APRIL, 1950
229
of polymers, and the standnrdiantion and testing of polymer properties. The remainder of the book, 12 chapters covering 179 pages, deals principally with descriptive materid on the manufacture, properties, and applications of polymers related to various raw materials-cellulose, proteins, natural and synthetic rubbers, ethylene, eta. A chapter on the processing of polymers and one entit.led Economic Aspects are also included. I t is obviously impossible to encompass with thoroughness such an ambitious outline in a. book as small as this one. Tho treae ment of t,heoretical problems, though highly condensed, is stimulating and effective. The reader may wish thst the author had expanded this portion of the book and limited the content of this volume to correspond more nearly to the title. It. is true, however, that with the brief treatment of each tapir appropriate references are given to other boole and articles for more complete information. The chapters which deal with part,icular classes of polymers generally provide little more than an outline of each subject. The chapt,er on Synthetic Rubbers covers 23 pages, that entitled Polymers Based on Ethylene and its Derivatives likewise extends for 23 pages; but the ehspter on Silicones is limited to 4 pages, Alkyd Resins and Other Polyesters are treated in 4 pages, and only 5 lines of text are given to polyvinyl ethers. In the opinion of this reviewer, what is presented is excellently done within the limitztions indicated. This book can be recammended to persons already somewhat familiar-with the science of polymers as an intensive and sound survey of the field nrhieh providesa, consistent framework far the suhject material. HARVEY
A.
NEVILLE
QUALITATIVE AND VOLUMETRIC ANALYSIS
0
I. C.Giblin, Member of the Society of Puhlic Analysis and Other Analytical Chemists. Senior Chemistry Master, Royal Grammar School, Worcester, England. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1948. xiii 175 pp. 12.5 X 18.5 cm. $1.60.
+
TREobject of this book. as stated in the meface. bv the British ~-~~ author, is-"to nrovide a com~leteoourse in'~uditati;e and Volumetric'~ndys~s.I t should'alslso satisfy thGequirements of first and second year University students and those preparing for professional examinations suoh its the 1st M.B." The material in this volume is presented in four parts. Part 1, 31 pages, covers the qualitative analysis of simple salts and easy mixtures, including dry reactions, dissolving, and wet tests for 23 metals and 26 acid radicals. Part 2. 29 ~ a e e s .deals with the qualitative analysis of more difficult mixtires, including two or more metals in the same group. Of this, some 14 pages are d e voted to an explanation of the tables for group procedures. Part 3,20 pages, treats of organio reagents for metalsand acid rrrdicals. Part 4, 86 pages, is devoted to volumetric rtndysis. Here are included a. total of 60 experiments: 12 covering acids and alkalies; oxidation, (a) KMnOl, 11 expts., ( 6 ) K.CmO,, 6 expts., (c) iodine, 14 expts., ( d ) bromine, 2 expts., (e) ceric sulfate, 2 expts.; reduction, titanoussulfate, 2 expts.;precipitation processes (a)AgN08, 6 expts., ( b ) K,Fe(CN). 1 expt., (c) BaCL, 1 expt.,(d) UO*(CnH80n)n, 1 expt.; and miscellaneous reactions, 2 expts. There is a short table of solubility products (p. 47), a. table of atomic weights, and a four-place table of lags and intilogs, but there are no tables of ionization constants or oxidation potentials, and the book has no ~~
.
~
.
inaew .... ..
Ulmiouslv, the book h u s ~ ~ ~ r large e d alavryeof n~strrial,but i r is equally ohvious illat the rlerriptim of quulitntire pnmdurri ia very brief nnd the t w r of rhron~ric~l nistwi.tl to whir11 n~ nre accustomed in this countrv is almost whollv missine. I t is difficultto see how this hook could beused as 8.text for such in this connt,m. ~-",~ nnd -..-" .vet, ... for .. t,he .... courses a s we are aooustomed to ~student who has ample time to experiment for himself, the exercises outlined here would provide a real grasp of the laboratory ~
~~~~
~~~
~~
~
side of much of classical, analytical chemistry. With such a background, there should be little trouble in adding t,he theory in a regular course in physical chemistry. This, of course, reverses our practice which has involved a definite shift toward using the laboratory largely to exemplify the theoretied material being presented in class. However, one cannot help wondering occasionally, whether our method doesn't actually fail to make the student realize that chemistry is still an experimental science and that accurate experimental data are still of fundamental importance in advancing the science. R. K. MCALPINE
INTRODUCTION TO SEMIMICRO QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
C. H. Sorum, Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York, 1949. is: 196 pp. 6 figs. 3 tables. 14.5 X 21.5 cm. $2.
+
TEE book is well suited to the purpose for vhich it is intended. It is written for the second half of a course in which both general freshman chemistry and qualitative analysis must be compressed into a one-yesr course. Dr. SON^ succeeds very well in his attempt to present the material in suoh a way that it should be easily understandable hy students who have had no more than one-half year of general chemistry. The book should he successful in leading the students through the accepted routine of qualitative analysis and of providing them with adequate understandmg of the particular reactions involved. The book of necessity cannot, of course, mention the occurrence, general properties, or imuortanre to mankind of the materials encountered. In the prefaie Dr. Sorum states, "Only 21 metals and 13 acids are considered. Furthermore only those aspects of the chemistry of the cations and anions which have direct bearing on the behavior of these cations and anions in tho course of their separation and identification are presented. As a consequence, the content of the manual can be completed in one semester." Those teachers who wish to give a brief course in semimicro qualitative analysis and who can have centrifuees - awilable will do well t,o consider Dr. Sorum's book. RAY WOODRIFF M O I*TANA STAT=
ofiIEem
B O ~ M AMONTANA N.
CHEMICAL ACTIVITIES OF FUNGI Jackson W. Foster, Professor of Bacteriology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas. Academic Press, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1949. rviii 648 pp. 35 figs. 55 tables. 16 X '24 em. $9.50.
+
INTHE "Chemical Activities of Fungi" we have at long last a volume to fit the needs of the teacher and the student of the "new," physiological mycology. Here are brought together in an authoritative manner. criticallv evaluated. the basic as well as the more modem develonments in the ranidlv " exnmdine &Id of mold ~~-~~ metabolism. Best of all, Foster's historical approach to the topics under consideration and his careful step-by-step development of them enables even the novice to follow the main arguments with comparative ease. Furthermore, the author a t all times takes pains to orient the reader so that he grasps the larger significance of the special process under consideration. After a brief preface there is an introductory chapter which deals with the historioal development and with recent aspects of investigations in mold metabolism. Such modern developments as molds as agents of chemical synthesis, of dissimil&m, as physiological models are discussed. Also considered here are the cantributiom of mold lnetabolism to methods, the role of molds in natural processes, biochemical syntheses, the use of fungi as
.
~
~
~
~A~
~
~
X~
~~
~~-
~~~~
~~
