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LITERATURE MIT Gets Russian Lit School successfully closes a n a g r e e m e n t with U.S.S.R. to swap scientific books
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MIT has started to build one of the largest collections of Russian scientific and technical literature in the U. S. Adding to its Russian library in the near future will be some 500 scientific books a year coming direct from Soviet libraries and translations of Russian scientific and technical journals from the Office of Technical Services, U. S. Department of Commerce. The Russian books will be sent to MIT as part of a 50-50 exchange program with libraries in the Soviet Union. Participating in the plan: the libraries of the universities of Moscou 7 and Leningrad, the Russian institute of Scientific Information, and eight other Soviet institutions. The book-trade ageement was worked out following an exchange of visits between MIT and Soviet representatives. Last October Secor 1). Browne of MIT's Russian language staff went to the U.S.S.R. with the proposal. T h e n , in November, Alexander Mikhailov from the Russian Institute of Scientific Information, a branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, visited Cambridge. William Locke, head of MIT's libraries, says he values the Russian exchange program for several reasons: One, Soviet books often go out of print shortly after publication, and it becomes impossible to b u y them on the open market. Also, h e believes the better Soviet scientific a n d technical works are on a par with U. S. scientific literature. They contain almost no propaganda, he adds. Locke expects as many as 500 volumes a year will be exchanged with the Soviets when the program gets into full swing. Some 10,000 translated technical articles and 50,000 abstracts a year in biology, chemistry, and physics will be fed into the M I T Russian collection from OTS. MIT will serve as the New England depository for all OTS material. It is the ninth one set up in the OTS network.
MIT's own program for collecting foreign scientific literature also helps build its Russian librar\. Currently it subscribes to 74 Russian journals and 43 from other Iron Curtain countries. Nine of these are abstracting journals in electronics, physics, geology, chemistry, biochemistry, mechanical engineering, mathematics, and mechanics and metallurgy.
Surface Phenomena The importance of surface phenomena in chemistry and biology is again recognized in a new compilation of review papers, chiefly by British authors, collected to honor Ν. Κ. Adam, pioneer investigator of the science of surfaces (epipolics). This new book could well be re garded as a continuation of A d a m s well known "Physics and Chemistry of Surfaces" (3rd edition, 1941). A com parison of the two volumes gives us an informative glimpse of the direction *..,l-„„ Κ U I I \ L H i^t \
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the last quarter century. T h e older book contained chiefly descriptions of fundamental research on insoluble mon olayers on water. It was the first work that shed light on the subject of surface physics in the period 1900-1940. Less than one third of the more recent book, however, is devoted to the results of pure research. A second pnrrirm, ap proximately another third, deals with specific industrial applications such as detergency, water-repellency, printing, catalysis, crop-spraying, and flotation. The remainder deals with biological as pects of surface behavior. During the last decade work on sur face films has progressed from the study of relatively small molecules to that of linear polymers including proteins and synthetic polypeptides. D. J. Crisp, with a well-documented article in the new collection, reviews the results ob tained in this field. D. G. Dervichian discusses the nature of the molecular as sociations that occur in monolayers, and J. T. Davies provides a quantitative de velopment of the behavior of monolay ers of long-chain ions in terms of the diffuse electrical double-laver between
the surface film a n d t h e underlying gegen ions. T h e applications of surface physics to industrial problems a r e well repre sented in this book, thus marking the descendendo ad opera talked of b y Ba con, as c o m p a r e d to the ascendendo ad axiomata of Adam's earlier book. As was also known to Bacon, a single gen eral axiom m a y have a number of di verse applications. Thus, for example, in a study of the attachment of air bub bles to solid surfaces, intended for ulti m a t e u s e in t h e practice of ore flota tion, Schulman a n d Leja report t h e changes of contact angle with time as a captive b u b b l e in a solid surface is dis placed b y water. T h e same sequence of events, thev point out, is significant in t h e displacement of oily impurities from textile fibers, which occurs when surface-active agents act as detergents. Surface reactions of this type, in which the spontaneous decrease of surface en ergy b v selective adsorption is the guid ing principle, find a varied range of ap plication in color printing, crop-spray ing, water-repellency, a n d heterogene ous catalvsis—to n a m e only some of those discussed in the book. T h e same principle can be carried over without alteration to the consider ation of biological applications. T h e mechanism of the lytic action of surfac tants h a s b e e n explained by analogy with their mechanism as general deter gents. Many other biological phenom ena such as t h e form of cells, t h e per meability of membranes, the absorption of fat from the small intestine, and even the origin of life itself, are n o w dis cussed in t h e light of present-day knowledge a n d experience of surface physics a n d chemistry. This volume emphasizes these relatively new appli cations in biology. One of the authors deplores "the failure to appreciate t h e importance of surface phenomena in this field." H e adds, "even today there is a t e n d e n c y to underestimate their sig nificance." This book is another timely reminder from abroad of our national neglect of this important branch of sci ence. Surface Phenomena in Chemistry and Biology.
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5uun ii uni me v^umiui un juiuiaiy i\esources to study the scope and charac teristics of library materials required to support a high level of teaching and research. T h e project will check out types and categories of books that seem to have the greatest actual or potential value in research and recommend new space requirements for libraries. • Technical reports dealing with re search on crystals are now cataloged in three new lists published by the Office of Technical Services, U. S. De partment of Commerce, Washington 25, D. C. Research conducted for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Atomic Energy Commission, and other government agencies is included. The catalogs cost 10 cents each, may be ordered from OTS.
NEW BOOKS Paperbound
Proceedings of 1958 Institute in Technical and Industrial Communications. HER MAN M. WEISMAN and ROY C. NELSON,
editors. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo. 1959. $5.00.
Determining Thiosulfate Content of Proc essed Black-and-White Photographic Film a»~ " Plates. American Standards Association, 70 East 45th St., New York 17, Ν. Υ. 1959. 80 cents. Specifications for Photographic Grade Chemicals; PH4.150 Aluminum Potas sium Sulfate; PH4.151 Chromium Potas sium Sulfate; PH4.303 Potassium Persulfate; American Standards Association, 7() East 45th St., New York 17, Ν. Υ. 1959. 30 cents each.
