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RECENT BOOKS
GENERALCHEMIWRY.A FIRST COURSB. Lcona E. Young, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Mills College, and C. W. Pmter, Professor of Chemistry, University of California. Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York City, 1940. xi f 644 pp. 186 figs. 15 X 23 cm. 8.50. The authors state in the preface: "In many colleges and universities a first course in chemistry, for which high-school chemistry is not a prerequisite, is included in a 'Letters and Science' curriculum. This outline represents an attempt to provide a texthaak for such a course. The scope of the text is broad enough and the topics treated in sufficient detail t o justify college credit." I n style, vocabulary, and material covered. this "First Course" is nearer to the high-school texts than to the currently used first-year college texts. I t is non-mathematical and essentially descriptive in character. I t s applications appear t o be oriented toward the interests of the "consumer." I n the simplified, restricted treatment there is no indication of the current controversies on the theory and teaching of chemistry. There is practically no background or reference material; the student could learn or memorize all the material in the book. The hook teaches without any qualification that there is a molecule of salt with the formula NaCI. Except for the formulas in the brief organic chapters, and the diagrams for electronic configurations of the mercurous ion, Hg,++, and a few simple "molecules" such as H1O, NaCI, MgF*, and HsS, one finds only empirical formulas, used without explanation in terms of atomic, molecular. or crystal structure. The only statement bearing on the crystal lattice which the reviewer found is the short sentence on page 309 stating that "in crystals the atoms are arranged in a regular way.. .." Elsewhere only macrocrystals are called crystalline; anhydrous salts such as Na9COa are called "non-crystalline." The electromotive series of the metals is not mentioned until page 485. The law of mass action and the related solubility product and ion product constants are not mentioned a t all. One result is that the student will not learn (page 253) that alkaline solutions have a pH value. The traditional definitions of acids, bases, and amphoteric substances are taught without mention of Brylnsted's generalizations. The student will read the unqualified statement that a solution of NaCl has twice the boiling point ekeation of an equivalent sugar solution without wandering why Arrh$uus and others thought that ionization of salts is not complete. All numerical problems are kept on a simple level, atomic weights being reported as whole numbers, with sometimes unfortunate results. I n the reviewer's experience, students come t o college from high-school chemistry courses with a number of misconceptions. The students using this hook will acquire the following ones: (page 17) that some chemical symbols were derived from the Latin names "to avoid confusion." e. g., that iron was not given the symbol I t o distinguish it from iodine; (page 17) that coal is a form of carbon; (page 39) that a saturated solution contains aU it can hold (leading t o an absurd definition for the supersaturated solution); (page 51) that a catalyst does not enter into a chemical reaction; and (page 52) that "sea level" enters into the definition of the standard atmosphere. The book is remarkably free from typographical and clerical errors. I t is interesting and well written. I n view of the difficulties inherent in a simplified discussion of phenomena which are not always simple, one must compliment the authors for their general accuracy and clarity. The chief weaknesses of the hook are its traditional character in a day of great scientific change and its assumption that a college student who has not had a high-school chemistry course should take a course of the high-school type in college. Hieh-school teachers in the better h i ~ hschools who prefer
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a tent of the traditional type will find thin an interestingand wellwritten book suitable far adoption in their classes. Teachers who lind the current first-yew collegc texts too difficult foc t h ~ t r vlnice% will also srlromr this new hook; those r h o find the currunt tvxts gmt.mlly sati~laitorywill not find i t a n adrquxrc text or reference book ~~
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LABORATORY MANUALFOR GENERALCHEMISTRY.A FIRST COURSE. Leone E. Yozmg. Associate Professor of Chemistry, Mills College, and C. W. Porter, Professor of Chemistry, University of California. Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York City. 1940. iv f 255 pp. 41 figs. 19 X 25.4 cm. $1.95. The laboratory manual, designed to accompany the textbook of these authors, is bound in spiral binding. Its pages are perforated so they may be detached. Space is left between the paragraphs in the text for the writing of the laboratory notes. There are seventy-eight experiments amply illustrated with good figures. The directions to the student are goad; the questions on snurces of experimental error are excellent. Users of the texthwk will want to consider adopting the laboratory manual. LUKEE. STEINER
GENERAL COLLEGECHEMISTRY.L. B. Richardson and A . 3. Scarhtl. Professors of Chemistrv. Dartmouth College. H e m Holt add Company. New ~ork-~ity,..;940.vi 683 pp. l& figs. 16 X 23.5 p. 8 . 7 5 . .. I n this second revision of Richardson's GENERALCHEMISTRY, the authors have produced a text which is both well written and up-to-date. The mast striking characteristic of the hook is described in a quotation from the preface of the first edition, and repeated in the preface of this one, "The author would reiterate the belief that the tczt is the vital element in chemical instruction, and that in such bmks explanations more detailed than is always the case are of advantage to the student. Material of a n explanatory and illustrative character, commonly confined t o lectures.. is therefore included in this book. which owes its leneth - to that factor rather than ro the greater numher of topics treated." This additional material i< smoothly woven into thc more conreutional wbject matter and, in thr upiniou of the reviewer, adds greatly to the value of the book. I n conformity with the current trend in elementary textbooks, the sections on atomic structure, solutions, a d d s and hases, and crystal structure are given increased prominence. As these come rather early in the book, the student does not get much descriptive chemistrv until he has finished a t least a third of the course. AIthough the chapter- on colurion and itomic structure precedc that on iuniration in solution, the lottcr 3s introduced through the Arrhcnim concepts, in th- usual way. The general toneof the book remains conservative. Each chapter is followed by a list of references for additional reading and a group of exercises or problems. The book has many photographs and line drawings, and an index which is commendably complete. As in the case with all such hooks, there are a few mistaken or misleading statements. On the whole, however, this teat is an excellent one and deserves wide adoption. JOHN C. BAILAR,JR.
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