VOL.7, No. 10
RECENT BOOKS
The most striking feature of this new text is that we 6nd things in about the same order in which they have been placed in the majority of American texts. In the first 173 pages we find History of Chemistry, Modem Chemistry. Fundamental Conceptions, Oxygen; Ozone, Metric System; Gas Laws; Kinetic Theory, Hydrogen, Valence; Nomenclature. Water; Hydrogen Peroxide, Solutions; Colloids and Atomic Theory; Gas Volumes. The next 348 pages are devoted to the study of the non-metallic elements: Sodium, Bases, and Salts; Ionization, The Periodic System, and The Structure of Atoms; Crystals. The remaining 219 pages deal with the metals and their compounds. Looking for new departures in the order of presentation, the chapter on Solutions in which the ideas of colloidal condition arr more extensively discussed draws one's attention. The discussion of The Periodic System is immediately followed by a discusion of The Structue of Atoms; Crystals. Carbon is the last of the "nonmetals" t o be discusred. The metals are taken up in the order from Group IA t o Group VIII as placed in T h e Periodic System. Considerable emphasis is placed upon the grouping and "tests for the metals." The 243 illustrations are mostly well selected and placed, especially those used to describe or arouse interest in the practical operations of chemistry. Many references for supplementary readings are listed. The followingare a few of the questions which occur t o the reviewer. Why repeat so much elementary material covered in elementary courses such as General Science, Elementary Physics or Elementary Chemistry? Why does H stand for hydrogen (see page 27) and not for a definite quantity of hydrogen? Are solutions never compounds? (See page 129.) Why are interpretations required by t h e results of recent work on solution neglected in defning degree of dissociation, acids, and bases? Why are not "ion electron
2527
partials" used in interpreting oxidationreduction reactions? The book is comprehensive and the viewpoint of the author appears in the consistent manner in which he presents and develops the subject. The style is dear and concise. The student will find the presentation attractive. CLIFPORD D. CARPENTER COGUIBIA U N l Y B B S l N
NSW YORECITY
La Grande Oeuvre de la Chimie (The Great Work of Chemistry). Preface by JEAN G$RARDand 61 articles by specialists in various branches of chemistry. Published by Chimie et Industrie, 49 Rue des Mathurins, Paris, France, 1929. 250 pp., quarto. 20.5 X 27 em. The object of this book is to enlighten the general public upon the iduence which chemistry exercises upon humanity. It describes in a comprehensive manner the past achievements of chemistry and forecasts the benefits which will result from a mom intensive application of this science. It is the result of an organized effort to popularize chemistry made by French chemists under the leadership of their vigorous Sod&& de Chimie Industrielle. Such an undertaking is most commendable and deserves to be crowned with the greatest success. In general it may be said that the need for cultivating the popular appreciation of science is not as great in Frauce as in some of the other countries. The average Frenchman has inherently a very high regard for science and learning. In fact, among French people undignified references to science offend good taste. The vernacular and even witty style sametimes employed in popular articles on science in America is not appreciated in France. For this reason the wonderfully successfd books of Doctor Slosson and other of our writers have not, as yet, been translated and offered t o the French public. This di5erence in taste must be taken into consideration in judging the
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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
present publication. It is quite probable that most of the articles here offered would he found much too serious by the average American reader. A translation of the hook would probably be no more of a success in our country than "Creative Chemistry" would be in France. The entire field of applied chemistry is covered. The 61 titles appear t o include every conceivable application of chemistry. Each article is written by a specialist and is characterized more by accuracy of f a d and expression than by stimulation of the reader's interest. The book should be appreciated in America particularly by teachers and those desiring detailed information upon recent accomplishments in particular fields of chemistry. It should also prove helpful t o students desiring to improve their knowledge of the French language while acquiring information upon chemistry. Those competing in the Prize Essay Contests would undoubtedly find it helpful and it might, therefore. well be added to the collection of reference books in those schools and colleges where the students are encouraged to take part in this contest. The preface by M. Jean Gerard is especially forcefully conceived. The outstanding place occupied hy chemistry in all human affairs is expressed in a most striking manner. Thus he states:
These are examples of the great truths which it is the purpose of the present hook to expose. A ~ E R S~ e r oNe u L'Iz"STrmT P*Bf-6". 28 R u s Dmor
Paazs, P a * ~ c e
Crucibles. The Lives and Achievements of the Great Chemists. Bmlrano J ~ E Simon . and Schuster, New 377 pp. York City, 1930. viii
+
23.5 X $5.00.
O ~ ~ O B E1930 R.
15.5 cm. 24 illustrations.
This manuscript was chosen for the "Francis Bacon Award for the Humanizing of Knowledge" as the most meritorious piece of writing aiming to humanize a given branch of knowledge. It is an attractive book in press work and format. Its story of chemistry is centered about the following seventeen personalities ranging in period from the year 1400 t o the present time: Trevisan, Paracelsus, Becher, Priestley, Caveudish. Lavoisier, Dalton, Berzelins, Avogadro. W6hler, Mendel&&, Arrhenius, Mme. Curie, J. J. Thompson, Maseley, and Langmnir. The author has used the modern journalistic method of beginning each chapter with an epigram or an attractive incident and then developing the story backward or forward as the situation demands. The style aims a t the dramatic and is on so high a tension that it is fatiguing a t times. His scientists are always "dreamers" and the thread of the narrative is occasionally lost in too great a wealth of interesting hut a t times samewhat extraneous material. To the student of chemistry a more accurate title would be "the lives of certain great chemists," since the selection of men, especially those born in the last century, is peculiarly limited. In the choice of subjects, the author would seem intentionally or otherwise to have had two purposes in view; uiz., first, to depict some of the "follies of science" and, secondly, t o trace the development of certain chemical laws and theories. with special reference to the structure of the atom. Thus Bernard Trevisan gives to the "art of the gold maker" a local habitation and a name. The search for the philosopher's stone was always an alluring one, but it should he recalled that it was only one phase in the accumulation of a great store of chemical fact and chemical technology during the early centuries. Browning's "Paracelsus" is a wonderful
