JANUARY, 1950
51
respiration and photosynthesis. Hence the student of any aspect of nutrition will find that a general knowledge of the role of soil elements in plant physiology is essential to a broad knowledge io the field as s. whole. The invest,igator who desires a rapid, readily comprehensiblc, and yet critical review of the many problems concerned with mineral ahsorption by plants will find Hoagland's "Inorganic Plant Nutrition" a most useful source of information, a. fact demonstrated by the demand for a second printing of the book. The leotures given by Professor Hoaglaglend originally a t H a r v a d University, under the Prather Lectureship, comprise the seven chaptors. The treatment of the subject begins with a survey of thr: problems of plant nutrition that are related to soil colloids and the factors controlling the generation, sbsorpt,ion, and exchange of ions. &Text, tho role of micronutrient elements is illustrated by a discussion of the multiple effects of minute concentrations of zinc. Many of the well-known experiments with large algal cells and excised barley roots are reviewed in order to give a prccise concept of present theories about the absorption and ttecumulation of salts by plant cells. In these cases, emphasis is given to the fact that absorption against concentration gradients is possible only when metabolic oncrgy is available. Continuing in logical sequcnco, the upward movement and distribution of inorganic solutes in plant tissues is discussed in relation to absorbed oxygen and light. encrgy, root pressure, and trans+ piration. The use of radioactive isotopes in such studies for the last decade has substantiated several hypotheses concerning these phenomena. Artificial culture techniques are evaluated in a separate chapter. Tho aspccts of amino arid synthesis that. are related to ammonium and nitrate nitroeen assimilation are
is given extensive treatment, since it is correlated with such factors as replaceahle and nonreplaceahle forms in the soil and plant ssp buffer systems. The hook will furnish excellent collateral reading for the studcnt in general or organic chemistry. Further Gquiry in tho fidd is aided by well-ehoscn bibliography a t the end of each chapter. Professor Hoagland's long career as a distinguished plant physiologist lends oonsiderahlc weight to the many a p praisals of the work of others on the suhject of nutrition. The book is attraotively printed and hound, as are all the works in this well-known series of plant scimcc books. GEORGE L. CHURCH Bnorvn Umrrnas~~r PROVIDENW. RADDE1 8 1 ~ ) i n
its eompounds, the crust of the earth, the most important organic oompounds, and the importance of chemistry in the life of a nation. This book. which is used in Gcrmsnv in sehaols eorrc-
0
LEHRBUCH DER CHEMIE, OBERSTUFE
Rudolf Winderlich, F~iedr. Vieweg & Sohn. Braunschweig. Germany, 1949. 291 pp. 154 figs. 15 X 21 cm.
IN THE introduction to this volume the author refers to the following words writtcn by Johsnn Wolfgang van Goethc: "Patriotic a ~and t patriotic seionco do not exist. Both belong, as docs everything good, to the cntire world, and their progress deocnds on a, free intorchrtneo af ideas of all livine. a t the same time
fer in chemical reactions; the most important nonmetallic clcments and the ionic theory; chemistry of metals; radioactivity and atomic structure. Tho discussion of organic chemistry is subdivided into tho following two headings: compounds with embon chains and eompounds bascd on carbon rings. One single citation from this book should move that the reviemr is not ex-
even in colleges. Discussing t,he atom's structure in thc most, simple but nevertheless clearly understandable tcrms, he refcrs to alecture u.hich the late Max Planck gave in November, 1941, when he discussed chain react,ions and said: "In this way the effects multiply themselves, and i t can happen that by the constantly increasing bombardment of the neutrons on the uranium atoms, the number of released ncutrans, and thereby the amount of formed energy, will incroaso in short time like an avalanchp, taking the number of availnble atoms into consideration. This can reaoh in a short time enormous, rtctually incomprehensible dimensions, so that they might lead for that specific location, or cven for our ent,ire planet, t,o a a!rious cat.astrophr."
LEHRBUCH DER CHEMIE, UNTERSTUFE Rudolf Winderlich, Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig, Germany, 1948. 154 pp. 72 figs. 15 X 21 cm.
INTEE introdu~tion,the author quotes the following words of Benelius: "Anyone who gives a scientific demonstration must go to the utmost trouble to make it as clear and as easy to comprehend as possible for those who should understand it, because it would bc foolish to make the demonstrations of science simple for the one who mekesit hut a t the expense of those who shouldlearn about it." The author certainly has followcd this thesis. The hook is divided into thirteen chapters. Tho first discusses the problems with which ohemistry is faced, refers to the most important metals, sulfur, carbon, phosphorus, acids, alkalis, orystdliaation, distillation, and esrhon dioxide gas. Chspter 2 is devoted to air andfire,includinga detailed discussion of oxygen and its properties and its assimilation into the human body by breathing. Chapter 3 covers the properties of water. Chapter 4 is devoted to the basic laws of chemistry, including reduction by hydrogen, oxidation by oxygen, formation of chemical compounds, and the atomic theory. Thisis followed by chapters on iron the most important compounds of sulfur, salt and hydrochloric acid, alkali mot& and their compounds, nitrogen compounds, carbon and
0
CALCULATIONS IN GENERAL CHEMISTRY
1. C. Hackney, Indiana University. The University B w k Store, Indiana University, Calumet Center, 3901 Indianapolis Boule146 pp. 5 figs. 21 X vard, East Chicago, Indiana, 1949. xi 27 cm. $2.25.
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As TAE title indicates, this mimeographed manual contains 29 chapters ranging from Computation Rules (Chapter 1) to Atomic Structure (Chapter 29). The hook is designed to supplement the use of a regular textbook. Extensive lists of problems are provided. One or more examples of each of the various types of caleulstions is worked out in detailed form. Answers to selected problems are included on pp. 13S141. A table of logarithms and a periodic chart (Merck & Company, Inc.) are included in the aooendix.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
52 chromate, sulfuric acid, and ferrous sulfate m d explains how it may be balanced by the changes in the valence numbers (redox number). Included also is the statement, "a different method applicable only to reactions in which there is a loss and gain of electrons, will be considered in the next chapters." This approach may be questioned, a t least, by some teachers. A few topics not usually included in the first year course are discussed in some detail, e.g., activation energy in oatalysis, and phase diagrams. It seems to tho reviewer that the student would need more background in order to understand these topics. Unfortunately, the mimeographic work is not the best. The appearance of certain pages, e.g., p. 114 (ll), could be much improved by drawing the brackets and lines with a ruler. This manual should be usoful in classes for which instructors feel the need of a book of this type.
outlook and the close relation of their art with their religious beliefs. Chapter IX, Alchemy in the Fourteenth Century, and Chapter XIII, From Alchemy to Chemistry, will be of special interest to chemists and many of those who are familiar with the standard histories of early chemistry will be surprised s t the importance accorded to the Lullian writings. Chapter XII, Stories of Transmutation, contains accounts of three of the most famous storics of the transmutation of mrtals: those of Nioolas Flarnel, van Helmont, and Helvetius. So far as the reviewer knom thc English translations of these autobiographical experiences of transmutation are not to bc found in any other one book on alchemy and the long aocount in full by Nieolas Flame1 must be read in French ("LIAlcbimie et lea Alrhimistcs," Louis Figuicr, Paris, 1860). It is certainly to be regretted that Dr. Taylor did not includc A. J. CURRIER more on the development of alchemy in Spain and Southern TEEPENNBPLVAKIA SPAT. COLLEGE France. The importance of the University of Montpellier in the S m ~ ecomma^, P ~ r n s r ~ v m u development of modern chemistry has never received adequate treatment in any book in English. Much more to be regretted is the repetition of an error that has chacterised every history of chemistry and almost every short aocount of the history of 0 THE ALCHEMISTS chemistry since the work of Kopp: that Lemery's "Course of Chymistry" was an improvement on the textbook of Libavius F. S h e m o d Taylor, Curator of the Museum of History of since "it is divided into mineral, vegetable, and animal chemistry, Science, Orford. Henry Schuman, New York, 1949. x 246 the germ of our separation into organic and inorganic chemistry." pp. 15 plates. 27 figs. 14 X 22 em. $4. The credit for this division belongs to Christopher Glaser, whom NOTsinec F. Sherwood Taylor published "Galilco and Freedom "Trait6 de la Chymie" was published in Paris in 1663. The date of Thought" (Wattsand Co., London, 1938, now out of print) has of the first edition of Lemery's famous textbook is not 1677 but he out a hook of such interest to the zcneralreader in the 1675. An English translation, however, was published in 1677. ~- hmnsht, -~ The index is adequate and the author has added four pages to jicld of r1.v lrirtory of wir.rwv :!.i rlli, cxr~cllcurbook on dvhcrny. For the p ~ s fwcnry t yCRrj D r . T.i).lor lraa h u orcupLo wit11 tlfr the body of the book in nrhioh he recommends references for furtitudv of LIW h t i r n r v d tlw i,l~ilnamhsofscim,:cmd rhiscxnc~i- ther reading in the subject. enceUwit,h manvof theorieinilsour&s~minentlvfittedhim for the .. CLARA nrMILT tnik of writn!~: t h i q \ . I I I I ~ Wiot 'I'he L l j oj.\'cirncr ~ 1.1Lrory. Thl: N ~ w c o mC o ~ ~ mTOLANE e, UNIVERSITY book sllow; how broxtl is his incerrsr i n rhr hlsrorirxl drvr.lopnieut Nnw O n m n ~ a LoormXA . of scientific idens, p s r r i r u l d \ ~those of rhr perids rrrennling 1 , the beginning of the seventeenth century. This book should be easily accessible to all teachers of general MENDELIREV. THE STORY OF A GREAT SCIENTIST and organic chemistry, to all students of chemistry seeking some 0 knowledge of the foundations of the science, and to all laymen Daniel 0.Posin, Whittlesey House, McGrawJiiU Book Co., interested in the development of modern science; moreover, it Inc., New York, 1949. xii 343 pp. 9 plates. 16 X 23.3 cm. should be in the personal library of every teacher giving a course $4.30. in the history of chemistry. "The Alchemists," written with the ACCORDING to the dust jacket, this book is the Erst biography usual facility of expression oharaoteristic of this author, besides giving an excellent and up-to-date summary of what has been in English of Mendeleev. According to the title page, it is thc written about the origin and development of alchemy in the story of agrest scientist. Actually, it isneitber. I t may, perhaps, Greek city of Alexandria, Egypt, and in the great centers of be classified as an historical novel, but the emphasis on history is Arabic learning in the Middle Ages, also includes the recent work very slight. The hero is named Mendeleev, and a few of the inon Chinese alchemy. A comment on this subject is worth quot- cidents of his life are similar to those of the great scientist Mening: "The parallel between Chinese and Western alchemy is cer- deleev; but here all resemblance stops. The general reader, for tainly remarkable, but the fact that the former was chiefly a whom the book is intended, will learn nothing of the complex, means of prolonging life and the latter mainly a means of obtain- many-sided character of Mendeleev, nothing of the scientific ing wealth seems to rule out the possibility of one having been circlesin which he moved, and nothing but the most obvious facts derived from the other. That the Chinese tradition contributed about his scientific career. Instead, the author chooses to preto Western alchemy by way of Islam the idea of an elixir of life is, sent a purely fictional chereoter, most of whose life is spent in however, quite probable; the necessary contacts between China helping poor peasants and students, and in a fervant patriotic glow far Mother Russia. To strengthen this view of his hero, he and Islam certainly existed.. ." Alchemy, according to Dr. Taylor, is not in any sense defined invents a cast of imaginary characters, including a horse which is by the following famous remark of Liebig: "Alchemy was never practicdly human, a noble old man who goes about Russia enda t any time different from chemistry!' On the contrary, the lessly repeating the same story and helping all those in trouble, a main thesis of the book is the ditIerence between modem chemis- number of simple-minded peasants who are introduced a t intry and alchemy, and the last chapter of the book is devoted to a tervals to show Mendeleev's great sympathy and understanding, restatement of this idea. Alchemy is a phase in the evolution of and an assortment of stock figures of scientists who a t appropriate modern Western civilization; consequently the philosophy of moments utter words of wonder a t the remarks of the hero. alchemy is more important than the practical accomplishments of Sometimes their comments arc made more meaningful by being the alchemists in the invention of furnaces, apparatus for distilla- put into a foreign language. Thus, after Cannizzaro has spoken tion, and the like. Far in spite of the fact that the author states a t the Karlsruhe Congress, Mendeleev is talking to "a young over and over again with excellent illustrations (figures and ex- French scientist" Leboir (otherwise unknown to h~story). "How planations) that "alchemy continued to make useful physical thrilling?' hc (Mendelem) said, in French. "Science knows no compromise between the true and the untrue." Leboir, too, was discoveries in the attempt to perform the physically impossible," the emphasis in ths book is not an the practical contributions of excited. "Mais ouil" he said. "Vous avez raison" (p. 14(tl). the alchemists to laboratory technique, but on their philosophical After this brilliant remark, Leboir disappears from history.
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