BOOK REVIEWS sion of studies of less well-known minor figures as Asrhan. Cismician, Duhsmel, Iilmon, and P:~yen, hut one must question how this afferts the "bslxnre" of the over-all picture presented. This reviewer wishes t.hat Farher hart included separate chapters on Berher and Stnhl, Gerhnrdt and Lxorent, Kolbe m d Frankland, Goldl~erg and bynnge, nod especially Avogndro, withnot wirosp law modern rhemistry is inmnreivnhle. Anyone who re:~ds extensively in this book will be impressed anew with the shallowness o i th? stereotype of the seient,ist with whirh the public has been presented. Despite certain recurring resemhlanres in lxxkgruunds and temperaments, enrh uf the scientists disrossed remains
above all an individual, wl.cthsr be be a man of extensive srientitir intprests surh as Ostwnld or s spcrinlist surh as Clm~de S. Hudson. The trend in seienre has unfortunntely been t o depersonalize the individual scientist. I n our use of the terms (;lauher's salt, ilaltnn's atomic theory, Gmelins Handbuch, Faraday's laws, Bunsen burner, Canniesaro reartinn, Mendeieev's table, van der Wads' equation, Salvity pmress, LeChatelier's principle, and the Stork system, ta menbion m l g a n obvious few, we remember the concept hut forget the originator; in fact, the proper name has almost been relegated t o t,he status of a n adjective. Biographies jndiriously introdured into our courses might help t o combat the impermnality whirh many students with artistic and creative tendencies find somewhat repelling about srienre.
I t is a rr,rnmmplare that many of rrlday's chemists lark a knowledge and appreriation of the history of t,heir seienre. This reviewer knows of nu easier or more pleasant way of remedying this deficienry than by rending Farber's fasrinating volume, a worthy English rival t o Bugge's German classic, "Dns Burh der Grossen Chemikrr." GEORGEB. KAUFFMAN Fresno Slate College Fresno, CaLiJornia Leben und Werk der Chemikers Tobias Lowitr: 1757-1 804
A . A. Piyzrrousbij, Academy of Sciences, USSR. Translated into German by E . Bibow, Institut fiir Geschiehte sn der Ikutsrhen Akademie der Wissensrhaften, East Berlin. Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 1959 xi 159 pp. 16 X 24 em. 19.50 DM.
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The name Tobias Lowiti: has pratticall.~ disappeared from the chemical literature and even the histories give little if any attention t o the life and work uf this interesting and produrtive German-Russa apatherary-chemist. I n fact, there have been on1.y two previous presentations uf his career (A. N. Scherer (18'20) and Paul Wnlden (1901)). Xeither of these was adequate and i t is therefore a pleasure t,o welcome the volume under review, which is based on a thorough reading and digestion of all t h a t has been written by and abrn~tLowits. His lifespan was only 47 years, he did not begin to publish until he was almost 30, su that the l i 9 papers (listed in the complete bibliography) appeared during approximately l i years. They dealt with all branrhes of chemistry. Some of the proredores he developed for the preparation of pharmareutical items are still in use, though he is seldom given credit for these advanres. He combined chemical theory ( s o far as i t existed) and practical application when he could. He made constant efforts to find ways of increasing the consumption of Russian raw materiak and of substituting domestic for foreign products. For example, he sought t o obtain sucrose from honey, and as R resnit found that i t owed its sweetness to another suhstanre (invert sugar) and he often served his fellow iteademieisns tea sweetened with his newly-discovered prnduct,. Only s selected few of his numerous discoveries and accomplishments can he noted here. His work on crystallization is outstanding. His wax models of mnnero m crystals are still on exhibition. He discovered isomorphism, n phenomenon later rediscovered by hlitscherlich to whom the credit is usually given. He was the first toprepare anhydrous ethyl alcohol and also ethyl ether. There are strong indications that he independently discovered strontium and ehrami~un. He distinguished between cr~atallisableand gluey or soaplike materials, thus antieipating Graham's rolioids and rrystdloids. These "firsts" demonstrate his standing as a gifted and industrious chemist. The reviewer is fully aware that this bingraphy was written by s. Soviet his(Continued on page ,4402)
A400
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Journal of Chemical Education
BOOK REVIEWS torirn about the scrmmplishments clf sn early Russian scientist. Perhaps chjertir~nsmay he made to many of the priority clni~nsi t mmtains. I t is the duty clf ;L reviewer tn tell what the h w k contains, nut t o vouch for the a r n l m r y of tli,,se contents. The reviewer regrets that :rn English translation is nut a v d a h l e : if it were it should he required reading for young chemists and students, as well as their elders, hemuse it presents a fine arrrrrtnt of how R man of insight and interest, along with assiduity, can turn out important work with a rninimmn of supplies and eqoipnmnt.
I ~ A T L F: W. OESI.ER I.nicvrsil!, of Cinrinnnli ('inrimnfi, Ohio Organic Chemistry Laboratory Operations
II'. R. Kenfrow and I-'.J . Hawkins, both of Oberlin Cdleee. - , Oherlin. Ohio. The Marmillan Cm, Inr., Xew York, 1062. viii 216 pp. Figs. and t,nbles. 21.5 X 2i.5mr. $3.75.
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We are ready ior a new kind of lahorntory manual in organic chemistry. Sorh a book will inrhide a hasir change in the approach to liltmmtory instruction as u-ell as presenting t,he funrlnmentals of the newer omanir terhniowa. Renfrow and Hawkins have made n start in this dirertirm prim;~ril~by adding some newer terhniques to the runventionnl lalaretory emme. They also have just a glimmer of an improvement in appwarh in their devire of giving only minimal dirertiuns for f w r elementary experiments; the student is expet.ted t o itpply the terhniques he has nrqnirrd in these frur preparations. The hook is nnified in that theory a n d practiral pnredures are rombined in cilch experiment. Therretical t,reatments sr? not as exhaustive as, sag, Robertson and Jnrohs, but seem t o he as extensive and a s well written :as i,ther stdt cover Inhorntory manuals. The first tw-thirds of "Labmatory 0 p e r a t i , d 2 is conventir,nal in its organieabion and murh nf its runtent,. Rrginning with very uninspired technique experiments (whirh are worse than most otl~er manuals), the brmk moves to preparative wrrk with lrutyl bromide istill being refluxed for onr hour, even 13 years after Juseph's pill,liration in TlIls Jormn~r.!), and finishes page 130 after qualitative orgnniu anal>-sis. There are a FPW novel experiments, surh as th? sequence from ryrl~~hesanrd tn Z-(hen~enesulfo)-6-smi111~~~:~p~
