VOL.8, NO. 9
RECENT BOOKS
The abstracting seems to be well and fairly done. For teachers of secondaryschool chemistry the book should serve well as a starting point from which to carry on such independent investigations as they may wish to condud. WlLHELM SEGERBLOM
1901
Junior and Senior High Schools, Newark, N. J. Third edition. Henry Holt and Co., Inc., New York City, 1931. 776 PP. 392 figs. 12.5 X 18.5 xii cm. $1.80.
+
I n "Modern Chemistry" the aim of the author has been t o produce a hook for the high-school student that would show him the cultural and practical value of chemLaboratory Exercises in General Chemis- istry; cover the fundamental principles try. JOHNA. TIMM,Assistant Profes- upon which the science is based including sor of Chemistry, Yale University; OR- all necessary material needed to meet the ION E. SCWPP,JR., formerly laboratory syllabi of the College Entrance Board of assistant in chemistry, Yale University. the New York State Board of Regents, or The MeGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.. New of the various cities that have recently 138 pp. (half revised their courses of study; be so readYork City. 1930. ix of these pages are blank). 16 illustra- able and understandable, due t o the use tions. 14 X 21 cm. $1.25. of simple language well within the grasp The purpose of the book is to provide of pupils of high-school age, that it would laboratory exercises to accompany Timm's not he necessary for the instructor t o "An Introduction to Chemistry." [For a spend valuable time in explaining. review of this book see J. CHEM.EDUC.. The author has fulfilled his purpose and 8, 411-2 (Feh., 1931).] The authors adproduced a hook that is good in many mit encountering a difficulty in making a ways. He has made it understandable selection of experiments suitable for the by the clarity and simplicity of its explanaaccompanying textbook owing to the tions, by the inductive approach in which large amount of physics which that text students are introduced to new phases contains. They have therefore frankly of the subject t y means of references to avoided the issue and have featured chem- every-day life or to previously acquired istry experiment.. of a quantitative char- scientific knowledge and by the use of acter far the introductory experiments ~ a r - simple language, plainly labeled line drawtitularly. These are followed by a n ings and a wealth of illustrations. abridged qualitative analysis scheme as Considerable space has been devoted t" well a5 hy exercises involving electrolytic the mathematics of chemistry with explaprocedure, colloids, and a bit of organic nations which have been simplified by the chemistry. Supplementing each exercise use of type problems throughout. The is a suggestive list of questions intended to subject of writing equations has been dedrill the student in the principles con- veloped by a step by step method which cerned. There is very little in the manual simplifiesthe presentation and stresses the which is not thoroughly familiar to every points where so many students make misteacher of general chemistry. The useful- takes. ness of the book therefore lies precisely in The author has developed the theory in the field for which it was written, namely. a clear, concise, logical manner and groups as a collection of experimental material together, early in the hook, the chapters suitable for illustrating a specific text. dealing with atomic theory, atomic and 0 . F. STAFFORD molecular weights, valence, and chemical UNIVBRSITY OP ORBCON equations in a logical sequence which EVOSNB, OIROON simplifies its presentation. Modern Chemistry. CHARLES E. DULL. The book is thoroughly modern, conHead of Science Department. West Side taining many pictures and material on the School and Supervisor of Science far the latest practical applications of chemistry. PIT~IT~IP EXBTBE ACADBMY E X B T ~ R Nsw . H*MPsnla=
+
1902
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
S E P ~ ~ U1931 R ,
The electron theory is briefly introduced in an early chapter dealing with the nature of matter and its changes and later the application of this theory to the subject of valence is more fully discussed. The book contains certain devices that not only are teaching helps but should aid the student to better understand the subject of elementary chemistry. Among these are: keyword chapter vocabularies given at the beginning of each chapter which certainly is an excellent idea; type problems t o introduce all mathematical relationships; chapter summaries which include the fundamental facts and principles studied; thought questions as well as many numerical problems; suggested projects with necesa r y references which should keep the accelerated student interested. I t is a book which the high-school student should find interesting, easy t o read. and from which he should acquire not only the fundamental principles but the practical applications of modemchemistry. EDWINL. fiEoER1CK
"Nitrogen fixation now lwms so large before the world's eye that it is given a chapter of extended treatment. So, too, is the subject of fuels. The later developments, such as the Bergius 'liquefaction of coal,' and the recent radical changes in petroleum cracking processes are discussed. "There has been no desire to omit the chapter on colloid chemistry, for that subject is growing with great speed, nor t o give any less attention to the important group of chapters on organic chemistly. including nutrition. "The student's vision, his intellectual horizon, is extended still more by the new chapter on photochemistry, something of an innovation in texts of this type. By photochemistry is here meant something more than photography and photosynthesis, although they are properly included in the treatment." The book is most commendable for the way in which i t handles the simpler industrial and commercial chemical pmce m s . I t will not be suitable for one who POXBST PAREHraa S c a o o ~ wishes a thoroughgoing theoretical textB A L ~ M ~ M.,~TL*ND R*, book. It is written in an interesting, Introductory College Chemistry. HARRY readable, and non-technical style, and N HoLMEs, Professor of Chemistry in should be best adapted to the use of eleOberlin College. Revised edition. The mentary students not likely to become Mamillan Ca., New York City, 1931. professional chemists. A new feature. viii 550 pp. 153 figs. 14 X 21.5 useful to the general student, is a table in the appendix containing the approximate cm. B.25. prices of various substances. This revised edition of the author's NORRISW. RAKESTRAW well-known text maintains tlie general BROWN UNIVEPSrTY policy of the preceding ones From the PROV~DBNCB, RHODB I%*ND very first the author has tried to follow a Chemistry for Students of Agriculture and middle course between the extremes of Rome Economics. ROBIN CHARLES conservatism and radicalism. The success BURRELL, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of of each edition has apparently encouraged Agricultural Chemistry, Ohio State him t o depart farther from the beaten University. McGraw-Hill Book Co., path, without, on the other hand, adopting Inc., New York City, 1931. xviii any fundamentally new plan of treat459 pp. 77 figs. 14 X 20.5 cm. ment of the subject. $3.50. "This revision keeps pace with the recent startling progress in industrial procThe book is written with the purpose of esses. For example, hydrogenation of presenting "a clear picture of the fundapetroleum and the newer metbods of mental theories upon which the structure making industrial alcohols are clearly of applied chemistry rests, and of showing presented. what chemistry means in practical, every-
+
+
