1032 Inwguuic Chemistry. By Mi. S O R T O S JOKES, JH. 817 p p Philadelphia. Pa. : The Blakiston Company, 1947. Price: $4.25. This book is another addition to the already overcrowded field of general inorganic chemistry texts for the beginning college courses. However, there are a number of features about the book that warrant its publication. .4fter a brief introduction and a short discussion of the varieties of matter and of measurement aid calculation, the reader is introdured t o the structure of the atom and then the relation of chemical change to atomic structure. I‘ollpwing this is the chapter on the periodic relation of the elenlents. 111 all subsequent descriptive chapters constant reference is made t o atomic structure and periodic relationships, and the chemical and physical behavior of each new element or family of elenients is discussed in the light of electronic structure, and interrelationships arc pointed out, This treatment, for example, certainly gives a clearer and more concrete picture of the number of bonds or valence of an element than the time-honored nebulous definition, “The measure of the combining power of a n atom.” I t is the reviewer’s firm conviction that a real uuderstvnding of the properties and reactions of the elements and their compounds, mass relationships, theory of acids and bases, etc., can only be obtained by a clear conception of simple atomic structure and electronic configuratioi1,-certainly not froin memory. Except when the more modern theories and laws have had a direct and logical evolution, all historical matter has been omitted. Many times the course of chemical history has been so meandering that it has served only to confuse rather than to clarify. However, in order not to ignore this phase of the subject completely, the book is liberally interspersed with photographs of outstanding scientists, accompanied by brief sketches of their lives and contributions. The chapters are fairly standard, although they have been thoroughly shuffled t o give a different order of presentation. I n the early descriptive chapters, the individual elements in the third period are discussed separately, without reference to other members of their family. The latter part of the book then deals with the periodic groups in the standard way. This throws the two elements hydrogen and oxygen, generally introduced first, into chapters 23 and 25, respectively. Several minor lapses occur in the text: e.g., on page 93, in treating the ionization potential, the statement is made that sodium has the lowest ionizing potential of the elements of period three, whereas on page 251 the statement is made that the 31 electron is removed from the atom (of aluminum) more easily than the 30 electron of sodium. On page 64 the oxidation is now considered t o be any process by which the valence author states “ of a n atom is increased.” Obviously, he means positive valence. At the end of each chapter references are given t o collateral reading, including such magazines as Life, Fortune, and Popular Science. Forty-nine pages of questions and problems-all without answers-are appended. Physically, the make-up of the book is good. It is “bound in high grade materials which are sturdy, vermin-proof, and water resisting.” T. D. O’BRIEN.
Kinetic Theory of Liquids. By .J. FRENKEL, Physico-technical Institute, Leningrad. 488 pp. London: Oxford University Press, 1946. Price: $13.00. xi This excellent book by Professor Frenkel should be welcomed by all chemists and physicists who are interested in modern theories of matter in a condensed state and mrho will appreciate a critical discussion of the subject in a volume of moderate compass. I n spite of the restrictive title of the treatise, the author devotes a considerable portion of the treatment t o matter in the crystalline state. A list of the chapter headings will perhaps best serve to indicate the main topics treated by the author. These headings are: Real Crystals at Elevated Temperatures; Perturbation of Alternation and Orientation Order in Mixed and Molecular Crystals; Properties of
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