t,he most authoritative sources of scientific data. To cite a few examples, The Color Index, Chemical Abstracts, and British Chemical Abstracts are not mentioned. Their brief discussion of patents is also misleading. While the statement, "A patent is a legal document designed to protect an inventor's rights and is not primarily a scientific publication" may contain a grain of truth, this observation would hardly go unchallenged by those who recognize the public bcnefits of our present patent system. The illustrations in bot,h volumes, which are confined to a single section of each book, might better have been placed in the appropriate locations of the text. I n some instances, they a h depict out-ofdate equipment. The ten~ile tester illustrated, far example, is hand driven; few such machines are used today in the American textile industry. Despite this reviewer's unfavat~able comments, these texts are rondablc, and will no doubt stimulate those who are interested in a brief, over-all picture of the textile chemical mt. I t is unlikely, honever, that chemists who are seeking critical or thorough discussions of modern textile chemistry will derive much direct benefit irom them. EDWARD A. MURRAY A w m n a o ~ Rour" , CA~OL~N*
LABORATORY PROBLEMS IN GENERAL CHEMISTRY Howord Nechomkin, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Pratt Institute. Second
edition. Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, 1956. xiv 305 pp. 1 8 figs. 1 5 X 22 cm. $2.75.
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THEfirst edition of this manual was rcviewed in Tnrs JOURZ'AL, 32, 220 (1955). In the second, the same basic approach to laboratory work is maintained and the list of exercise8 has undergone but slight revision. Two exercises of the first edition have been deleted and eight new ones added. The latter include work an equilibrium, organic chemistt.y, polarimetry, and analysis. One of t,hem gives a brief treatment of n, scheme for the separation and identification of the commoncr cations, with thioacetamide as the source of sulfide ions. This treatment seems brief to the point of requiring much explanatory and cautionary material from the instructor. Most of the exercises employ "unknowns" and are quantitative in nature. The very brief reports required are made on perforated sheets provided in the manual. To the appendix have been added a section on significant figures and a table of common logarithms. A Teacher's Guide is available. To it has been moved the list of materials necessary for 40 students. 1 Also in the Ghide are: a l i d of suggested unknowns, suggested grading scales, answers to study questions and problems, and a list of references to sevrral first-year college textbooks. The exercises are well chosen and should be challenging to students. The manual (Continued on Page ,484) JOURNAL OF CHEMlCAL EDUCATION
should he mast ati is factory for use in classes whose memhers have had a p r e vious introduction to chemistry. W. NORTON JONES. JR. M c i M m n ~COLLEGE ABILEBE,T I X * 8
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF POLAROGRAPHIC LITERATURE, 1922-1955 Compiled and published by E. H. Sargent & Co., 1956. 192 pp. 28 X 21.5 cm. Paper bound. $5. THIS bibliography aill he of great v a l w to workers in the field. The 6815 entries cite authors, titles, literature reference, m d often the Chemical Abstraels reference. Somo edit,orial notes have been added when thc tit,lo does not clearly imply tho coverage of the paper. An extensive subject, index should make the book n first source of information for any r h o contemplate the use of this important analyticel tool as a research aid. R.
F. I
