BOOK REVIEWS full color, mast of them page-size, and are beautiful examples of modern capabilities. They were printed separately and inrerted by band. Carefully selected, they illustrate the points hrought out in the disrussions and hence they range over a tremendous area. This handsome volume is one to look a t with pleasure, to read with profit, and to cherish as s thing of beauty and a joy forever. The hook is not over-priced. RALPHE. OESPER Univemity of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio
Some Cormochemical Problemr: Notes on the Thirty-Seventh Annual Priestley Lectures
Harold C. Urey, University of California, San Diego. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 1963. x 181 pp. Figs. and tables. 21.5 X 27.5 em. Paperbound. 8 . 2 5 .
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This paperbound book consists of notes prepared from tape recordings and slides used by Professor Ureyin the presentation of the Thirty-Seventh Annual Priestley Lecture Series a t Pennsylvania State University. The notes, as compiled by an editorial committee, were submitted to Professor Urey for his comments and corrections. The volume consists of notes from five
lectures entitled: Chapter I, The Moon; Chapter 11, The Abundance of the Elements; Chapter 111, The Origin of the Solar System-I; Chapter IV, The Origin of the Solar System-11; and Chapter Y, The Origin of the Elements. Questions from the audience and Dr. Urey's answers are included. As stated by Dr. Urey, most of the material covered in the lectures has been published in review art i c l e ~he has written in "Space Science," John Wiley and Sons, 1963 and "The Moon," Academic Press, 1962. The principle merit of this volume of lecture notes is that i t is addressed to nan-specialists in cosmochemistry. Dr. Urey takes care to trace the historical evolution of the ideas and theories he discusses. This unfolding process leads to to far greater apmeciation bv the reader of the aerious pn l h m i n this field, twin ii only rurrenr I Iw erirs wrre J ~ P C I I S ~ C ~ . .\e iuiglat be expritra in a b d Jrrived from transcriptions of lecture notes, there are some weaknesses. Proofreading of the manuscript was poorly done and typographiral errors are common. Spelling of names in the references was quite variable with, for example, Suess and Seuss being used about equally. The material is not as well orgmieed as it would be in a manuscript speciillly written for publication. Far example, terms such as "chondrites" are used in the text many pages before they are finally defined. I n several cases extensive tables of data. are presented, whereas the text will only briefly touch on their significance. References to original sources of the data presented are quite deficient. In summary, the editorial committee has succeeded in capturing the inimitable style of Dr. Urey speaking about a field to which he has made significant contributions and in which be is vitally interested. The book can be read by the non-specialist profitably and with enjoyment. While certainly not a text or a source book far the specialist, the book could be used effectively by college teachers and advanced students in chemistry, and other physical sciences for supplemental reading in a new and fascinating field of chemistry. Its modest cost should allow its inclusion into even the smallest libraries. WILLIAMD. EHMANK University of Kentucky Lezingla
Modern Chemical Engineering. Volume 1, Physical Operations
Edited by Andreas Aeriuos, Stanford University, Stanford, California. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, 1963. ix 604 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 em. $19.50.
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The stated primary objective of this book (and future series of volumea) is to condense a. major portion of the increasing volume of literature in a special field and to bring i t into perspective in a convenient form. The book is edited by Professor Aerivos and each of the eleven chapters is prepared by blue-ribbon authorities in (Continued on page A983)
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Joutnal of Chemical Education
B O O K REVIEWS their respective fields. In each chapter the author presents the past accomplishments, current methods, and future trends in the subiect under discussion. These r t m i n v c ilm+! 1111 ~ u d l m jljh t (.tpwI~ng t1.r l i t t w r u n . i n tIww s,wi:,l n n m for t l w reader. The contents are as follows: Laminar Flow of Single-Phase Newtonian Systema h y Professor Acrivos; Turbulent Flow of Newtoniiln Systems by C. A. Sleieher; Liquid-Liquid Extraction by R. B. Olney and R. S. Miller; Non-Newtanianism in Thin Liquids: Molecular and Physical Aspects by E. W. Merrill; Viscoelastic Phenomena in Thick Liquids: Phenomenological Analysis by A. G. Fredericksnn; Solid-Fluid Systems by F. A. Zenz; Flow of Fluids Through Porous Materials by R. E. Collins; &-Liquid Flaw in Conduits by A. E. Dukler and M. Wicks, 111; Absorption and Distillation by J. E. Vivian and C. J. King; Chromatographic Separations by R. F. Baddour and J. R. Vdbert; Process D,pamim and Control by L. Lapidus and I). E. Lamh. The only critical comment from this reviewer is the type used in the printing of the hook. Apparently, the type is too hold and after several lrours of perusal, the eEdenoy of reading decreases greatly as compared to the type used in most chemical engineering books. In many cases the figures are dificult to read because of the small size. These are minor items hut should be taken rare of in the following editions. A copy of this bock should be on the book shelf of each professor and each industrial worker specializing in one of the areas covered by the book. ~~
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and sources of representative and unusual examples, chcmieal and physical properties and function, techniques of isolation and characterization, and litorsture references to comprehensive reviews and specific papers. The danger of mistaking artifacts produced during isolation for naturally occurring eompounds is well illustrated. Far well-known classes such as carbohydrates and amino acids, emphasis is placed an lessor known examples, but for alkaloids, tho importance and widespread oecurrcnce are not adequately conveyed. Structure proofs and syntheses, which usually oocupy much of the literature on natural products, arc not discussed, since they are not ol concern to the biologist. In almost all instances i t will be necessary to consult the original literature or reviews for the details on experimental procedures or for inrlusive h t s of compounds of a given group;
the wellaelected refercnccs make this no problem at all. The survey of structures produced by higher plant. is quite cxtonsive; the only omissions noted by this reviewer are the fluorine-containing fatty acids present as toxic constituents of scveral plants and 2-aminaethylphosphanic acid, the only known occurrence of the C-P bond. Rcaders desiring to acquire a knowledge of the types of cmnpounds that occur naturally should bear in mind that this irr not a survey of nll natural products found in plants and that a very large part of the recent work in t h field ~ has hren concerned with mirroorganisms, from whicll much moro unusual types of structures have bcm obtained. (The latter are eat,aloecd in "The Pfizer andb book o f M i c r o t k Metabolites.")
JOHN J. MCKETP* Un&rsiiy of Tezas Austin
The Organic Constituents of Higher Pbnfr: Their Chemistry and inferrelationships
Trevor Robinson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Burgess Publishing Co., Minneapolis, Minn., 1963. iii 306 pp. Figs. and tables. 22 X 28.5cm. $6.75.
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As biological research has become more and more a matter of chemical investigation, tho need of the biologist for knowledge on the chemistry of natwal products from s biological rst,her than chemical outlook has become more urgent. The purpose of Professor Trevor Robinson's hook is t o provide botanists with a. survey of the types of organic eompounds that occur in higher plants and their interrelationships without the burden of information of interest only to the chemist. Although the brief chapter titles do not indicate it, the compounds are grouped according to their mode of biagenesis rather than strictly by chemical structure; this novel and useful classification is an outstanding charaoteristic of the book. For each group are given the structures Volume
40, Number 12, December 1963
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