JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
670
latter chapters, Professor Flory has given a clear and reasonably self-contained treatment of a necessarily complicated subject. The hook is worthy of being called a landmark of chemical literature. It is warmly recommended to beginners as well as specialists who wish to acquire a complete picture of the status of the field of polymer chemistry to date. It might also be useful for supplementary reading in graduate courses in thermodynamics and kinetics and could serve as a textbook for a oneyear graduate course in polymer chemistry. GERALD OSTER
INBTITOTB TOR POLTUBR RBBEAROR BBOOKLIN. NEWYORK
0
AMERICAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. VOLUMES I AND V
Williams Haynes. D. Van Nosband Company, Inc., New York, 512 pp. Vol. V, li 622 pp. Many 1954. Vol. I, Ire portraits. 17 X 2 5 cm. $15 per volume; set of six volumes, $76.
+
+
THESEtwo new volumes in the series on "American Chemical Industry" represent an excellent contrihutiou to the history of chemicals in this country. Volume I, oovering the period 16081910, describes the background and beginnings of the industry from potashes, naval stores, and indigo in colonial times to the hundreds of chemical products manufactured in 1910. This volume m k e s fascinating reading as it traces the technical and mercantile developments from by-products of land-clearing operations to big tonnage staples. Of interest are the Chemical Chronology and Appendixes oovering statistics through 1910 and several early ddescriptions of the process details for making potash, indigo, salt peter, and gunpowder. The extensive bibliography and name index are helpful. Volume V covers the "Decade of New Products: 1930-1939" and describes the second decade of the two between the wars, during which the chemical revolution was oompleted. During this period synthetic organic chemistry became 6rmly entrenched and synthetics such as plastics, fibers, insecticides, etc. became commodities. The technical developments of this period are described in terms of companies, personalities, education, and depression economics. Appendixes in Volume V include the continued Chemical Chronology, business statirtios, and interesting passages from NRA codes, tariff testimony, trade agreements, etc. The six volumes of this work now completed represent a tremendous and successful effort t o explore the history of one facet of American industry. S. RICKLIN
0
and allied metals, manganese, and uranium. Much new knowledge about these metals was accumulated during World War I1 and a large percentage of the government research and development funds spent on metallurgical projects since the war, both here and abroad, has been directed toward increasing knowledge concerning them. This is because of potential and aotual a p plication to new military devices such as rockets, jet propelled aircraft, guided missiles, and especially atomic bombs and nuclem reactors for atomio power plants. Industrial applications of these less familiar metals have also been stimulated by the new knowledge that has resulted. Even though chromium is a familiar element to the layman, the development of pure chromium and of chromium-base allovs has been im~eded bv their chamcteristie brittleness.
METALLURGY OF THE RARER METALS. NUMBER 1: CHROMIUM. NUMBER 2: ZIRCONIUM
worked with pure chromium have remarked, however, that it is extremely brittle a t roam temperature. In this respect its behavior is most interesting and still incompletely understood. . . I t mav be sawn, turned, drilled and tamed, vet in tension or in bending it n s u a ~ yfrae&es with zero 'ductility. This disadvantage, more than any other, has limited the practical application of chromium and chromium rich alloys" (pages 128-9). This aspect of ohromium and the origin of brittleness in other metals have been thoroughly reviewed in the volume on chromium (pages 131-52). The extractive metallurgy of chromium and the physical metallurgy of chromium alloys are presented interestingly and thoroughly. This book should stirnulato research interests in this diffioult but promising element. The nuclear, chemical, and mechanical properties of zirconium suggest that it is the ideal metal out of whirh to c o u s t ~ ~ nuct clear reactors. Zirconium has a favorably low "cross section" for neutrons, is strong, corrosion resistant, and capable of being formed into sheet, rod, and wire. In an inert atmosphere it can be welded into structural shapes. It always occurs, however, contaminated with a. small percentage of hafnium which is extremely diffioult to separate. Unfortunately, hafnium is a "poison" in a nuclear reactor. A greet deal of effort in recent years has been directed toward the development of an economical, commeroial method to effect this swaration. vet the most recent
.
...
may be assumed that such documents are so inaccessible in the United Kingdom that in hooks for the B~itishpublic it is not warranted to mention them. Otherwise, the chemistni and metallurgy of zirconium and its com~oundsand allovs are thorouehlv covered and are uu to date. %'bile the pubdcity about &coniun~ has not been so flamboyant as recent public releases on titanium, the commercial development of ductile zirconium in quantity has been an equally noteworthy achievement. Both of these volumes are highly recommended. LAUREXCE S. FOSTER BELMOWT, MABBACXUBETTB
H. M. Finniston, Head of Meiallurgy Division, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, England, General Editor. Buttenvorths Scientific Publieations, London, and Academic Press Inc., New York, 1954. 22.5 X 15 Em. Number 1, "Chromium," A. H. Sully. xii 272 pp. 137 figs. 29 tables. $5.50. 382 pp. 120 Number 2, "Zirconium," G. L. Miller. xviii figs. 122 tables. $7.50.
Compiled by the Technical Staff, Freeport Sulphur Co.; edited by William N. Tuller. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 143 pp. 16 X 24 om. $5. 1954. vii
THESEtwo volumes are the first of a new series of authoritative treatises on the metallurgy and propertiea of the rarer elements. Each volume is the product of s speeiali8t on a particular element. Subsequent volumes will cover titanium, molybdenum, platinum
"TEE SULPHURDATABOOK"is a comprehen~iveand critical compilation of the physical and chemical properties of sulfur, reaction thermodynamics, and solubility. One chapter is devoted to the analysis of sulfur.
+
+
0
THE SULPHUR DATA BOOK
+
