REFENT ROOKS APPLIEDCHEMISTRY. Sherman 11. Wilson, Head of The Exact Science Department, Northwestern High Schwl. Detroit, Michigan, and Mary M. Mullins, Chairman of Physical Science, New Utrecht High School, Brooklyn, New York. Henry Holt and Compsny. New York City, 1939. xiv 530 pages. 244 figs. 13.5 X 20 cm. $1.72. The difficulty of producing an applied text, t o be used before the basic science has been taught, is evident throughout the book. Many of the topics have heen treated quite as fully as one might wish for in the conventional chemistry course. This is necessary, perhaps, to supply the principles required for teaching the application, and it may he intended to satisfy those who are not yet willing to accept a purely applied text. The effect tends t o lessen the interest t h a t should develop from a study of the applications. I n fact, in the case of acids, bases, and salts, the uses of these materials have been slighted. The authors are t o be commended for their contribution to the teaching of secondary science, and especially because of the reorganization in progress. The separation of the pure science from the applied is almost certain t o provoke criticism. K. M. PERSING
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and with no problems. The purpose of the text is to present in a systematic way t o the student clear directions for carrying through an unusually wide variety of quantitative determinations, stressing technic and selecting the best method for each analysis. GEORGEL. C L ~ K UNIY=RJITY OP ICL~NOIS U ~ B A N I ILL~NOIS L.
FUND-NTALS OP B~ocneMrsTRY. IN RELATIONTO HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY.T.R. Parsons, B.SC. (London). M.A. (Cantab.), Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Sixth Edition. William Wood and Company, Baltimore, 1939. xii 461 pp. 26 figs. 12 X 18 cm. $3.00. As a "most elementary introduction t o the subject," to quote from the foreword, this book is eminently successful. The approach is easy and graceful. the style is simple and direct, and a minimum of preliminary knowledge of pure chemistry and physics is demanded. The ideas follow one another logically. with sufficient illustration and application to he interesting and plausible. The treatment is very descriptive and not a t all analytical. Controversial questions are avoided, a serene and stabilized attitude toward the subject matter is developed, and the critical or advanced student will find little basis for the conviction which follows upon doubt and weighing of evidence. For its ready understandability, its compactness, its breadth of subject matter, and its freedom from errors, this book is t o be recommended as an elementary descriptive introduction to biochemistry. MARTIN E. HANKE THEU N I Y B E S ~ T Y0. CBICAGO
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INDIA RUBBER MAN,The Story of Charles Goodyear. Rdph P Wolf. The Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho, 1939. 291 pp. 15 X 23.5 cm. $3.00. The centenary of the discovery of the vulcanization of rubber was celebrated this year (1939). and this year also the &rst biography of the discoverer appeared. I t is a dramatic story of hardship, poverty, suffering, disgrace, and of mingled success CHIC*CO, I L L l N O l l and failure, of success in accomplishing the conversion of gum nrhher into a touch and mass which retained its . ~ r o- ~ e r t i e s .-.....~-.-~ ~ ~ " elastic both in the warm and in the cold, and of failure t o conserve the success properly and retain the profits from it. Goodyear's INmoDuCT10N TO EXPERIMENTAL COOKERY.E.H. Nason, Ph.D. favorite reading was the Bwk of Job, for whose hero he must Professor of Foods, Syracuse University. McGraw-Hill Book have felt a genuine sympathy. Co., Inc., New York City, 1939. ix 317 pp. 15 figs. 13.5 Wolf's book represents extensive and careful research and is X 21 cm. 52.75. equipped with a lengthy bibliography. All points appear t o be Experimental cookery is defined hetein as an introduction to discussed adequately, the inventions of his children and descendants, his misfortunes, and his fanatic perseverance. Where food research, one which shows its value, its scope and its technics. there are contlicting stories, both or all of Phem are presented To these ends, the subject matter of the baok is presented under seventeen chapter headings. Following an introductory chapter fairly. Wolf quotes many interesting and important passages from in which this "most interesting phase of the study of foods" is Gwdyear's own account of his experience as reported in the book, rather fully discussed, come others devoted to discussions on "Gum-Elastic and its Varieties, with a Detailed Account of its acidity, flavor, the scoring of foods, fundamental concepts of colloids, jellies, foams, emulsions, new concepts of proteins, eggs Applications and Uses, and of the Discovery of Vulcanization," (2 vols., published for the author a t New Haven, 1855). Wolf's and egg cookery, flours, batters and doughs, crystallization, fruits baok is valuable because of the many quotations which it con- and vegetables, meat cookery, and recipes, old and new. Alice E. tains, and because it has been built up soundly from the sources. Ebersold has contributed to the list a chapter an a timely subject, TENNEYL. DAVIS an introduction to statistical measurements. I t is a matter of regret to the reviewer that the author should MASSACRUSBT~ I N S T ~ V011T TBC~NOLDOY B C*UBAIDDB,MASSACHVSBTTS have occasionally resorted to the use of trade rather than descriptive names in describing foods. We have came a long way in the field of experimental cookery CHEMISTRY A TEXT-BOOK oa QUANTITATIVE CHEMICALANALYSIS.Ale%. since the days of Frederick Accum and his CULINARY (1821). The pr-nt work in a sense reflects the progress which Charles Cumming and Sydney Alczander Kay, University of Edinburgh. Revised by Francis Clint Gulhrie and John has been made in the past twelve decades in the application of Trengove Nance, University of Liverpool. Seventh Edition. chemistry to this field. The author is to he commended for her D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., New York City, 1939. xv 496 successful efforts in making this information available in a readily understandable form. A careful study of its pages should pp. 85 figs. 14 X 22 cm. $5.00. familiarize the student with reliable information about fwds, This familiar English text on quantitative analysis which was modern trends in food research, and the technicsemployedin this This &st published in 1913 now appears in its seventh edition. fact alone would seem to be prwf of the usefulness and survival branch of food chemistry. H. A. SCHUETTE of the test of time. The treatment of the subject is entirely U N I V B R S OP ~ YWISCONSIN MADISON. WISCONSIN descriptive, with theory and equations reduced t o the minimum ~~
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