources Ottawa. Canada
I. M. KOLTHOFF Universily of Minnesota Minneapolis
Inorganic Synlheres.
Standard Methods of Chemical Analysir. Volume 3, Inslrumental Methods, Parts A and B Edited by Frank 3. Welcher, Indiana University, Blaomington. 6th ed. D. Van Nastrand Co., Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 1966. Part A, xviii 974 pp.; Part B, xi 1043 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $50.
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The present volume like Volume 2 of this classical book is divided into parts A and B bound separately. Volume 3 deals mainly with techniques and should be quite useful to the average analytical chemist, who can hardly he familiar with all of the many instrumental methods, and needs a survey of the field. With so many techniques, adequate coverage can hardly be expected for all or even any, and the ch%ptersvary greatly in length and utility. Some are so short (e. g., mass spectrometry, 8 pages) that they can serve only as an elementary introduction to the subject. Others run to 40 pages or more (e.g., radioisotopes in annlytical chemistry, thin-layer chmmatography! pularography), and some have specific drections, making the chapten of immediate aid to the analyst. Most are provided with references in bibliogrephies, certainly a valuable feature. I n general, the different chapters have been written by recognized experts. The last part of Volume 3A and all of Volume 3B consist of instrumental methods applied to certain industrial products as specid materials. Agein the coverage varies greatly from one chapter to mother. The chapter on glitss, by multiple anthors, strikes me as one of the better ones, as does that on paper wood, and pulp. Other chapters deal with sir pollutsnts, ferrous and nonferrous alloys, amino acids, port.land cement,, clinical medicine, natural fats, fertilizen, foods, organic functional groups, gases, paints, paper, pesticide residue analysis, petroleum and its products, plastics, rubber, semiconductors, soaps and other detergents, soils and water. A detailed subject index concludes Volume 3B. The organization of the material in the varioos volumes is strange. I n Volume 2B are offered methods for the chemical analysis of many materials analyzed in Volume 3 by "instrumental" methods. For the user of the book it would have been more convenient to present together as a unit the chemical and instrumentd methods of a given m ~ t e r i d . As stated in the review of Volume 2, (See THIS JOURNAL, 40, 560 [October 19631.) the strong feature of "Standard Methods" has been and is its explicit and detailed
Volume 8
H a ~ yF . Holtlclaw, Jr., Editor-inchief, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. McGnuw-Hill Book Co., Inc., N e w York, 1966. xv 319 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $12.50.
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This "continuing series of self-contained volumes representing an effort on the pert of an outstanding group of inorganic chemists to make available detailed and tested methods for the syntheses of inorganic compounds" needs no intraducThe tion to readers of THIS JOURNAL. general organization of "Inorganic Syntheses" was outlined in reviews of the two previous volumes (J. CHEM. EDUC.,38, A552 [1961]; 40, A530 [19631). Contributions by 68 American and foreign chemists delineate procedures for the preparation of some 120 individual compounds and two review articles (metal derivatives of 8-keto imines and noble gas compounds) are included in this volume. Laboratory manuals for courses in inorganic chemistry are still scarce, and many instructors of such courses look forward to the publication of a new voltme of "Inorganic Syntheses" in anticipation of preparations suitable for undergraduate or graduate students. Even after having eliminakd the many highly toxic and potentially explosive substances, fur whieh, incidentally, precautions are clearly indicated, the instructor will still have left a variety of synthetic techniques and compound types, which serve to reflect
graphic separations of isomers, chelate exchange reactions, and the use of irrsdiiltion and controlled atmospheres. The types of substances extend from elements (hexaatomic sulfur) through binary compounds to complex and polymeric compounds of many elements, with emphasis, as in the previous volume, on periodic groups VA (especially cyclic P-N compounds) and VIII. Acetylseetonates and other chelates. oreano-
and unusual coordination numbers are well represented. Instructors and student3 alike will enjoy working with the easily prepared and colorful coordination compounds of cobalt, and chromium. Useful starting materials and intermediates of interest to the coordination chemist include Cr(NH&O,, Nas[Co(COa)s].3H1OI KdCog(CzO& (OH)Z].~H~O, Na8[RhCla12H20, and ( N H ) [ I ] That perennial favorite of inorganic laboratory courses, chromium(I1) acetab, appears again in this
(Continued on page A358)
through 1960 and in some specific cases up t,hrough 1965. Important topics are the copper compounds of aminomono and polyearboxylio acid, oximes and nitroso series with yet another preparative compounds, and Shiff's bases. method, but this time the preparation of Because systematic cataloguing of neuthe pyrophoric anhydrous compound is tral ligands and ligands forming inner also described. Other improvements complexes is difficult, both an empirical upon earlier syntheses include the prepars, formula. and an alphabetid index is tions of K,[U(Cz0&1~5Ha0, black [CO(NHZ),NO]CI., and [ C O ~ . ( N O ? ) ~ ] X . included in thevolume. On the other hand, the syntheses of rare JANET B. VANDOREN gas compounds (XeF*, XeF,, and XeFe), College of Wooster which underscore the revolutionary inWoosler. Ohio organic discoveries of 1962-63, are new to the series. Unlike the previous volume, the i:\dex of contributors is not cumulative but cantains entries for Volume 8 only. For the first time, a notice to contribotors is The Structure of Polymers provided. The definition of a suitable synthesis as one "applicable to s. variety M . L. Miller, American Cyanamid Co., of related compounds" is exemplified by Stamford, Connecticut, Reinbold Pubthe larger proportion of syntheses of lishine CO~D..New York. 1966. xv series of compounds than has been the 7c4 pp.' bigs. and tables. 16 X ease in previous volumes. 23.5 cm. $27. In view of the need for accuracy in a volume of this type, it is strange that This book is the second in the series galley and page proofs are not submitted "Polymer Science and Engineering," sponto contributors for correction. Such a sored by the Society of Plastics Engineers. procedure should go a long way toward Its purpose is to make available to mature eliminating errors. (This reviewer found chemists a survey of the relation between a number in his own contributions.) the molecular structure of polymers and Another criticism concerns the nontheir properties which is bath broad and availability of reprints. The series is a deep. Broad enough that most of the journal, although admittedly in book areas of polymer application are covered form, but other similar series make proin a fundamental way, and deep enough vision for reprints. For this reason as that the book can be used as a starting well as the value of the procedures to point for original thought by the chemist practicing chemists and chemical eduin an area of interest to him. This is a cators, the publisher should seriously conl m ~ etask and Dr. Miller succeeds very sider providing this service. well. Aside from these minor criticisms, then, Starting with the known properties of Dr. Holtaclaw and his collaborators are polymer molecules and the methods by to he congratulated on their significant which these properties are determined the addition to a most useful series. In the baok leads to the larger scale physical past, the volumes have appeared a t properties, such as tensile properties, lengthy and irregular intervals. Volume drawing behavior, gas permeability, etc. 9, however, is scheduled for publication This approach gives a good understanding soon, and beginning with Volume 10 in of the factors behind the behavior of 1967, the series should appear annually. polymers in processing and use. Theory is given in each case to the depth which is B. KAUFFMAN necessary for relating experimental studies GEORGE California Slate College to molecular parameters. In general the Fresno coverage is u p b d a t e and as full as possible in a. boak of tbis size. Its use as a base of operations for further work is encouraged by the very large number of Gmelins Handbuch der Anorgonirchen literature references for each chapter, a Chemie. 8. Auflage, System Nummer large proportion of which are from tbe 60, Kuphr. Teil B, Lieferung 4, Koor1960's. As might be expected in a boak dinationr-Verbindungan mil Neutralen of eueh wide scope s. specialist may find und lnnerkomplexbildanden Liganden same paints passed over, e.g., the chapter on polyelectrolytes has no mention of Edited by E. H. E. Pietseh and the hydrophobic bonding. Such occasional Gmelin Institute. Verlag Chemie, absences do not detract from the over all GMBH, Weinheim/Bergstrasse, 1966. worth of the work. 534 pp. Figs. and tables. viii The point of view in the hook is that of 17.5 X 25.5 cm. $121. a physical chemist. The initial chapters This concluding volume on copper comconsider the uhvsical DroDerties of simule. . " . . linear macromolecules, as they are expounds deals chiefly with complex formation in solution, with special consideration pressed in dilute solutions. Then the comof complex formation constants. Howplicating effectsof suchfactorsas branches, crosslinks, chain isomerism, and comonoever, it also includes data from 1950 to 1965 on solid compounds which have not mers are introduced. The last few chapbeen included in previous sections on ters relate to hulk properties-crystallinity orientation, electrical behavior-and to copper. the special type-polyelectrolytes. The major portion of this volume is deSince this is a survey it has been made voted to copper compounds that have ligands which form inner complexes. The concise in order to include as many topics as possible. The result is a very tightly literature in tbis section is reviewed
BOOK REVIEWS
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packed, yet clearly written book. It will be very useful rts a. source baok for the mature chemist as well as for seniors and graduate students. An instructor who wishes to include some material on polymers in his physical chemistry course will also find it very helpful. TEOMASFER~NGTON W . R. G~aceCo. Chrksville, Maryhnd
Prelude to Chemistry: Alchemy
An Outline of
John Read. The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1966. xxiv 328 pp. Figures. 13.5 X 20.5 em. Pspwbound. $2.95.
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This classic was reissued "as much to delight the reader with a taste for the occult as to inform the specialist in the history of science and religion." The book takes excerpts from the fascinating written records of the alchemist and explains their meaning in several disciplines. Many engravings and woodcuts are reproduced and the final section even includes an example of alchemic music. JINET B. VANDOREN College of Wooster Tlioosler, Ohio
The Convergent Century
Harold I . Sharlin, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.. Abelard-Schumann, New York, 229 pp. 14 X 21 N.Y. 1966. v cm. $6.50.
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The objective of tbis book is well stated by the sub-title: "The Unification of Science in the Nineteenth Century." Science here is taken to comprise only physics and chemistry and consequently, in the msin, only those topics are taken up that have a relation to these two sciences. The author assumes his readen have the usual fund of information and so includes only those commonplace facts that are vital to the discussion. In a most readable style, he gives an outline of the background of the men's home conditions, education, teaching experience, and the like. Flashes of humor add much to the c h m of the presentation. An immense amount of reading has obviously preceded the composition of the text. Each chapter is well documented and a general bibliography is provided for those who wish to read in greater depth. The book is aimed at the mature readers (graduate students, faculty, etc.). Typical chapter headings we: Eleotrieity in Motion; Electricity from Magnetism; Electric Force; Light Waves; Cathode Rays and Electron. On the chemical side there are: The True Elements of Bodies; Dynarnioal Chemistry; The Motion Within Gases; Karlsruhe. Among the chemists discussed are: Davy, Berthollet, and Pmust, Berzelius, J. Willard Gihhs; KekulP, Mendeleev, and
