knowledge of the principles necessary for a propel. appreciation of the problems involved in cation analysis before encoune ering them in the laboratory. Furthermore, anion chemistry is less routine, hence the student will be trained early t o interpret observations made from logical experiments. There is no reason inherent in the writing, however, that would prohibit the laboratory work from being as flexible as the teacher wishes. More significant than the order is the fact that more sttention is given to anion analysis in this text than is usually done. At least 24 anions are included. The ions are grouped acoording t o gross similarities hut chemical properties and chmacteristic reactions are given for each ion separately with a ~ ~ r o ~ r i aeuuations. te Twentvceduns are written for semimicro work using either hydrogen sulfide or thioitcetamide as the sulfide precipitant. The usual schematic outlines and notes are incorporated in the text. Included among the numerous problems a t the end of the chapters are many "whytype" questions to stimulate the student's imagination as well as t o test his knowledge of factual material. Answers to numerical prohlems are in an Instructor's Manual. I n keeping with the author's emphasis on a logical approaoh t o the snbject, all illustrative problems in the text are solved usine dimensional analvsis. A
finds in textbooks. The author's industrial and engineering education experience has been used to advantage in developing the design approach to report writing. The chapter on Investigation is particularly worth while because it covers the searching of the literature (books, journal articles, and reports) as sources of background information; young scientists and engineers must be impressed with the need for preceding laboratory research with library search. However, i t would have been helpful if the author had included some bibliography in his own text; he could not hope to exhaust the field of technical report writing in seventy pages. Some references to texts on literature searching, tabulation, and graphs would be helpful t o bath teachers and students of technical report writing. The chapter on Analysis is especially well handled; it should convince the reluctant engineer or scientist of the need to write reports while i t instructs him in deciding the kind of a. report to write. The classification of roports by purpose (to inform, to initiate action, to coordinate projeots, to recommend, and to provide a. record) is excellent. This book should be recommended to teachers of technical report writing, engineering and scientific students, and t o those about to write their first technical reports; it is too brief to be useful as a reference hook for experienced writ,ers and editors. ETHALINE CORTELYOU
for a. one-semester course in qualitative analysis and i t can be adapted easily t o s. one-term course or t o s. course in general chemistry in which qualitative analysis is a part of the laboratory work. The book is clearly written and free of errors. In eom~srisonwith other books on t,hn eubjeet' this reviewer finds Moeller's "Qualitative Analysis" generally superior t o most. ~~~~
ARMOUR REBEARC" FOUND*T,ON C n r c ~ o o Immors .
ORAL COMMUNlCATlON OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION
~~
JAMES L. HALL MIORLOAN STATEUNIVERBITP EMT LANBINO. MIOBX~AN
TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING
James W. Souther, Assistant Dean, College of Engineering, University of Washington. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1957. xi 70 pp. 2 5 figs. 2 X 27 cm. $2.95.
+
Tnrs brief, letter-size, paper bound book should be excellent for the purpose for which i t was written, a text for a college course in technical report writing. However, i t has the common failing of its p r e d e c e s s o r ~ i tneglects the subject of reporting data. in tables and graphs which, after all, is the characteristic that distinguishes technical report writing from other expository writing. Teachers should find i t s. very effective text because the exercises a t the end of each chapter approach "reel-life engineering situations" and me not the usual artificial "make-work" assignment one VOLUME 35, NO. 10, OCTOBER, 1938
Roberts. Casey, Chemist, W. A. Sheaffer Pen Co., Fort Madison, Iowa. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, 1958. vii 199 pp. 20 figs. 13 X 19.5 cm. $4.50.
+
THIS is a detailed, informative, and instructional guide for all who are eancemed with preparation of topics for oral presentation. Although primarily intended for the presentation of technical material, those interested in non-technical subject matter should profit materially from the many basic ideas and suggestions offered. I t is organized into 12 chapters containing detailed discussion of all phases of oral oommunication varying from initial plans, outlines, preparation and use of nates, formal and informal veaking guides, as well as suggestions on presentation. Detailed coverages of the topics "audio and visual aids" and "presiding a t meetings" are included as separate chapters. Illustrations include proper forms for tabular data as well as examples of satisfactory and overcrowded lantern slides. Each chapter contains a rather complete bibliography. Although directed to the industrial worker (many references to "the boss"), it is firmly believed that many academio speakers could profit materially hy applying many of
the common-sense ideas postulated in this book. Some of the author's gems are: "Style is verbal personality," and "You can't learn to swim or make speeches hy reading books." The experienced speaker may consider certain of the topics and their thorough development too elementary in nature. One must remember that many who may he authorities in their fields me inexperienoed novices in the presentation of subject matter before an audience. Even experienced academic friends could (and should) improve their presentation by adopting certain of the principles and common sense practices which are covered. DOUGLAS G. NICHOLSON EABTT E N N M ~ E STATE E COLLEGE J O H N ~ DCITT, N TENNEBBEE
INTRODUCTION TO ENZYMOLOGY A l a n H. Mehler, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. Academic Press, hc,,New York, 1957. viii 425 pp. 37 figs. 16 X 23.5 cm. $10.80.
+
THISrelatively thin (400 text pages plus introduction and subject index), lucidly written, and concise volume is a credit t o its author and a wclcome relief for a reader, constantly swamped with and inured t o voluminous treatises and Handhooher of heterogeneous parentage. I t provides him with a vdluahle, and in some ways a unique, addition to his groaning baok-shelf, be he a. gatherer or dispenser of enaymological lore. Far the former, the book is a. wellorganized, brief, yet adequately detailed summary of intermediary metabolism on the eneymtttio level-and what more fundamental approach is there today? The text is written in a lucid, sparse manner, the factual information is up-to-date (or a t least as up-to-date as a volume not provided with loose-leaf arrangement in this rapidly moving field can be--references go up to 1956, and to early 1957 in some instances), a fair number of relatively simple and clear schemes, diagrams, and struotural formulas are provided, and there is a goodly number of well-selected references both general and particular. The extensive subject index is of help, even though it has its idiosyncrasies: there are eight references to "lipolic aeid." but none to "cholesterol," "steroid," or "lipid." It is a pity also that no author index was provided. Perhapa a more regrettable omission is the complete absence of m y systematic discussion of the multi-enzyme sequences involved in cholesterol, terpene, and carotene biosynthesesneither squalene nor mevsr Ionic aeid are as much as mentioned. If space limitation was the overridink consideration, then surely 90 pages devoted t o amino acid metabolism seelrs excessive for a subject matter so frequently and so completely covered in general and speeialieed textbooks, symposium volumes, etc. These objeotions me still only minor ones and do not detract in any real sense from either the author's courage or his
oompetenee in his self-assigned task. If we look s t the book as a teaching aid, however, specifically as a textbook in a one semester course in enzyme chemistry, such as tho one taught to graduate students by this reviewer, one maior shortcoming emerges. It appears, because the author has been too consistent and successful in his announced aim "to describe individual enaymes and ensyme systems in some detail and to use the information a t hand to develop concepts." This pragmatic approach certainly has its merits: it may indeed be the method of choice for teaohing a course in enayme chemistry a t the National Institutes of Health to a largely postdoctoral clientele as the author has been doing, but in the less rmified atmosphere of a university department, preliminary and systematic exposition of general principles would appear to be tho preferred alternative. These subjective criticisms aside, we have found the book eminently usable and readable and shall continue to use it, a t the desk, and in the classroom. Dr. Mehlcr hae made a notnhle contribution. HENRY R. MAHLER INDIANA UNIYEABITY B L O O M I N ~ O NINDIAX* .
scientific work are considered. Most important were the Confucians and the Taoists. The Confucians evidently believed thst the only proper study of mankind was man. For example, "Fan Hsu requested to be taught agriculture, but the Master said, 'I am not so good for that as an old farmer.' He also requested to be taught horticulture, but the Master said, I a n not so good at that as an old gardener.' When Fan Hsu had gone out, the Master said, 'What s. small minded man is Fan Hsu. If a ruler or an official loves good customs, righteousness, or sincerity, people will Bock to him from all quarters bearing their children on their hacks, so what does he need to knon about agriculture?' " The opponents of Confucius were the followers of Taoism, "the only system of mysticism the world has ever seen which was not profoundly anti-scientifio." Dr. Needham finds the Taoist viewpoint sympathetic to his own beliefs gathered from a lifetime of work in biochemical sciences. "Confucian knowledae - was masculine and managing; the Taoist condemned it and sought after a. feminine and receptive knowledge whieh could arise only as the fruit of a. passive and yielding attitude in the ohmvation of
-
n>t,,rG. -. ."
SCIENCE AM) CMLlZATlON IN CHINA. VOLUME 1: INTRODUCTORY ORIENTATIONS. VOLUME 2: HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT Joseph Needham, ReaderinBiochemistry, University of Cambridge. Camlxidge University Ress, New York. Volume 1: 318 pp. 35 figs. 9 1954. uxviii tables. 19.5 X 25.5 cm. $10. Volume 2: 1956. xxii 696 pp. 49 figs. 12 tables. 19.5 X 25.5 cm. $14.50.
+ +
THESE am the first two volumes of a seven-volume work that promises to be one the most interesting scholdy a chievements of our time. Dr. Needham, a member of Cambridge University, is well known far his biochemical researches, culminating in the work, "Biochemistry and Morphogenesis," published in 1942. Nearly 20 years ago three Chinese biochemists, Shen, Wang, and Lu, arrived in Cambridge to work at Needham's laboratory. "Whatever they took sway with them from Cambridge they left there a precious conviction that Chinese civilisation had played a role of hitherto unrecognized amplitude in the history of science and technology." From that time until the beginning of the war, Needham continued the study of Chinese language and thought. From 194246 he undertook for the British government a special mission to Chungking. He was able to meet many scholars and to study rare old books and manuscripts. The first volume provides a concise review of the geography and history of China, and then a detailed account of the interchange of scientific ideas and techniques between China and Europe. Volume 2 is concerned with the history of scientific thought in China. The main philosophical schools and their rehtions to 532
Splendid ancedotes are found in profusion throughout both volumes, so that for the reader this ia surely one of the most delightful of all seholdy works. Dr. Needham is a master of English prose, and in his translations from the Chinese as well as in his own discourses, he has sustained a crystillline beauty of style. He loves his subject and this love has illminated his writing and made it a joy to read. Of special interest to chemical readers will be the account of the theory of the five elements, dating from the -4th century. These were water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. We may note the addition of woad and metal, and the omission of air from the four elements of the Milesian philosophers. An unusually interesting sccount is given of the applications of these elements in the world picture of the ancient Chinese, whieh Needhilm finds to bear some resemblance to the philosophy of organism of Whitehead. Only an expert in Sinology, history, and philosophy would be qualified to oritieiee the interpretations that Dr. Needham draws from his materials. His philosophy would appear to be based largely on the ideas of Marx, Whitehead, and Leibniz. Critics as diverse as Toynbee, Weley, Sitnsom, and Sarton have welcomed the volumes as valuable and important contributions to the history of thought. The most discordant note has been a review by an associate professor of history at Princeton University, Charles Gillispie, which was recently published in the American Scientist. Gillispie, writing from a positivist bias, was annoyed by Needham's efforts to relate scientific thought to political, religious, rtnd technological backgrounds, which he found to be an "abject betrayal of the autonomy of science, and a surrender of the measure of independence which it has won for scholarship and thought."
These books have been beautifully produced and illustrated by the Cambridge University Press. Unfortunately, savants in the West today are not accorded the respect that was sometimes theirs in ancient China, so that few individual scientists will be ahle to afford the cost of the complete set. Perhaps the Library of Science may be ahle to arrange far a special edition as was done in the oase of Singer's "History of Technology." At least we may hope that all school and university libraries will provide enough sets for student and faculty use, for, as Bertrand Russell is quoted as saying, "I think thst if we are to feel a t home in the world.. .we shall have to admit Asia to equality in our thoughts not only politically but culturally. What changes this will bring about I do not know but I am convinced that they will be profound and of the greatest importance." WALTER J. MOORE IND~*N* UN~VERB~T~ BLOOU~NGTON, INDIANA
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS Willis Conwav Pierce, Professor Chemistry, ~ o i a l d ~u;ner Sawyer, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of California at Riverside, and Edward Lauth Haenisch, Professor of Chemistry, Wabash College. Fourth edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1958. aiii 497 pp. r 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $5.75.
+
THIS well-written text is the fourth edition of the one first nublishod in 1037 I+ F'icrwn!.d IIwnislt. 'I'1.v mod etrikinr rluugc.i from (1." thlnl c.litiw iw1111l+:t rr:rrr.cuy+mwt of the order of prciiettrarUm of material, a new chapter on evaluation
and a more liberal use of illustrati& problems. The text is divided into five major parts. Part One deals with the basic tools and methods of analysis. Part Two is concerned with the theory and calonlations of andyticsl chemistry. The three remaining parts consider in order, Titrimetric Methods of Analysis, Gravimetric Analysis by Precipitation and Light, and Electrical Methods of Analysis. The Last of these parts considers colorimetric analysis, potentiometrio titrations, and electrodeposition. The material in the text is so atranged that laboratory work may begin with either gravimetric or volumetric analysis. The laboratory determinations are familiar ones whieh are useful for their teaching value. The authors point out in their preface that the experiments in this edition are those that have been found to give good results. New experiments include, among others, calcium by EDTK, nickel by precipitation with dimethylglyoxime and eleetrometric titrations with a commercial pH meter. The theory is well illustrated by representative problems that have been (Continued on page A604) JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
