JANUARY, 1950
49
planning the installation of a radiochemistry laboratory: "Before any oonstruction has begun, it is advisable to obtain the advice of those who have operated tracer laboratories to find out the problems that developed during and after the construction of other laboratories!' Chapter IV, Working in a Fhdiolaboratory, allots 12 pages to some steps which the authors feel should be followed by the worker in protecting himself and others, and might possibly better have been included in Chapter 11. Most of the remainder of the book deals with experiments suitable for instructional purposes, and the reviewer believes that i t is this portion which will be of most value to those planning to give laboratory courses in radiochemistry or allied subjects. Chapter V, Basic Experiments, is a 42-page general account of radiochemistry measurements with the Lauritsen electroscope and Geiger-Mueller counter. Chapter VI, Chemical Experiments, gives a 27-page guide to tracer experiments of chemical interest, such as solubility determinations, exchange reactions, analyses, and measurement of transference numbers. Chapter VII, Physical Experiments, (27 pages), includes the determination of very long and very short half-lives and experiments on the Sailard-Chalmers recoil separation method. Chapter VIII, Biological Experiments, devotes 13 pages to plant radioautographs, excretion and deposition studies, deposition of iodine in the thyroid, and body fluid volume andadsorption. Chapter IX, Special Preparations, gives 12-pages of directions on preparing the various active tracer solutions required for the experiments. The chapters involving experiments include some calculations and questions intended for students. Typical references are given after certain sections rather than complete documentation by superscript reference numbers at the point of interest, so that it becomes difficult for the student to learn much about the historical development of the subjects or to consult recent pertinent roferences for details. The experiments themselves generally appear well chosen and seem to require only the more commonly available pile-produced radioisotopes. Adequate directions are given the student for eachexperiment. The book is completed by eight appendixes (Outlineof Lecture oourse; Form for Writing up Laboratory Experiments; Surgical gloves; Basic radio-laboratory apparatus list; List of supplies (detectors only); Scales of 64 and 32; Some Radioisotopes of Tracer Interest; Table of Fundamental Constants) and a rather brief index. The addition of photographs and of more tables and figures would have made tho book more useful to those who wish to use it without enrolling in a laboratory course. The paper, binding, and printing of the book appear to be satisfactory. The reviewer feels that this book contains little which is probably not alret~dyknown to most persons engaged in radiochemical work, and he is unable to recommend it as a reference hook. However, the work should be of value as a textbook manual for lahoratory courses in radiochemistry and related fields. The chemist who has never used radioisotopes and who wants to begin to do so will find in this book a useful guide to the more common techniques for handling radioactive suhstances. CLIFFORD 8. GARNER CAT.~FORNI* U N I V ~ ~ OF TY Los A ~ o s ~ sCs .~ ~ r r o n ~ m
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PLANT DESIGN Fronk C. Vilbmndt, Head, Department ol Chemical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Inshtute, Blachburg, Virginia. Third edition. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York. 1949. 608 pp. 185 tables. 104figs. 16 X 23.5 cm. $6.
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TBE third edition of this well-known and popular text has been expanded considerably though the chapter titles are the same. Considerable expansion has occurred in the chapters on piping installations, flow diagrams, and selection of process equipment. The chapter an preconstruction cost estimating is by far the m j o r e x p m i o n in the hook, being 135 pages of new material. In the September, 1946, issue of Chemical Enginewing, a de-
sign engineer, Henry Eckhardt, suggested the accumulation, correlation. and oublication of oreconstruction cost data hv eneirrwr* who p w r i s current data. TLis plen has t w n follosed hy a Isret! nunh,r of nnicles in various profr~~ional joumxls gi\.ing wrrnrt figures. The author l.ss gnthernl these inlporrant dstn itrto hi.; ch:~ptero n c05t estimwing so tLst it reprerent* at the p n n u r ri~nclwrh a text and Itandbook of dnta on tl.is puhject. For tla, fir61 rime n student can be ndrquatelv t m i ~ e dto estiruntp construction costs without an item-bvhmlist of the materials required. The new edition will be even more widely used in chemical engineering cow'ses than its predecessors and in addition will be welcomed by practicing engineers who udl use the compilation and new data on cost cstimating.
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X E h N E T H A . KOBE U ~ m e n m ~orr TEXAS A a s ~ m TEXAB .
TIN
C. L. Mantell, Member, American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Munsey Park, Manhasset, New York. 573 Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York. 1949. x pp. 141 figs. 58 tables. 16 X 23.5 om. $10.
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THE original edition was published in 1928 and this revision follows the original plan and treatment of topics; thc material has been brought up to date by the author who has served as consultant an practically all phases of tin ore concentration, product application, recovery, and refining. There are twenty-one chapters covering properties of the metal, production, mining, metallurgy, refining, plating, alloys, compounds, corrosion, detinning, and analytical methods. The emphasis of the book is distinctly chemical and, as such, should be of interest to teachers of inorganic chemistry; much valuable information can be found for use in such a course. BOBTON, MA~BAORUBETTB
ARTHUR A. V E R I O N
CONSTRUCTIVE USES OF ATOMIC ENERGY Edited by S. C.Rothmonn. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1949. ix 257 pp. 52 figs. 14.5 X 21 cm. $3.
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CONSI~ERING the prodigious number of words that have been written for the layman and uninitiated technical man on the subject of "atomic energy" surprisingly few of these have appeared in book form. The popular journals, a wide variety of trade journals, and special industrial and government pamphlets have been the predominant outlets. Although a book in form, the present work is not a departure from the trend since it consists of a collection of articles gleaned from the ahove-mentioned sources. Despite the fact that none of the articles comprising the 12 chapters were written specifically for this book the editor has been successful in assembling a readable and informative volume, all parts of which are on a uniform expository level. Thc various chapters cover a wide range of subjects all of which this reviewer found interesting. They include articles pertaining t o the generation of power by the consumption of nuclear fuels as well as the manifold uses for which radioactive substances may be employed. Only the purist will be distressed by the assemblaze of such diverse tonics under the mantle of "atomic enerev." f1.r f m hnpter ot ;be book iq bared on a lecture by .b;i.ur 11. (.'mq,ton dmliug. witlr the profound elfects which the rvlonx of nrornw rrrergy for military and more humane purposm :Ire to have on our social patterns. This chapter alone is concerned primarily with nontechnical matters. Tho following article by L. W. Chubb, Director of the Westinghouse Research Laboratory, is a brief and simple account of the evolution of nuclear science in creating our present day picture of nuclear structure and reactions. Two of the chapters deal specifically with problems
