RECENT BOOKS LABORATORY STUDIESIN GENERALCHEMISTRY.William F. Ehret, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Chemistry, Washington Square College, New York University. The Century Company, New York City, 1933. viii 312 pp. 21 Figs. 17 X 23 cm. $1.50.
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emphasis on the desirability of students noting processes which are t o appear many times in the course. Part I1 contains the instructions for "Preparation and Properties of Typical Aliphatic Organic Compounds." The preparations are of the usual variety to illustrate typical classes of compounds. The wording is definite and the illustrations are sufficient. Part 111, "Preparation and Properties of Typical Aromatic and Heterocyclic Organic Compounds," includes an experiment on the distillation of coal and another on the proximate analysis of coal. Logically, some question might be raised as to the necessity of the proximate analysis experiment. Otherwise. the preparation and discussions follow the usual list. Special sections are given a t the end of the book on "The Calculation of Theoretical and Percentage Yields for Laboratory Preparations." "Materials and Reagents Required in Each Experiment," and "Notes on the Preparation of Certain Reagents Used in Organic Chemistry," which will prove of distinct advantage for teachers and laboratory assistants. Instructions are offered for proper use of the manual for a one-semester course and for a two-semester course. The book is recommended as a satisfactory laboratory manual. Approval will be general, the reviewer believes. Differences in - --opinion may arise as to the effectiveness of student record sheets with each experiment. FRIENDE. CLARK
The manual is bound in Bristol hoard. The pages are perforated so that they may be removed to he turned in for approval after the experiments have been written up in the blank spaces provided for the purpose. Not much writing is required of the student. The pages have two large holes punched in them so that the student may fasten the returned pages in a loose-leaf notebook cover. The manual is not designed to follow any particular text. It may beused withany text. Enoughinformatiou is included so that reference to a text in the laboratory should be seldom necessary. The book is designed for a one-year course in elementary general chemistry with six hours a week devoted to laboratory work. Fifty-three experiments are offered; many of them are of quantitative or semiquantitative nature. About fifteen might be classified as inorganic preparations, about three deal with carhon or its compounds, one with colloids, two or three deal with qualitative analysis, several represent industrial processes or are experiments of everyday importance. Most of the rest of the experiments have been designed to serve as examples of fundamental generalizations. The experiments chosen offer training in a greater number of kinds of lahoratory technic than is generally found in a manual of this type. WST VIWINIAUNIVSRSITY MOBGANIOWN, W. V*. The author sought t o avoid the monotony of repeated test-tube experiments, and has included several opportunities for the working of "unknowns." The majority of the experiments probably WITH HOUSEHOLD APPLICATIONS. can he completed in a satisfactory manner by beginning students. INTRODUCTORY CHEM~STRV Nellie M . Naylor, Ph.D.. Associate Professor, Chemistry The reviewer wonders if the students, and if chemists, will Department Iowa State College. Ames, Iowa, and Amy Le agree with the statement an p. 114, that pH is a simple way of Vesesconte, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, Baylor College. expressing hydrogen-ion concentration that chemists have agreed Belton, Texas. The Century Co., New York City, 1933. upon. The experiments on molecular properties of solutions x f 367 pp., 41 Figs., 8 Illus. 13.5 X 20 cm. $2.60. may he difficult for the beginner to understand even though he may follow directions and obtain correct results. The student This hook is one of the Century Chemistry Series. It was who tries some other salt than N H C I in the equilibrium experi- written a t the suggestion of the editor of this series, Professor ment involving FeClr and NH'CNS, p. 109, may be puzzled by James Kendall. The authors present the subject matter in such the results. a manner as, in their judgment, will appeal t o the interest and Some teachers of general chemistry will feel that more experi- imagination of the home economics student. Not unmindful ments in organic chemistry shortld be included. Some will miss of the difficulties involved in planning a middle course between the orthodox outlines for the qualitative analysis of the groups making a subject too practical and making i t too theoretical. of cations. Many will welcome the experiments on inorganic and realizing that home economics curricula include advanced svnthesis which are included. courses in chemistry and foundation work in bacteriology, The reviewer btlicves that the manual will be found useful by zoology, and other sciences, they have chosen, so they state. some teachers of general chcmislry and that those jtudcnts who the subject matter of this text so as to provide a knowledge of surceisfully prrfurm the txperimenta ou~linrdrn it will be well the principles of chemistry for later courses. Numerous illusprepared for the advanced courses in chemistry. trations, with descriptive matter, have been introduced in the E . R ~ G E R W A S H B U R Ntext. Wherever it has been possible to do so, illustrations from home life were selected. UN~YBRSITYOF NBBBASR* LINEOI-N.N B B R ~ S K * By way of following through the development of a principle of chemistry and correlating i t with problems of current interest, the student is introduced to practical home economics by discussionson thecolloidal state, leavening agents, water and its uses, bert, A,rlsrant 1+of&sor of Chmmistry. L.nivcrsity of Oklahoma The Crntury Company. Ncw Vurk City, I9S:I. Tlucc I'arts in chemistry in the laundry and the silicate industries. All of which, by way of preparation, is preceded by chapters, in the one volume, 341 pp.. 28 Figs. 21 X 27 rm. W 3 ) . order named, on the language of chemistry; the chemistry of The author has developed a laboratory manual for organic water; oxygen; hydrogen; characteristics of gases, liquids chemistry with perforated sheets in duplicate for student reports. and solids; molecular structure; the atmosphere; atomic This plan explains the number of pages: 221 pages are devoted structure and valence; acids, salts, and bases; the theory of t o introduction, preface and text, with 120 for student records. ionization; carbon, oxides of carbon, acids of carbon; oxidation The quality of the paper is fair, requiring careful attention during and reduction; nitrogen; sulfur; the periodic table and structure laboratory practice if the book is to come through whole. of the atom; the chlorine family; the phosphorus family; the Part I deals with general methods and processes (technic metals; the alloys of metals; preparation of compounds of the experiments) such as melting points, boiling points, qualitative metals; analytical chemistry; the work of Madame Curie; and quantitative analysis, distillation, crystallization, and dis- carbon compounds; and the chemistry of artificial heat and light. sociation. The experiments are well chosen with satisfactory At the end of each chapter, there have been included, for the
purpose of study and review, a series of selected questions and problems. The authors express the hope that this baok may appeal to the home economics student not because its subject matter is unusual, hut because they have made an attempt throughout the text t o present suggestions that may help the student sense the relationship which exists between chemistry and home economics. I n this respect, the book seems to serve its purpose. I t has been written with a special appeal to a definite group of students. Because of the ambitious attempt of the authors t o cover so many fields, it cannot be claimed for the book that it is suitable for the student who plans to make an intensive study of chemistry. For him, it becomes an introduction t o this science; a taste, as i t were, which may or may not prompt a continuation of it. On the other hand. the inauirinz mind of the freshman home economics student as t o what chemistry is all about will probably be satisfied by a study of this text.
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working in this very specialized field, there is, in general, a sense of lack of discussion of tendencies in investigations and conclusions to be drawn from them. This situation is perhaps accentuated by the recognized difficulty in classifying a large mass of material of such wide scope. Despite the above limitations, the reader cannot fail to he impressed by the diversity and significance of relationships between radiant energy and the function and structure of living organisms as shown in this volume. This is a field of interest which well merits attention from the standpoint of chemical education. ARTHURH. SMITH YA'B
UNIYBRS~TY
Nsw HAVBN,corrw.
INDUSTRIAL CHBMISTRY.Willium Thornfon Read, Dean of the School of Chemistry, Rutgers University. John Wiley and Sons. Inc.. New York City, 1933. vii 576 pp. 130 Figs. 15 X 23 cm. $5.00, plus postage. For "students . . who would like t o know more about the applications of chemistry t o industry. teachers of chemistry in high school and college not sficiently familiar with chemical ,industries to give accurate information about essentials business men interested in a general survey," this book was written. Breaking away from precedent Dr. Read has skilfully avoided making this work a mere encyclopcedia of the industries from alkalies t o zinc, f i t , by devoting ten chapters of the twentyseven to basic principles, testingmethods, and unit manufacturing processes and, second, by grouping and describing the most important types of related industries. leaving the introduction of minor processes and minutie in general t o the discretion of the instructor. For example. under the head of "Carbohydrate Industries" we find discussed the sugars, starch, cellulose and the cellulose textiles, pulp and paper, the cellulose esters, and wooddistillation products. A most happy innovation in the make-up of the book is the nearly complete substitution of linedrawings of apparatus and flow-sheets for the conventional boiler-plate cuts of many of the older books. These in the main were made especially for this work and are adequately described with explanatory legends. Doubtless the methods of teaching industrial chemistry in our colleges are less standardized than those in any of the other branches due in a measure t o the varied interests, experiences, and sources of information of the instructors. Most of us, doubtless, believe that i t should cover largely the modern history and the economic relationships of the chemical industries with emphasis on current events; and so the constant use of the technical journals such as Industrinl and Engineering Chemistry and Chemi~aland Meztallurgical Engineering (particularly the annual survey number) is imperative. But all of us need a good sound book of fundamentals to place in the student's hands, if only t o serve as a point of reference, and the reviewer feels that Dr. Read has produced one that will gain wide acceptance. Particularly will the teacher of general chemistry, whether in high school or college, find in i t a source of authentic information on the chemical industries t o supplement the more abstract theory. Not the least of its virtues is a selling price in line with the demands of the times. H. L. OLIN
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Stoll, Basel. Verlag vou Julius Springer, Berlin, Germany, 1933. 41 pp. 14 X 21.5 cm. R M 3. An entertaining essay of historical interest reporting on important biochemical activities carried out during the scientific career of Dr. Stoll. The book is dedicated t o his old teacher, Professor Richard WillstStter, and the subject matter is practically restricted t o a lecture presentation of biochemical advances in the field of chlorophyll, the heart alkaloids of the digitalis type, and alkaloids of ergot. The work is of no value as a baok of reference, no literature references are recorded, and it is simply a short essay which would be entertaining t o a layman who understands the German language.
PHYsroLoGIolL EPPECTSOF RADIANT ENERGY. Henry Iazcrens. Ph.D., Professor of Physiology in the Tulane University School of Medicine. The Chemical Catalog Co., Inc., New York City, 1933. viii 610 pp. 80 Tables; 104 Figs. 15 X 23 em. $6.
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The oumose of this monoeraoh. . . .. . as the author states in the prrfacr, ii to yrovidr a sourcr book of information on the subject. The newer interest in thc physioloaical effects and therapeutic value of radiant energy has attained a stage where such a contribution to the literature is very valuable. The author has encompassed a surprisingly wide range of pertinent data in his review. I n the early part of the book the physics of radiant energy is discussed and a considerable amount of critical attention given to the various available methods for measuring it. Emphasis is laid throughout the book on the importance of light of other wave-lengths than those in the ultra-violet known to be effective in treating rickets. This is especially apparent in the chapter on radiotherapy of wounds and diseases of the skin. There is an excellent discussion on the penetration into the skin of radiations of various wave-lengths, the significance of the erythemia and pigmentation resulting therefrom and the accompanying histological changes. The many alleged influences of radiant energy on blood and circulatory system are carefully evaluated in the light of recent studies, a number of which are contributions by the author himself. There are five chapters on radiation and metabolism; i t appears to the reviewer that undue attention is given t o mineral metabolism in rickets and the inttuence of vitamins and parathornone. Photodynamic action and the iduence of radiant energy on tuberculosis are well presented and there is a chapter on micra6rganisms and enzymes as a5ected by radiant energy. This monograph should prove useful as a source book; individual contributions are summarized (in a few instances a t great length and in considerable detail) as t o fact but t o one not ~
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ANNUALSURVEY o*. AMERICAN CHEMISTRY, VOL. VII, 1932. Edited by Clarence I. West. Published far the National Research Council by The Chemical Catalog Ca., Inc., New York City, 1933. 346 pp. 13 X 21 cm. $4.00.
It has always been the policy of the Survey t o review certain topics in rotation, in cycles of two or three year-. I n the present volutnc that policy is somewhat cxtmded, thc number of rhsptrrs having bccn redurrd from 37 ,1931 volume) to 27.
