NEW BOOKS Systematische Durchfuhrung thermochemischer Untersuchungen. Zahlenwerte and theoretische Ergebnisse. B y Julius Thomsen. Autorisierte Ubersetzung 382. Stuttgart: Ferdinand Enke, 1906. von. J . Traube. 16 X 25 cm; p p . viii Price: paper, 12 marks.-By omitting details as to experimental work and by condensing wherever possible, the author has succeeded in giving in one volume the essential data from the larger four-volume work. I t is now possible for every chemist t o have Thomsen’s data a t hand in his own library. A s everybody knows, the work of Thomsen has two points in its favor which are of great importance. I n the first place the ground has been covered systematically, and in the second place the experiments have all been made by one man. While this latter fact does not ensure absolute accuracy by any means, it does guarantee that the measurements by the same method are comparable. The data are presented under four heads: formation and properties of aqueous solutions ; heat effects for compounds of the metalloids ; conipounds of metals with metalloids ; organic compounds. I n the discussion of the results, the author has confined himself almost exclusively t o the results themselves. W e thus get a theoretical treatment based solely on thermochemical data. This is very interesting, but it has its disadvantages. The author is not able to check his results by reference to work along other lines and he is often compelled to leave points unexplained which have already been cleared up. His data for the hydration for sodium sulphate, p. 27, point definitely to the existence of the monohydrate, a salt which was supposed to be formed when the decahydrate effloresced. I t is now known that this is not the case. Either Thomsen’s determination is in error by 20-25 percent or we have an adsorption phenomenon with the anhydrous salt. If we make the latter, rather improbable, assumptioii, i t vitiates the coiiclusions t o be drawl1 from the behavior of other anhydrous salts. If we accept the hypothesis of experimental error, we have no guarantee as to the accuracy of the other measurements on hydration. Quite apart from this difficulty, the whole discussion of heats of hydration would have been more valuable if parallel references had been made to the pressure relations. The heats of neutralization of acids by bases certainly call for a reference to the electrolytic dissociation theory and the relation between the avidity constant of Thomsen and the affinity constant of Ostwald seems worth mentioning. If the author had kept this relation in mind, lie would not have made the sweeping and erroneous statement that the avidity is independent of the concetitration between N/ioo and N/4oo. If tlie author had kept in touch with other work, h e would have known that the variation of the heat of oxidation of amorphous phosphorus with the methods of preparation of the phosphorus, p. 167, was a most gratifying proof of the fact that we have hysteresis phenomena with amorphous phosphorus aiid that there are several, perhaps many, forms of red phosphorus.
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It would also have been better to have made use of the free energy conception instead of that of total heat effect, If thermochemists would only realize it, it is through their work that we shall get quantitative nieasurenients of free energy i n most cases. We need measurements on heats of reaction as they vary with the temperature. As a collection of data the book is of great value to every chemist. It will also be interesting to many as a document, because it shows what can and what cannot be done by an exceptionally able man who has chosen deliberately to ignore all work but his own. Even the thermochemical work of others is passed by. To a certdn extent one can understand that in the case of Berthelot, but Stohmann’s measurements were quite as accurate as those of Thomsen. The book is a self-contained whole, both as to the experimental and the theoretical side. W e must admire the consistency with which the author’s policy has been carried out, while reserving the right to question the Walder D . Bancrojt wisdom of the policy.
Die EleMrolyse geschmolzener Salze. Drztter Ted: Elektromotorzsche Krafte. B y Rzchard Lorenz. (Momgraphten uber angewandte Elektrochemte, X X I I . Band.) 17 X 24 em; pp. xziizi 322. Halle: Wzlhelm K n a p p , 1906. PrLce: paper, I O marks.-This third and last volume on the electrolysis of fused salts
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deals with electromotive forces and with polarization phenomena. The subject is classified under three heads : polarization ; cells ; electromotive fqrce and heat of reaction. The book is an admirable one and will be invaluable as a work of reference. The author appreciates that from a theoretical point of view the fused salt is the simplest possible case, because there is no solvent. If one is to assume electrolytic dissociation in a n aqueous solution, there seems to be no justification for not assuming electrolytic dissociation in a fused salt. Since conduction in a solid salt apparently differs in degree only from that in a fused salt, the logical conclusion is that we have electrolytio dissociation in solid salts. This is the conclusion which the author draws and it is one which it seems difficult to avoid drawing if the premises are granted. One may, however, question the author’s conclusion that the cation alone migrates in solids. This is based on Lehniann’s experiments with silver iodide and on Warburg’s experiments with glass ; but it seems to the reviewer that the results obtained were a necessary consequence of the wa’y i n which the experiments were carried out and that they therefore do not have the theoretical significance which the author ascribes to them. Lehmann electrolyzed silver iodide between silver electrodes and found that silver was carried from one electrode to the other. If he could have carried on the electroljsis betwern iodine electrodes, h e would have found that iodine was carried from one electrode to the other. I t is very important to distinguish between what is difficult experimentally and what is impossible theoretically. The only slips noticed by the reviewer are the consistent misspelling of Mayer’s name and the omission of a reference on p. 186 to the paper i n which Richards showed that the electromotive force of a cell is a linear function of the temperature when the heat of reaction is independent of the temperature. Wilder D . Bancrojt.
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Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Chemie.. B y W . Ostwald. I n zwei Banden. Zweite, umgearbeitete Aufiage. Zweiten Bandes, dritter Teil: Verwandtschajtslehre. Zweiter Teil. 16 X 24 cm; p p . 264 Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1906. Price: paper, 7 marks.-The first 2 1 6 pages are devoted to solid solutions while the remainder of the number contains the first instalment on adsorption, The author meets the difficulties i n regard to the experiments of Kuster, Walker and Appleyard, and others by postulating that we are dealing with adsorption phenoniena and not with solid solutions whenever absurd results for the molecular weight are obtained from the distribution ratio. This is both frank and ingenious, Whether it is final, is a bit doubtful. The available material on solid solutions is presented with characteristic W’ilder D . Bancroft. thoroughness and clearness. Maschinenkunde fur Chemiker. Ein Lehr- und Handbuch jiir Studierende und Praktiker. B y Albrecht van Ihering. (Handbuch der angewandten physikalischen Chemie. Herausgegeben von Prof. Du. G. Bredig.) Band I l l . 16 X 25 em; p p . ix 396. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1906. Price: paper, 14 marks; bound, I j marks.-This volume should be of distinct service t o chemists. I t contains a great deal of information about matters with which the chemist ought to be familiar but of which h e is often only too ignorant. The author discusses boilers, steam engines, gas engines, water wheels, pumps, conveyors, crushers, mixers, stills, blast-furnaces, electric furnaces, vacuum pans, ice machines, etc. The book is essentially descriptive and descriptive from an engineer’s point of view. Thus there is practically no theory given, p. 34’2, for the multiple effect evaporators. To this extent the book falls short of being applied physical chemistry. It will, however, be very useful as a book of reference aud it may hasten the day when some physical chemist will know enough to write a similar book from the point of view of the chemist. Wilder D. Bancrojt
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Lehrbuch der Mathematik fur Studierende der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik. Einjuhrung in die Difierential und Integralrechnung dnd in die analytische Geometrie. B y Georg Scheffers. 16 X 24 c m ; p p . viii 680. Leipzig: Veit and Co., 1905. Price: paper, 16 marks.-This exceedingly wellwritten book provide students of science or technology with the means of teaching themselves effectively as much higher mathematics as is commonly employed in the phvsical sciences and their technical applications. Being written for the beginner, it presupposes only a little elementary geometry and the rudiments of algebra. Since the beginner may have forgotten much of his school mathematics, or may have but ill understood it, the preliminary matters that he must know are here taken up afresh, even t o the solution of quadratic equations. This is fortunate for him, for these affairs are treated delightfully. Primarily the subject-matter of the book is elementary analytics and calculus. The author’s list of topics is : quantities and functions ; differentiation and integration ; the logarithmic functions ; the exponential functions ; the goniometric and cyclornetric functions ; computation of functions ; more than one variable. Matters not commonly used in physics and technology are not
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considered, and such things as the polytropic curves formed for gases and vapors and the frequently occurring logarithmic and exponential functions are treated with unusual fullness-and unusual clearness. Everything presented is explained i n the most careful and complete fashion, and is illustrated by numerical examples and a wealth of graphic constructions. The explanations are so complete and clear that the whole text can easily be worked through without a teacher. Whoever reads it all attentively will gain asound comprehension of the content and bearing of the elements of the higher mathematics, The book is an exceedingly able performance, and bids fair to become the standard work for its purpose. An extensive index gives it value as a book of reference. .I. E. Trevor. Recherches exp6rimentales sur les Contacts liquides. B y A . M . Chanoz. (Annales de 1’UnzversztS de Lyon, I., Fascicule IS.) 16 X 2 5 cm; pp. 99. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1906. Prace: paper, 5 francs.-The author has studied the’differences of potential between two solutions, the effect of membranes on electromotive force, the electrical phenomena connected with osmosis, and the effect of X-rays on osmosis. The most interesting portion of the work is that on the behavior of membranes. When the two sides of the membrane differ, a s with a skin, differences are obtained depending on whether a given side of the membrane is in contact with solution A or solution B. These differences disappear, of course, when the two sides of the membrane are alike, as with parchment paper. It seems probable that the behavior of the membrane depends largely 011 its greater or less permeability. Walder D. Bancroft. The Influence of Molecular Constitution upon the Internal Friction of Gases. B y Frederxk Mallzng Pedersen. 15 X 24 cm; p p . v 59. New Yoriz: D. V a n Nostrand Company, 1906. Prtce: paper, $.go.--This is really a doctor thesis. The author has measured the coefficients of internal friction of eight ethers a t IOOO. Normal propyl ethers have lower coefficients than the corresponding isopropyl ethers. The ntolecular volumes calculated from the friction agree fairly Wzlder D. Bancroft. well with those obtained by Kopp’s rule.
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The Theory of Determinants in the Historical Order of Development. B y 491. New York: The Thomas Muir. Second Edztzon. 14 X 22 ern; p p . x i Macmzllan Company, 1906. Price: $5.oo.-This admirable presentation of the early history of the theory of determinants, although primarily intended for the student of mathematics, will interest every intelligent user of the deterniitiant notation, Although Leibnitz was the first to discover the r6le played by determinants in elimination between linear equations, his discovery did not become common property. The first to attract attention to a connected exposition of the theory was Vandermonde, in 1771 ; and the elements of the subject were practically completed by Cauchy in an exhaustive memoir published in 1812. The detailsof the whole development are very clearly given in the present volume, often indeed in the words of the individual authors. The history is brought down to 1841, and is divided into two parts, which treat respectively of general determinants and of the growth of special forms. Careful and detailed attention is given to the very interesting and importatit topic of jacobians. J . E . Trevor
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