The absence of any treatment of the principles of quantum mcchanies in the book is regrettable; an understanding of these is essential in order to realize that the importance of quantum mechanics far exceeds its use as a mere tool. Only such an understanding makes possible to view both the successes and failures of the applications in proper perspective. The danger of constructing imposing structures on most slender foundations can otherwise be very great. These strictures certainly apply only to the fird part of the book, but it is there that the danger of "cook-book" application lies. There are a few small flaws in the book, partially connected with this deemphasis of principles. Thus, for example, the implication that quuatum mechanics deals with probabilities, "since no experiments have as yet been devised to determine the trajectories of electrons in atoms and molecules" (p. 11) is a t least misleading. The probahili~tie element in quantum mechanics is very much more fundamental than t,hat. The remindor in tho book that much of chemical binding can be understood on the basis of a very simple and immedistely comprehensible electrostatic picture (as, ex., in the treatment of the Hg and LL and B*Hs molecules, bond angles, ete.), is most refreshing and commendable; however a clear exposition of the relation of this picture to the formalism of the LCAO or VB method is lacking. The book is well organized and clearly written; the type is excellent and the indexes good. The flaws mentioned earlier m e very minor and are vastly overshadowed by t,he outstanding features of the book as a whole. I t is a first rate addition to the literature in an important ficld and, indeed, in its chosen area it is unique. Used in conjunction with any one of the many hooks which discuss the fundsmental principles of quantum mechanics (on various levels of sophistication and mathematical complexity) it can be highly recommended both for self study and text. book uae.
E . M. LOEBL Pol~teehnicInstitute of Brooklw B ~ o o k l w New , York Physic01 Methods in Chemical Analysis Volume 1, Second Revised Edition
Edited by Walter G. Bed, Applied Physics Laboratory, John Hopkins University, Silver Spring, Maryland. 2nd revised ed. Academic Press, Ine., New York, 1960. xiv 686 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $19.
+
This two volume set appeared in 195&51 and the second edition of Volume I continues the aims of the earlier edition (J. CAEM.EDUC.,27, 534 (1950); Ibid., 28, 399 (1951)); namely, a description of "those physical methods that have either proved themselves of considerable value in quantitative analytical work or are destined to play an important role in the future." The contents include: Absorption Phenomena of X-Rays and ?Rays (25 pp.), by G. L. Clark; X-Ray Diffraction Methods As Applied to Powder and
104
/
Journal of Chemical Education
Metala (100 pp.), by W. L. Ilsvidson; X-Ray Diffraction as Applied to Fibers (53 pp.), by J. A. Howsmon and N. M. Walter; Speetrophotometry and Absorptimetry (63 pp.), by W. R. Brade and M. E. Corning; Emission Spectrography (77 pp.), by J. Sherman; Infrared Spectroscopy (61 pp.), by H. H. Nielsen and R. A. Oetjen; Raman Spectra (21 pp.), by J. H. Hibben; Refractive Index Measurement (50 pp.), by L. RT.Tilton and J. K. Taylor; Mass Spectrometry (82 pp.), by C. F. Rohinson; Electron Microscopy (70 pp.), by R. D. Heidenreich and C . J. Calbrick; Electron Diffraction (41 pp.), by W. C. Bigelow. The coverage of the various topics is not comparable to the current importance of such topics in the literature of analytical chemistry; yet, each chapter is well complimented by adequate graphs, figures, chartn, and references. As was the earlier edition. this volume will be of interest to teachers and industrial analytical chemists as a single volume reference book, with the realization that the scope of the text does not permit a complete or exhaustive treatment of any of the topics.
and nitrosyls. Several sections are devoted to electrophilic and nucleophilic attacks, concepts not even mentioned in the last edition. Entirely new sections on metal derivatives of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons contain material dating from the recent (1951) discovery of ferrocene. The chapter Somo Interstitial and Non-Stoichiometric Compounds has been considerably expanded to take full account of new experimental and bheoretical studies of refractory carbides, nitrides, and borides. Many graphitic compounds are discussed in terms of molecular orbitals. In Recent Chemistry of the NanMetals, the sections on sulfur nitrides, phosphonitrilic halidea, interhalogen compounds, and polyhalide anions have been updated. The chapter Reactions in XonAqueous Solvent Systems is n m - dividcd into protonic and non-prot,onic ~ o l v e n t ~ . I n view of recent interest in bromine trifluoride and metnl-ammonia aolutiona, the omission of these topiee might be questioned. The chapter on Valency presents more detailed treatments of olertravalency, electronegativity, and the Born-Haber J A ~M.SPAPPENHAGEN cycle, and several ~eetion8,nohahly the Kenyon College one on resonance, have heen rewritten Gambiw. Ohio from a molecular orbital vie%-point. Hydrogen and the Hyrlridea contains new material on boron hydrider and bornModern Aspects of Inorganic Chemistry hydrides as well as a very necessary discussion of salelike hydrides, which had H.J. Emelbus, University of Cambridge, been lacking in the second ~dition. Radioand J. S . Andemon, Director, National activit,~and Atomic Disintegration and Chemical Laboratory, Great Britain. Recent Chemistry of the Radioactive 3rd ed. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., Elements now include information on Princeton, New Jersey, 1960. xi 611 transuranie elements through number 102. pp. Figs. and tables. 14.5 X 22 cm. Sin of the l i chapters rrmain essentially $7.75. the same: Atomic Structure and the Periodic System; Atomic Weights and This revision of a well-known text is Isotopes; The Constitution of Inorganic a n essential purchase for those who do not Compounds (still inadequate in its d i s own the previous (1052) edition. Alcussion of hydrogen bonding); Poly-Acids though lengthened by only 54 pages, it and Silicates; The peroxide^ and Percontains a fair amount of new material, Acids; and Metals and Intermetallic thanks t o judicious paring, which has Compounds. pre~ervedvirtuslly all the original contents The book contains many nseful graphs, with the exception of one chapter, Free tables, and diagrams. Some of the refRadicals of Short Life. The extent of erences are as recent as 1059. The topical revision is decidedly uneven, ranging from arrangement makes individual chapters entirely new chapters t o those in which the suitable for student reading assignmmta. only changes are renumbering of figureand reparagraphing. For those who alGEORGE B, IZAFFFMAN ready own the second edition, a. coms Fresno State College parison of the two volumes may be useful. Fresno, California The treatment of coordination compounds has been expanded to four chapters. The first two, Werner Theory and Introduction to Rubber Technology Inorganic Stereochemistry and ConstituEdited by Maurice Morton, The Univertion and Valeney Problems, present an sity of Akron, Akron, Ohio. Reinhold excellent, over-all view of the field, both Publishing Corp., New York, 1959. olasnioal and contemporary, as well as v 547 pp. Many figs. and tables. thorough discussion of the newer theories 16 X 23.5 cm. $10. of the coordinate linkage, including r-bonding and ligand field theory. The This book represents a compilation of third and almost completely new chapter, selected lectures on rubber technology, Stability and Characteristic Reactions designed to introduce new members of the of the Co-ordinate Complex, with its rubber industry to the basic aspects of emphasis on kinetics and reaction mechsthis field. The lectures presented under nisms, reflect,^ the increasing use of twenty different chapter headings, were physicochemical methods in inorganic selected from various courses on rubber chemistry. The fourth chapter, Metal technology sponsored by local rubber Carbonyls and Other cBonded Comgroups in all parts of the country. I n plexes, twice the length of its counterpart most cases, the authors had participated in the previous edition, abounds in new in these courses as instructors. information on syntheses, structures, and reaction mechanisms of metal carbanyls (Continued a page A108)
+
+
