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NEW BOOKS
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HARVEY.9 x 6 in.; xv 328 pp.; 72 fig. Princeton, Lioing Light. By E. SEWTOK New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1940. Price: 54.00. Under this vivid title the author carries the reader through one of the most intcresting chapters of the larger subject of “cold light.” Several hundred examples of “living light” are cited from a large variety of life species from bacteria to fireflies and deep-sea inhabitants. A serious effort is made to establish a physical, chemical, and biological basis for the phenomena of bioluminescence. The book is richly illustrated with about eighty excellent reproductions of luminous specimens. I n a general discussion of luminescence, fifteen types are listed, including chemior oxy-luminescence and bio- or organo-luminescence. Practically all examples of light phenomena exhibited by living creatures fall in one of these two classes. I n a n extensive treatment it is shown t h a t most chemiluminescence is due to oxidation of differeut types of unsaturated organic compounds. Many cases of light production by living organisms seem due to this kind of oxyluminescence; hence they can be reproduced and studied in the light-giving material after removal from the organism. Sewton states: “KOfact speaks against the view t h a t living light is another example of chemiluminescence in which special compounds manufactured by luminous animals are oxidized with light production.” S. C. LIND.
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A p p l i e d X-rays. By GEORGE L. CLARK. Third edition. 6 x 9 in.; xvii 674 pp; 342 figures. Kew York; McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1940. Price: $6.00. This is the third edition of a well-known and highly useful book on x-rays. I t seeks to cover the entire field of x-ray technology and, in fact, is the only single book in the English language treating all phases of the applications of x-rays. The very great activity in this field, during t h e eight years since the appearance of the second edition, has resulted in a book which is fifty per cent larger than t h e previous one. The book has been largely rewritten and several new chapters have been introduced in order to present the new material properly. Outstanding features of the book are the excellent line drawings and half-tones used freely t o illustrate t h e discussions. The book is divided into two parts: I. “General Physics and Applications of X-radiation”; 11. “The X-ray Analysis of t h e Ultimate Structures of Materials.” Among the topics discussed in the first part are the following: tubes and equipment, the measurement of intensity and wave length, the theory of x-ray spectra, chemical analysis from x-ray spectra, the absorption and scattering of x-rays, radiography, photochemical effects, and the biological effects of x-rays. The many and varied industrial applications of radiography mentioned are of particular interest a t the present time. The second part contains material on crystallography, x-ray diffraction, the methods of crystal analysis, crystal chemistry, and industrial applications of x-ray diffraction. Special chapters are devoted to the silicates, alloys, organic compounds, amorphous materials, and polymers. The discussions of the determination of fiber structure, grain size, internal strain, mechanical deformation, and the chapters on the applications to the metallurgical industries are excellent. In covering such a wide field the author necessarily has had to omit many of the details, but numerous references t o the original literature are given. The reviewer has observed t h a t minor errors are t o be found fairly frequently in the book. ?;one of these is serious, b u t in some cases they might puzzle a reader who is not very familiar with the subject. T h e following are typical examples: On page 292 is the following statement referring to Fig. 157: “ I t follows t h a t all the interference maxima lying on these layer lines are produced by planes with the same zone axis, namely, the common crystallographic and rotation axis.” rlctually, only t h e planes producing the spots in the equatorial layer line have the rotation axis a8 their
